During pregnancy, drinking is dangerous for your baby. When you are pregnant, your baby grows inside you, so everything that you eat and drink affects your baby. If you drink alcohol, it can affect your baby's growth. Your baby may develop physical and behavioral problems that can last for the rest of his life. Children born with serious problems caused by alcohol have foetal alcohol syndrome. Children that suffer from Foetal alcohol syndromes were often born small, have often problems for eating and sleeping, have often problems for seeing and hearing, often find it difficult to follow directions and learn how to do simple things, have trouble paying attention and learning at school, often suffer from relational disorders
6 Questions about drinking and your pregnancy
1. Can I drink alcohol if I'm pregnant? No. Do not drink alcohol when you are pregnant. When you drink alcohol, so does your baby.
2. Is any kind of alcohol safe to drink during pregnancy? No. Drinking any kind of alcohol when you are pregnant can hurt your baby. Alcoholic drinks are beer, wine, liquor, or mixed drinks. A glass of wine, a can of beer, and a mixed drink all have about the same amount of alcohol.
3. I drank during my last pregnancy and my baby was fine. You were lucky this time. 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.
4. Will foetal alcohol syndromes go away? 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.
5. What If I'm pregnant and have been drinking? 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.
6. How Can I Stop Drinking? When you think about your baby it is so easy and natural to stop drinking! If you cannot stop drinking, get help. You may have a disease called alcoholism. There are programs that can help you to stop drinking. 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.