PUNCH
Physicians have warned that women consuming alcohol during pregnancy stand the risk of having babies with small heads also known as microcephaly.
According to medical experts, alcohol consumption during pregnancy irrespective of the quantity exposes the unborn baby to the risk of poor brain development.
The experts stated this in separate interviews with PUNCH HealthWise, warning that alcohol in pregnancy could cause birth defects.
A consultant gynaecologist, Dr. Stanley Egbogu, told our correspondent that alcohol doesn’t serve any good to pregnant women saying, “What we advise is that they should abstain from alcohol. That is the baseline.”
Egbogu, who works at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital, Awka, Anambra, stated that at any level, alcohol was not good for the baby.
The gynaecologist decried the attitude of some women who underestimate the impact of alcohol consumption during pregnancy and still indulge in the act.
“Normally, if a woman has not been taking alcohol, most likely she will not take it during pregnancy. So, you have a situation where most women may have been taking alcohol before even they got pregnant.
“Alcohol affects every organ of the baby and might lead to a baby having a small head – microcephaly. It affects the heart, kidney, and liver of the baby,” he said.
According to him, microcephaly is a condition in which a baby’s head is significantly smaller than expected, often due to abnormal brain development.
Egbogu urged pregnant women still taking alcohol to stop while reminding them that there is no known safe amount of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
Data from the American Addiction Centres showed that taking alcohol during pregnancy was the leading preventable cause of birth defects.
“Pregnant women and those trying to become pregnant should avoid alcohol completely until after the baby is born. Despite varying guidelines, there is simply no safe amount of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
“Drinking alcohol of any kind during pregnancy can cause premature labour, miscarriage, stillbirth, and a range of developmental, physical, mental, and emotional disabilities and disorders in the baby, collectively referred to as…
