Motherly Advice

Don't drink while pregnant

When they learn the stork is on the way, many couples celebrate with wine or champagne. In the future that tradition may be carried on by the father alone. The U.S. Surgeon General has now advised pregnant women, and those trying to become pregnant, to avoid all alcohol because of potential danger to the fetus.

The new caution extends earlier warnings on the hazards of heavy drinking during pregnancy. Studies have shown that 30% to 45% of infants born to women who drink upwards of 3 oz. of pure alcohol daily (the equivalent of six or more cocktails) have a set of defects known collectively as fetal alcohol syndrome. Its ravages include mental retardation, growth deficiencies and distinctive facial features. Similar problems occur in about 10% of the babies born to women who consume 1 to 2 oz. of alcohol a day.

The dangers of lighter drinking by pregnant women are not firmly established, but research suggests there is some risk. For example, reports have linked drinking 1 oz. of alcohol a day to low birth weights and 2 oz. a week with an increased risk of spontaneous abortions. Findings such as these were enough to prompt the Surgeon General's warning. Says John DeLuca, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism:

"It's really quite simple--we don't know a safe level. I can't say that one drink is safe and 1 1/2 are not."

Most experts on fetal alcohol syndrome believe that abstinence is the most prudent course, but a few are concerned that the official warning was based on inconclusive evidence. Dr. Henry Rosett of Boston University School of Medicine notes that many obstetricians believe that small amounts of alcohol are harmless and relaxing, and they allow pregnant patients a glass of wine with the evening meal. Dr. Joe Simpson of Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago worries about instilling guilt in women who take an occasional drink: "Even if the studies are correct, it need not follow that every woman who had a drink and miscarried or had a baby with a problem did so because of alcohol. But women are going to assume it was the one drink they took while pregnant." Even so, most experts acknowledge that the warning is justified. Says Dr. Sterling Clarren of the University of Washington School of Medicine: "Women who drink small amounts of alcohol during pregnancy take a risk which is probably small, but it is not zero."

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