According to a report in Science Daily, a new study from Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research concluded that consuming alcohol during pregnancy can affect a child's behavior in many ways.
A study which included more than 2000 mothers who answered a questionnaire after three months of delivering a baby and later were followed up as the child grew to 2, 5 and 8 years of age showed how the impact was on the child given different amount of alcohol consumed during pregnancy, says Lead author Colleen O'Leary in a report from Science Daily.
"Mothers who reported what we would classify as heavy drinking in the first trimester of pregnancy were nearly three times as likely to report that their child suffered with anxiety and/or depression or somatic complaints," Ms O'Leary said. "Those who drank moderately during that first trimester were twice as likely to report those types of behavioural issues for their child.
According to the same report, Ms O'leary said that regardless of the drinking habit being moderate or heavy during their late pregnancy, the impact was shown in the child's behavior and posed a higher risk of aggressive type of behavior.
"This research suggests that both the timing and the intensity of alcohol exposure in the womb affect the type of behaviour problems expressed," she further added. Hence the risk to the baby increased with an increase amount of alcohol consumption as low levels of alcohol did not enhance the risk to the child, a study report said in Science Daily.
"It should also be noted that in this study moderate exposure is classified as drinking 3-4 standard drinks per occasion- that's about two normal glasses of wine-and no more than a bottle of wine drunk over a week," she said referring to the limitation of consuming alcohol specially during pregnancy and noted that heavy drinking would be if exceeding more than a bottle or equivalent amount per week.
According to the report in Science Daily, Ms O'Leary advised not to be alarmed and be panicked if learned about this study after consuming alcohol while pregnant. "Not every smoker gets lung cancer despite them being at higher risk - and in this case, not every child will be affected by prenatal exposure to alcohol. However it is important that women have this information about increased risk so that they can make informed decisions to give their child the best start to life," Ms O'Leary said.
