Alcohol Use and Pregnancy

The pregnant mother who drinks is directly feeding her unborn baby on alcohol. Every time you drink alcohol, your baby drinks too!

The unborn baby

Alcohol interferes with the supply of oxygen and other nutrients from the mother to the unborn baby. This disrupts the normal development of brain cells as well as that of other body organs.

The Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

The unborn child has little tolerance for alcohol. As a result, a baby born to a mother who abuses alcohol during pregnancy is likely to develop serious mental and physical defects known as Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).

The risks of FAS increase with the amount of alcohol consumed and the number of times that you consume it. Foetal Alcohol Syndrome and other defects caused by maternal alcohol abuse are permanent, resulting into serious handicaps that require a lifetime of special care.

Safe drinking?

There is no ‘safe amount of alcohol’ during pregnancy. Alcohol damages your unborn baby at any stage of development, both early and late pregnancy.

Effects

Low birth weight, a small head, small brain and small body size.

Severe mental retardation and learning disabilities.

Deformed or missing fingers and toes.

Small eye openings that cannot see far, drooping eyelids and poor eye coordination.

Short up-turned nose and low-set or poorly formed ears.

Congenital heart defects such as faulty valves or heart murmurs

Malformations of the genitalia

Harelip or opening in roof of mouth and cleft palate

Poor coordination of the body limbs especially the hands and fingers.

Do not gamble with your unborn baby’s future, abstain from drinking alcohol during pregnancy! If you find it hard to stop, please seek help from a health professional.

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