Question: Is it true that when a lady is pregnant and consumes alcohol, her baby also consumes alcohol and can affect the baby later on in life?

Simon Langley-Evans answered on 12 Nov 2013:

Most of the things that a woman eats, drinks or smokes will pass into her bloodstream. THe things in her blood will then travel to the placenta. The placenta stops some things from crossing to the baby that might cause harm but alcohol is able to cross to the baby. The more that the woman drinks, the more alcohol gets to the baby.

Alcohol is nasty stuff that is actually pretty toxic. In adults it can cause cancer and damage the liver. In the baby that is still growing and developing the same sort of damage can occur and be very harmful. Some babies are born with a condition called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome because their mothers drank too much during pregnancy. These children grow up to have learning and behavioural problems because their brains are damaged and they also tend to be small and grow poorly. The best advice is for pregnant women to stop drinking altogether to avoid the risk.