The thin line that separates completely abstaining from alcohol during pregnancy or drinking a glass from time to time is thin. Many women think that it is worse to suppress the urge to drink than occasional consumption.
However, it is not known for sure how much alcohol affects each woman during pregnancy, so the most sensible as advised by experts is zero alcohol during pregnancy and even before conception.
Statistics indicate that one in every thousand newborn babies suffers from behavioral disorders and developmental problems due to the alcohol the mother has drunk, a prevalence comparable to serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
In the most severe cases of alcohol consumption, one in every hundred babies is born with fetal alcohol syndrome (SAF), but specialists tend to talk more and more about the fetal alcohol spectrum that covers one in every thousand newborn babies.
These babies may be affected by alterations in behavior, in the ability to concentrate, learn and adapt to school, symptoms very similar to those of children suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In fact, alcohol during pregnancy is the main cause of mental retardation and malformations such as cleft lip.
For their part, these children will be more vulnerable to suffer from psychiatric disorders in adolescence and to abuse substances such as drugs or alcohol, experts say.
Therefore, the only prevention that pregnant women have is to abstain from alcohol even before seeking pregnancy, as it can have a toxic effect before conception.
However, even 25% of pregnant women drink alcohol. Perhaps due to ignorance of the effects that may have on your future baby or lack of will, but as we do not know at what point we can become part of that "spectrum", it is best to stay without drinking alcohol. Nor is it such a big effort when it comes to the health of your future child.
