Alcohol and pregnancy......Be Careful

Well I don't mean to stir it up but if the baby is inderweight but not ill surely it is a good thing. As thin is beautiful!!

Don't really mean it...

Hi Karen I could not agree more with what you say. Alcohol if abused in unit consumption is a fatal potion for any one in general- pregnant or not.
Have a nice day
Kacy

Drinking alcohol during pregnancy was a definite no,no for me. Women were very conscious of what they consumed during the nine months, and it continued that way for as long as the baby was being breast fed. Another practice that women chose over bottle feeding. However as the years have passed, some young mums have taken on a very much different attitude to their pregnancies and cater for their own needs i.e. substance abuse, rather than that of the developing foetus and newborn through to infancy.In my work as a Registered Nurse, both working in the community as a District Nurse, and lately on night shifts at an Accident and Emergency Clinic, I am constantly seeing the sad effects of teenage pregnant girls repeatedly getting drunk and doing hard drugs. There is plenty of information out there through Family Planning, Sexual Health Clinics, but sadly these young girls think that they are ten foot tall and bullet proof. They can only live in the day, rather than the nine months of pregnancy and they have become selfish and wanting only to get pleasure for themselves, nevermind their unborn child. It is a global sickness, Governments are trying to put education about foetal alcohol syndrome out there. I wonder who is going to take responsibility for this growing epidemic of substance abuse young women. Schools are also trying, perhaps it goes back to the family environment that such young women grew up in. I do feel all parents have to be responsible for bringing their children up as law abiding citizens, and therefore a greater part of the responsibility rests with them.......

Please do not send a personal message with your blogs, as I will read them when I log on. I use personal messaging for one to one communication.
Thanks.

Hi Karen

I am a public health consultant and have been involved in control programmes. Fortunately, in my country of birth, alchol consumption among women is confined to a handful of urban women. Pregnancy perid is considerd special and extra caution is given to it. So, Fetal alchol syndrome is not common.
On my experience in designing programmes for prevention of alchol among men, we never highlight perceived benefical effect of wine on reduction of cardio vascular diseses especially atherosclerosis as results are confusing and confounded by other factors. I have prepared an article on this which is accessible in the publication page(WER) of the www.epid.gov.lk.

So best thing is to highlight the need for avoiding alchol during the pregnancy rather than concentrationg on safe consumption levels. It is really difficult to draw the line of margin and there could be inter individual variability of metabolism and as a result of sytemic concentration.
So it is better to part with such ideas. Highlight the adverse effect of use

cheers

At the school I'm teaching, there's a few of the kids that look like they have alcohol fetal syndrome which makes it quite embarrassing when I have to teach about it!