Your friend Jane is pregnant and you go out to a party with a group of friends. You see Jane take a beer and begin drinking it. Describe what you would say to Jane to tactfully address this situation

Answer 1

How does alcohol get into the baby's body?
Alcohol consumed by a pregnant woman travels through her bloodstream and across the placenta to her baby. The unborn baby's body can metabolize the alcohol, but it does so at a much slower rate than the adult body. As a result, the alcohol level in the baby's blood is higher than in the mother's, and the alcohol remains in the baby's blood longer.

How much alcohol does a woman have to drink to cause fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)?
Women who drink frequently (more than four alcoholic beverages a day) seriously increase the likelihood that their babies will have FAS. Binge drinking (four or more drinks per occasion) is an especially hazardous drinking pattern in terms of FAS risk. However, no quantity of alcohol use during pregnancy has been established to be safe. Effects of FAS have been seen in children whose mothers drank only moderately or lightly during pregnancy. An average of one drink a day increases a baby's risk of FAS. Children with FAS do not outgrow the signs (e.g., mental retardation, hyperactivity, learning problems, and seizures). These problems are lifelong.

How can FAS be prevented?
Unlike most birth defects, FAS is completely preventable, because its direct cause—maternal drinking—is a controllable behavior. Simply put, pregnant women can prevent FAS by not consuming alcohol. No amount of alcohol use during pregnancy has been proven to be safe. For that reason, any woman who suspects she might be pregnant should stop drinking immediately. Women who are attempting to get pregnant should not drink alcohol. Because many women of childbearing age drink regularly, it's likely that their babies will be exposed to alcohol before pregnancy is detected. It is common for a woman to be pregnant for four to six weeks before she knows she is pregnant. Alcohol can hurt a baby even during the first one to two months of pregnancy, and no type of alcoholic beverage—beer, wine, wine coolers, and liquor (whiskey, vodka, tequila, gin, and rum)—is exempt. The bottom line? Everything a woman eats or drinks affects her baby. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders could be completely eliminated if pregnant women did not consume alcohol.