Alcohol and pregnancy

The UK's Chief Medical Officers recommend that, if you are pregnant or planning to get pregnant, the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all. This will keep the risks to your baby to a minimum. Drinking in pregnancy can lead to long-term harm to the baby. The more you drink, the more the risk.

When you drink alcohol, it passes through the blood through the placenta to the baby. A baby's liver is one of the last organs to develop and doesn't mature until later in pregnancy. Your baby therefore cannot process alcohol as well as you can and too much exposure affects their development.

Drinking alcohol, especially in the first three months of pregnancy, increases the risk of miscarriage, premature birth and your baby having a low birth weight. Drinking after the first 3 months of your pregnancy could affect your baby after they’re born. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause your baby to develop a serious health condition called fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

Drinking less heavily, and even drinking heavily on single occasions, may be associated with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, a term which covers many conditions which affect the baby physically, behaviourally and emotionally. The risk is likely to be greater the more you drink. The safest approach is to not drink alcohol at all during pregnancy. 

Local support services are listed below:

• Hull: ReNew https://www.changegrowlive.org/hull-renew 
• East Riding: East Riding Partnership https://www.humber.nhs.uk/Services/east-riding-partnership.htm 
• North Yorkshire: North Yorkshire Horizons https://www.nyhorizons.org.uk/ 
• York: Changing Lives https://www.changing-lives.org.uk/services/drug-alcohol/ 
• North Lincolnshire: https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/services/north-lincolnshire/ 
• North East Lincolnshire: https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/services/north-east-lincolnshire/