Health Minister Jillian Skinner has instructed pregnant women to have "zero tolerance" or risk the health of their unborn child. Her blunt warning comes as academics continue to investigate the effects of low-range drinking during pregnancy.
A recent British study found the children of mothers who drank moderately - between three to seven glasses of alcohol per week - had better balance at the age of 10. Ms Skinner said the mixed messages about drinking had created a dilemma for many pregnant women.
"A zero tolerance of alcohol during pregnancy gives your baby the best possible start in life," she said. However, Dr Delyse Hutchinson from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, said the adverse impacts of low-level drinking was still unclear.
Dr Hutchinson is leading the first large-scale Australian study into substance abuse among pregnant women, examining the effects of both alcohol and drugs on 2000 families during the prenatal period on infant development and family functioning.
"We know that a fairly large proportion of women do drink during pregnancy - between a third and half do drink during pregnancy but most drink at very low levels," she said. "We know that heavy drinking during pregnancy has significant effects on the broad physical health and development of infants, including lower intellectual functioning.
"However, there is not a lot of research on the impact of low levels of drinking and this is one of the aims of our study."
NSW Kids and Families, a branch of NSW Health, is leading the push to urge women to abstain from drinking during pregnancy.
Its senior clinical adviser for obstetrics, Dr Michael Nicholl, said the latest health data showed 47 per cent of pregnant women consumed alcohol with 20 per cent continuing to drink after learning they were expecting.
"Pregnant women should understand that when you drink alcohol, so does your baby," he said. "It's just not worth the risk."
The NSW government campaign, which coincides with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Day on Tuesday, is set to reignite the debate over how much is too much among expectant mums.
Ms Skinner said: "As Health Minister, I feel sure that if NSW Kids and Families - which harnesses the best data and clinical minds - concludes a zero tolerance approach is best, then it is best." University of Western Sydney Midwifery Professor Hannah Dahlen said there had been an increased incidence in babies being born with Foetal Alcohlol Syndrome, especially among middle-class women.
"We've seen some babies born with foetal alcohol syndrome to women who only had one or two drinks in a week," she said. "Babies go through such rapid development the whole way through birth, so it's not about just being careful in the first eight weeks - the brain develops through the whole of the pregnancy.
"The message is to not drink at all because we just don't know a safe level of drinking."
Article: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
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