Avoid alcohol in pregnancy

Responding to the release of UK's NICE antenatal guidelines for pregnant women, Mervi Jokinen of the Royal College of Midwives, UK, said: "We welcome the guidelines which are evidence based, but feel that more clarity is needed about pregnancy and alcohol.

"Midwives are there to discuss the evidence with women and encourage informed choice about drinking alcohol when pregnant. However, we are concerned that many women will be unsure about what a unit of alcohol is, and therefore may drink more than the guidelines recommend.

"There is indeed no evidence to suggest that low levels of alcohol are harmful to the baby after the first three months of pregnancy. However, our advice is to remove all doubt and avoid alcohol whilst pregnant, and for women to stop drinking alcohol if they are trying to start a family. The advice on avoiding binge drinking is also a public health message for everybody, not just pregnant women.

"We also support the advice on earlier screening outlined in the guidelines. However, earlier screening needs earlier contact with a midwife. We have got to make sure that midwives are therefore quickly and easily accessible in the community, and that they are the first point of contact for newly pregnant women."


(Editor compiled and published Avoid alcohol in pregnancy at HealthNewsTrack on March 27, 2008 sourced from Royal College of Midwives - http://www.rcm.org.uk/)

Pregnancy - recent articles and current news stories:

- Pregnant women spend longer in labor now than 50 years ago
- Family preferences influence decision making in very premature deliveries
- Antidepressants use in pregnancy may risk newborn with high blood pressure
- Malaria during pregnancy first trimester - antimalarial is safe
- Low risk pregnant women can opt for home birth

Most related articles:

- Avoid alcohol in pregnancy
- Alcohol in pregnancy leads to child behavior problems - 5.9
- Smoking in pregnancy causes psychotic symptoms in teenager - 4.9
- Moderate alcohol intake reduces gallstone risk - 4.4
- Pregnancy is safe for multiple sclerosis patients - 4.2

More related articles:

- Avoid alcohol, Pregnancy, Pregnant, Midwives, Alcohol, Drinking alcohol, Binge drinking
- Binge drinking culture in young people - 22.5
- Binge drinking may increase heart disease risk - 20.7
- Binge drinking among older Americans - a study - 20.2
- Alcohol in pregnancy leads to child behavior problems - 19.6

Pregnancy related articles:

- Weight loss between pregnancies lowers gestational diabetes GDM risk - 3.9
- Pregnancy hormone predicts postpartum depression - 3.5
- Pregnancy doubles HIV risk in men - 3.5
- Pregnancy test at home for better prenatal care - 3.4
- Developing a genetic test for pregnancy risks - 3.3

Pregnancy article/news source:

Read more health articles from Royal College of Midwives and health articles from UK.

Pregnancy - search related terms:

Alcohol, Avoid alcohol, Binge drinking, Drinking alcohol, Midwives, Pregnancy, Pregnant,
Pregnancy books,

Searched keywords: pregnancy (6),

List health news, Health organizations, Health news world, Glossary, Best health articles, Featured     Go to top

The information provided on Health Newstrack is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her physician. We comply with the HONcode principles for trustworthy health information, and Health News Track is hon code accredited, verify here.
About us, Site map Privacy policy, Disclaimer
© 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 HealthNewsTrack.com
3.26