Can I drink alcohol when pregnant or breastfeeding?

Drinking alcohol whilst pregnant

When you drink, so does your baby.  Alcohol enters your bloodstream and is carried through the placenta directly into your baby. 

By not drinking alcohol when you are pregnant you can increase the chances of having a healthy, normal baby. 

If you do drink alcohol during pregnancy, this can cause brain damage to the developing foetus and that damage can be permanent.  This type of damage is called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or FAS for short. 

FAS babies grow into FAS children and adults with learning disabilities and behaviour problems severe enough that many need to be looked after, forever. 

Is it safe to drink at all whilst pregnant? 

The more you drink, the greater the risk of damage to your unborn child.  However, even as little as 1 or 2 drinks can affect your baby's ability to learn.  And it does not matter whether those drinks are wine, spirits, RTDs or beer.  Although it is possible that babies can appear to have no apparent damage done where their mothers have just had the odd drink, this is NO guarantee of safety as it is impossible to know when harm will occur to the developing baby.  

Therefore, the only way to be certain that your baby will not have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is to not drink any alcohol at all whilst pregnant. 

Breastfeeding

Alcohol will continue to be passed directly to your baby if there is alcohol in your bloodstream when you are breastfeeding.  At this very young age, the baby's brain cells are still forming and the alcohol can interfere with the healthy formation of your baby's brain. It can also make your baby feel irritable and unsettled.  Drinking alcohol reduces the amount of milk a breastfeeding mother can produce too. 

For these reasons it is recommended not to drink at all when breastfeeding.

What can I do if I have any concerns?

If you think you are pregnant or know that you are but have been drinking during your pregnancy, then aim to stop drinking now.  It's never too late and by stopping you are increasing your baby's chances of being healthy. 

If you need help to stop, want to talk through your concerns or need more information, call the Alcohol Drug Helpline on 0800 787 797.