Wine During Pregnancy: What Europe Allows
Is it even legal to drink while pregnant?
In the U.S., if you were to drink while pregnant, oh the looks of horror that would be directed at you. People in America look at drinking while pregnant as being completely anathema or sacrilegious. You should be all about taking care of your baby’s health, not drinking, right?
Well, not everyone in the world is as careful about drinking while pregnant as we are. In fact, in many parts of the world, pregnant mothers still drink regularly. The mindset in these other regions of the world are just different than the Western mentality, but are they wrong?
Does Drinking Affect Unborn Children?
According to a study published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a bit of drinking during pregnancy isn’t actually bad for your child’s health/.In this study, the researchers followed more than 1,600 pregnant women, monitoring their behavior–specifically in regards to their alcohol consumption. Once the mothers gave birth, the monitoring continued until the children reached the age of 5, when they were given intelligence, attention, and executive function tests.
When the researchers studied the data collected, they found NO significant difference between the intelligence, attention, and executive functions of children belonging to mothers who drank and mothers who did not. Whether the mothers drank occasionally or even went on the occasional binge, the alcohol didn’t have too much of an effect on the child’s health or brain functions.
What does this mean? Essentially, it means that drinking while may not be as harmful for your child’s health as we once believed.
Doctors and obstetricians have always counseled AGAINST drinking, citing the strain that alcohol places on your body as well as the increased risk of birth defects and damage to the fetus. But, if this study proves anything, it’s that a few glasses of wine every week isn’t going to harm your child!
