Mothers May Under-Report Alcohol

While mothers know that alcohol consumption is not recommended at all during pregnancy, research suggests that mothers may be under-reporting alcohol use.

It is generally understood that as soon as women become pregnant, alcohol is considered to be off-limits. Experts do not recommend any levels of alcohol that are safe so mothers are told that she should plan to avoid consuming alcohol at all during pregnancy.

Given that recommendation, it is interesting that a new study has shown that mothers may not be telling the truth about their own alcohol use.

Swedish mothers were asked to complete a questionnaire about alcohol use and urine and hair samples were taken. About 25% of the mothers who participated were identified as potential alcohol consumers. While only 1 mother indicated that she was a heavy user of alcohol, 7 mothers were identied as heavy alcohol users by the urine and hair samples.

This study seems to indicate that, despite warnings to the contrary, as many as 1 in every 4 mothers are drinking some alcohol and a few are even drinking substantially during pregnancy.

Brenda