ALCOHOL: Unsafe during Pregnancy

• Alcohol is a toxin.
• When you drink alcohol, it rapidly reaches your baby through the placenta, via your bloodstream. Heavy, regular or binge drinking can cause miscarriage and premature birth.
• Too much alcohol can even increase the risk of your baby being still born.
• If you drink too much alcohol during pregnancy, it can permanently damage your developing baby's cells. This could affect how your baby's face, organs and brain grow. 
• Heavy drinking can also damage your baby's nervous system. This can mean that your baby develops fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), with problems that can range from mild learning difficulties or social problems, through to birth defects. 
• Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is at the extreme end of the spectrum of disorders.
• Babies with FAS tend to have facial defects, be born small, and carry on being small for their age.
• They also have learning difficulties, poor muscle tone and coordination, and behavioural problems, for the rest of their lives.