Pregnant Women
Excessive drinking in pregnancy is the cause of Fetal alcohol syndrome (BE: foetal alcohol syndrome), especially in the first eight to twelve weeks of pregnancy. Therefore, advice for pregnant women is different from those who are not. It is not known whether there is a safe minimum amount of alcohol consumption, although low levels of drinking are not known to be harmful. As there may be some weeks between conception and confirmation of pregnancy, most countries recommend that women trying to become pregnant should follow the guidelines for pregnant women.
- Australia: Total abstinence during pregnancy and if planning a pregnancy (New guidelines were adopted on 6 March 2009).
- Canada: "Don't drink if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant."
- France: Total abstinence
- Iceland: Advise that pregnant women abstain from alcohol during pregnancy because no safe consumption level exists.
- Israel: Total abstinence
- The Netherlands: Abstinence
- New Zealand: "Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant should avoid drinking alcohol. The message from health practitioners to abstain from alcohol during the entire pregnancy is unequivocal and should be promoted by all health practitioners."
- Norway: Abstinence
- UK: Avoid alcohol for first 3 months of pregnancy. NICE guidelines issued in March 2007 state, "If you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, you should try to avoid alcohol completely in the first 3 months of pregnancy because there may be an increased risk of miscarriage. If you choose to drink while you are pregnant, you should drink no more than 1 or 2 UK units of alcohol once or twice a week. There is uncertainty about how much alcohol is safe to drink in pregnancy, but at this low level there is no evidence of any harm to the unborn baby. You should not get drunk or binge drink (drinking more than 7.5 UK units of alcohol on a single occasion) while you are pregnant because this can harm your unborn baby."
- US: Total abstinence during pregnancy and while planning to become pregnant
In short, all countries listed above, with the exception of the UK, recommend that pregnant women abstain from alcohol consumption.
Read more about this topic: Recommended Maximum Intake Of Alcoholic Beverages
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