Is it OK if a woman drinks moderate amounts of alcohol while pregnant?
When I was pregnant in England in 1992 with my first son, my doctor told me it was okay to drink and added, “Don’t go out and drink quarts of vodka every day, but no one has ever given birth to a baby with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and said, gosh, I shouldn’t have had that glass of chardonnay last week.” In Europe, doctors tell women they can drink a glass of wine here or there. The rationale is that although heavy drinking has been proven dangerous, there is no proof that moderate drinking is dangerous. Here in America, doctors typically tell women to avoid all alcohol. Q: So do you think having a drink now and then during pregnancy is a personal choice? A: Absolutely. I think that a woman should be as relaxed as she can during pregnancy, not only for the health of the fetus but because it’s the right attitude to embark on parenting. If you are going to stress out over that one drink, forget it. But if you believe that an occasional few sips is relaxing and probably not dangerous (as I d
