When You Are Pregnant,
Drinking Can Hurt Your Baby
When you are pregnant, your baby grows inside you. Everything you eat and drink while you are pregnant affects your baby. If you drink alcohol, it can hurt your baby's growth. Your baby may have physical and behavioral problems that can last for the rest of his or her life. Children born with the most serious problems caused by alcohol have fetal alcohol syndrome.
Children with Fetal
Alcohol Syndrome May:
• Be born small.
• Have problems eating and sleeping.
• Have problems seeing and hearing.
• Have trouble following directions and learning how to do simple things.
• Have trouble paying attention and learning in school.
• Have trouble getting along with others and controlling their behavior.
• Need medical care all their lives.
• Need
special teachers and schools.
Here Are Some Questions You May Have About Alcohol and Drinking While You Are Pregnant.
No. Do not drink alcohol when you are pregnant. Why? Because when you
drink alcohol, so does your baby. Think about it. Everything you drink,
your baby also drinks.
No. Drinking any kind of alcohol when you are pregnant can hurt your
baby. Alcoholic drinks are beer, wine, wine coolers, liquor, or mixed
drinks. A glass of wine, a can of beer, and a mixed drink all have about
the same amount of alcohol.
Every pregnancy is different. Drinking alcohol may hurt one baby more
than another. You could have one child that is born healthy, and another
child that is born with problems.
No. These problems will last for a child's whole life. People with severe
problems may not be able to take care of themselves as adults. They
may never be able to work.
If you drank alcohol before you knew you were pregnant, stop drinking
now. You will feel better and your baby will have a good chance to be
born healthy. If you want to get pregnant, do not drink alcohol. You
may not know you are pregnant right away. Alcohol can hurt a baby even
when you are only 1 or 2 months pregnant.
There are many ways to help yourself stop drinking. You do not have to drink
when other people drink. If someone gives you a drink, it is OK say no. Stay away
from people or places that make you drink. Do not keep alcohol at home.
If
you cannot stop drinking, GET HELP. You may have a disease called alcoholism.
There
are programs that can help you stop drinking. They are called
alcohol
treatment programs. Your
doctor or nurse can find a program to help you. Even if you have been
through a treatment program before, try it again. There are programs
just for women.
You
can get help from a doctor, nurse, social worker, pastor, or clinics and programs near you.
For confidential information, you can contact:
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
National Council on Alcoholism
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse
National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
1. Can I drink alcohol
if I am pregnant?
2. Is any kind of alcohol
safe to drink during pregnancy?
3. What if I drank during
my last pregnancy and my baby was fine?
4. Will these problems
go away?
5. What if I am pregnant
and have been drinking?
6. How can I stop drinking?
For help and information
check your local phone book for
listings in your area
Internet address: http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org
and Drug Dependence
12 West 21st Street
New York, NY 10010
(800) 622-2255
Internet address: http://www.ncadd.org
and Alcoholism
6000 Executive Boulevard, Suite 409
Bethesda, MD 20892-7003
(301) 443-3860
Internet address: http://www.niaaa.nih.gov
1819
H Street, NW, Suite 750
Washington, DC 20006
(800) 66-NOFAS
Internet address: http://www.nofas.org
Single copies of Drinking and Your Pregnancy may be ordered by writing to NIAAA or by ordering online
Written Request:
NIAAA
Publication Distribution Center
P.O. Box 10686
Rockville, MD 20849-6086
Cost: FREE
Reproduced from the National Institues for Health.
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