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DomerJenC
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Study: Light drinking during pg doesn't harm baby
DomerJenC
member
https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aPY7A6g4q.EY&refer=home
Mom's Light Drinking Doesn't Harm Unborn Babies, Study Finds
By Chantal Britt
Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Expecting mothers who have an alcoholic drink or two a week do no harm to their unborn children and may have sons who are better behaved, a study said.
Babies born to light drinkers aren't at greater risk of developing conduct problems, attention deficit disorders or poor memory, researchers led by Yvonne Kelly at University College London said in a study. At the age of three, sons of light drinkers had less trouble learning and were better behaved than those of abstinent mothers, even when a range of family and socioeconomic factors were taken into account.
Heavy drinking during pregnancy has been shown to hurt the growth and development of the child. Doctors and regulators generally recommend that expectant mothers abstain because of the risk of fetal alcohol syndrome, which is linked to problems understanding, learning and interacting with others. The UCL study, which was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, is one of the first assessing the risks of light drinking during pregnancy.
``Light drinking by pregnant mothers doesn't increase the risk of behavioral difficulties or cognitive deficits,'' Kelly said in the study. ``For some behavioral and cognitive outcomes children born to light drinkers were less likely to have problems compared to children of abstinent mothers.''
Boys born to mothers who drank lightly had 40 percent fewer conduct problems and were 30 percent less likely to be hyperactive, the study showed. They also had higher scores on tests of vocabulary and could better identify colors, shapes, letters and numbers compared with those born to abstainers.
Emotional Symptoms
Girls born to light drinkers were 30 percent less likely to have emotional symptoms and peer problems compared with those born to abstainers, although this may in part be due to family and social background.
``Light drinkers tend to be more socially advantaged than abstainers,'' Kelly said. ``It may also be that light-drinking mothers tend to be more relaxed themselves and this contributes to better behavioral and cognitive outcomes in their children.''
Kelly assessed behavior and cognitive performance on 12,495 three-year-old children and related them to their mothers' drinking patterns during pregnancy. Light drinkers tended to be better educated with higher incomes.
Almost two thirds of mothers said they didn't drink alcohol during pregnancy, 29 percent were light, 6 percent moderate and 2 percent heavy drinkers. As seen before, children born to heavy drinkers were more likely to have problems compared with children of mothers who drank no alcoholic beverages.
The findings raise questions as to whether the current push to recommend complete abstinence during pregnancy is merited, Kelly said. However, alcohol consumption during pregnancy may still cause problems later in the children's lives, Kelly said.
``Problem behaviors or cognitive deficits may become apparent in these children at older ages, and the evidence presented should be used to guide future research and inform policy,'' Kelly said. ``Research is needed on the timing and quantity of drinking during pregnancy.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Chantal Britt at cbritt@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 31, 2008 03:44 EDT
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Study: Light drinking during pg doesn't harm baby
I drank w/ Jackson. That's right, judge me! But he'll be less likely to have conduct problems.
Seriously, wine is good for you, everyone should drink it.
Joseph Henry was born at home on March 9, 2009
Nora Mae was born at home on October 30, 2011
I have two "Look at me, I'm in the humanities!"
questions:
---Is that a solid sample size? It certainly seems large
scale to me, but the sort of human subjects research
I do generally involves 5-100 people, nowhere near
the numbers they're using.
--- Are they following these same kids for another 15
years to try to see what happens? I can't tell from
the way this summary is written, and I'm curious.
I guess what I'm thinking is that I like these findings
because I never planned on not drinking while
pregnant, especially since I'd always thought the
US was in the minority for expecting total abstinence from
alcohol during pregnancy. Like Beth, I believe wine is
good. I might even need a glass tonight...
Mother's Day, 2011
Everyone has their different views on this. I say do what you want. I decided not to and have not had a drink since Oct '07. It honestly has not been that hard for me not too, so I continue not to. Once I am done nursing Gracie or substitute one of the nursing with formula, then I will go back to having my glass of wine.
I don't judge people that do drink. I honestly never knew that you could until I saw my cousin drinking a glass of wine when she was about 7mos pg. I couldn't believe it and I mentioned it to my sister and she told me that it's pretty much harmless if you don't consume too much.
~GRACIE JEAN 7-5-08~
I am assuming that this is a retroactive study... ask ladies how much they drank and then draw conclusions. Hence the confounders w/ personality and such. It seems relatively legit though. I'm not a huge fan of their "your kids will be well behaved" theme in the article, I find it interesting enough that they found no *harm* in it.
Joseph Henry was born at home on March 9, 2009
Nora Mae was born at home on October 30, 2011
Yeah, I'm not sure I buy the idea that mom's habits
during pregnancy can make the kid better behaved,
more well adjusted, or have a better vocabulary. I'm
thinking those things have to do with the other side of
the cervix
Mother's Day, 2011
I didn't drink other than a few sips of Mike's beer from time to time, and I honestly didn't miss it. My heartburn was so bad, however, that even thinking about drinking wine made me cringe!
A friend of mine drank, I think more than a glass or two of wine a week, during pregnancy. Throughout mine, she kept almost pressuring me to drink...maybe to justify her decision. She kept saying how her daughter is perfectly fine, so I should just relax and have a drink. However, at 16 months, her daugher isn't talking at all yet, and I have trouble not wondering if it's perhaps due to the alcohol.