Alcohol, smoking and pregnancy

Any amount of alcohol or tobacco can harm an unborn child

Drinking or smoking during pregnancy can cause developmental and sometimes fatal consequences for your baby.

While this information may be well-known across the world, many pregnant women seem to ignore it.

New research revealed by the Foundation for Alcohol Related Research (FARR) two years ago found that no amount of alcohol is safe during pregnancy.

FARR chief executive officer Leana Olivier said even the smallest amount of alcohol exposes the unborn foetus to the risk of developing Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

East London-based Dr Daya Appavoo said FASD affected a baby's physical features, impaired their ability to function properly and interfered with brain development and IQ.

“In many cases, this condition surfaces at school, where the child may have low performance or show an inability to focus,” he said.

“This is a huge problem in the country right now in many communities where pregnant women continue to drink. There have been numerous studies done on this topic, especially in the Western Cape.”

One such study, headed by Prof Hein Odendaal, found that babies born to women who drank and smoked during pregnancy also stood a greater chance of sudden infant death syndrome and a higher stillbirth rate.

The study sample was a total of 12,000 pregnant women, 7,000 of whom were based in Cape Town, and 5,000 pregnant women from the US, who either drank or smoked during their pregnancy.

The study, released in July this year, and which ran over a period of seven years, was conducted simultaneously in South Africa and the United States.