Survey shows prospective mums confused by dangers of drinking

By ELEANOR BLACK

A survey has found that over 80 per cent of pregnant teenagers and nearly 40 per cent of expectant adults expose their unborn children to the risk of permanent brain damage by drinking.

Researchers from Massey University, who interviewed nearly 500 midwives, found that many women were getting conflicting advice from their doctors about the dangers of drinking while pregnant and did not understand why it was unsafe.

The survey, which took in 14,100 of the 56,550 births in 1999, found that 82 per cent of teenage mothers and 36 per cent of adult women had at least one drink while pregnant, even when they knew it was dangerous.

Ten or 11 per cent of the women involved drank at levels that put their babies at "fairly high risk" of developing behavioural problems, concentration difficulties and even retardation and flattened facial features.

Nearly 5 per cent drank more than one glass of alcohol a day and 4 per cent were classed as binge or heavy drinkers.

Survey coordinator Dr Kathy Kitson said it was not known what level of alcohol consumption was safe during pregnancy and the best policy was to cut it out altogether.

But according to the midwives, many obstetrician/gynaecologists told patients up to 14 drinks a week was safe.

The Ministry of Health estimates that two or three babies per 1000 live births have foetal alcohol syndrome and four or five per 1000 have partial effects.

Doctoral student Margot Symes, who is writing a thesis on foetal brain damage, said a woman could drink as little as two glasses of wine and cause permanent damage to her baby, depending on its developmental stage.

Many thought it was okay to take part in toasts at special occasions or to celebrate their pregnancy with a glass of bubbly, but they were putting their babies in grave danger.

"Some women who are alcoholics will have perfect babies and others who have one drink will have a baby with brain damage. There is no rhyme or reason to it."