The Effects of Drinking While Pregnant
Dealing with an alcohol addiction while pregnant can prove not only challenging, but also extremely stressful if you are having problems maintaining a level of sobriety throughout the process. Because your actions affect not only yourself, but also your child, it is important to know the effects of drinking while pregnant.
According to BMJ, an open access journal that publishes medical research from all disciplines and therapeutic areas, consumption of alcohol during pregnancy is “a significant public health concern.” Not only can drinking alcohol during pregnancy cause your child to have lifelong health problems, but it is also the main cause of miscarriage, preterm birth and stillbirth.
Because the baby consumes the same things that you do, drinking an amount of alcohol that may be fine for your body to break down is not the same for a baby’s. It can hinder your child’s development, as well as lead to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). While this can cause great harm to your baby’s mental and physical development, alcohol can also cause your child to have:
- Behavioral problems
- Birth defects
- Hearing or vision problems
- Intellectual disabilities
- Learning problems
- Low birthweight
- Sleeping problems
- Speech problems
In order to prevent any of the above problems from affecting your unborn child, it is important to make sure that you get the necessary help for your alcohol addiction. For a quality women’s recovery and sober living facility for alcohol and drug addiction, call Awakenings for Women in Boca Raton today.