A pregnant woman should be especially careful about her health, because her body actually works for two. Inside it, new life grows and develops. Nature made sure that all the forces of mother’s immunity were aimed at protecting the child. Therefore, nutrients from the circulatory system of the mother's body are first sent to the baby. It is very important that the woman at this time take care of her health. If before her pregnancy she had bad habits, then at this important time it is better to abandon them. This is not about work or playing sports, but about drinking alcohol. Are alcohol and pregnancy compatible? Let's try to understand this issue.
How is alcohol harmful to new life?
What can alcohol use lead to? It is believed that when drinking alcohol in small doses, the harm of alcohol will be minimal. A little red wine will help increase hemoglobin and improve the appetite of a pregnant woman. But can a child drink? Indeed, in fact, the process of drinking alcohol by a pregnant woman extends to the child: the dose of alcohol can be safely divided into two. Alcohol contains ethanol. The products of its decay are toxic and seriously affect the body at the cellular level. They can harm the internal organs of the fetus, as well as cause metabolic and hormonal imbalances.
When alcohol enters the mother’s body, it also goes to the child. But if a woman receives a small amount relative to her weight, then the embryo, whose mass is less than 3 kg, receives a giant dose. The effect of alcohol on the fetus in this case can be extremely negative. He can get serious poisoning, the consequence of which will be improper formation of internal organs or even death of the fetus.
Severe consequences
Is it possible to drink alcohol during pregnancy? The consequences of drinking alcohol can be different. Often there is the development of intrauterine alcoholism syndrome. On the embryo, this can be reflected as follows:
- The appearance of maxillofacial defects: sloping chin, cheekbones hypoplasia, strabismus, short upper lip, abnormal sky structure.
- The formation of a small head and beveled neck.
- The birth of a child with an underweight.
- Disorders in physical development.
- Deformation of the joints, chest, underdeveloped hip joints, improper formation of fingers and toes.
- Pathology in the formation of internal organs.
- Incorrect formation of the nervous system.
This is not all the pathologies that can develop in a child with an alcoholic symptom. They are observed quite often. Sometimes a pregnant woman drinks alcohol because she believes that a small amount will not bring any harm to the fetus. However, this can lead to dire consequences: in women who drank alcohol during pregnancy, in 20% of cases, childbirth ends in the death of the child. Congenital pathologies may simply be incompatible with life. Among pregnant women who do not drink alcohol, this figure is several times less.
The influence of alcohol on the body of a woman in position
A drinking pregnant woman sometimes does not know that some organs are not functioning properly. As a rule, drinking alcohol negatively affects the functioning of the pancreas, liver and heart. These pathologies can also affect the health status of the child. When alcohol enters the circulatory system of a pregnant woman and the fetus, nutrients and oxygen are more slowly delivered to the internal organs. This significantly complicates the metabolism.
Is there a safe dose of alcohol for pregnant women?
In this case, all the talk about acceptable doses of alcohol is completely meaningless. During pregnancy, there is no safe amount of alcohol to drink. If a woman wants to give birth to a healthy baby, then harmful drinks should be excluded at the planning stage.
How much should you not drink alcohol before pregnancy? When planning a future baby, experts recommend refraining from drinking alcohol not only for the future mother, but also for the child’s father.
Otherwise, conception may simply not occur, and there are a number of reasons:
- Renewal of sperm in the male body occurs once every two to three months. Sperm contain substances that have entered the blood of a man over this period of time.
- The egg matures in the female body within a month. During this time, she stocks up with all the substances entering the woman’s body. Therefore, the expectant mother should worry about her health in advance.
Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that the sooner it is possible to remove alcoholic toxins from the body of both parents, the stronger their unborn child will be. The use of harmful drinks should be excluded about six months before the planned conception. Experts say that it is ideal to do this a year before fertilization.
Here are just a planned pregnancy in our time - an extremely rare phenomenon. Conception usually occurs when intoxicated after a romantic evening. If the dose of alcohol in the mother's body did not lead to intoxication, negative consequences can be avoided. The fetus is protected by special natural mechanisms during the conception and before the introduction into the uterine wall. However, this does not mean at all that the baby will definitely be able to avoid diseases.
Conception while intoxicated
What to expect Conducted scientific studies have shown that in babies who were conceived in a state of intoxication, more often observed mental disorders and pathologies of the nervous system. Big questions for scientists are caused by the influence of harmful drinks on male sperm. The fact is that the sperm maturation process takes about 3 months. So drinking before conceiving a glass of alcohol cannot cause pathologies in an unborn baby. However, recent scientific studies have shown that alcohol begins to act on sperm immediately after it appears in the blood. In the seed of a healthy man who does not abuse alcohol, up to 25% of abnormal spermatozoa may be present. They do not participate in the process of conception and die. After drinking alcohol, the number of abnormal sperm cells increases. This leads to the fact that one of them can be fertilized by the egg. As a result, the fetus may develop various disorders.
The harm of alcohol for a woman in this case will be much less. The fact is that the egg matures within a month. Of course, alcohol can affect its quality. But a glass of wine drunk before conception will do less harm than alcohol taken by a man.
From the moment of fertilization, all the responsibility for the baby’s health rests with the future mother. The basic principle by which all natural mechanisms work: a full-fledged child or none. The first three months only a healthy embryo can survive. When pathological changes occur, a miscarriage occurs.
The consequences of drinking alcohol for pregnant women
They need to be studied by every girl. Women who drink alcohol in early pregnancy may experience the following problems:
- Even a small amount of alcohol in the early stages can cause a miscarriage.
- Drinking alcohol can cause malformations in the fetus.
- With regular drinking, addiction syndrome may develop.
- The effect of alcohol on the fetus is clearly negative. Taking even mild alcoholic beverages can lead to disturbances in the fetus. Worst of all, it is impossible to identify these changes during pregnancy. They appear after the birth of the baby.
- Early pregnancy and alcohol are not compatible. When alcohol enters the bloodstream, the liver, heart, and brain cells of the embryo are first affected. In the future, a child may have brain disorders.
- Pathologies in the development of the fetus can be observed when the mother takes painkillers, anticonvulsants and drugs.
- If the mother drank alcohol during the whole pregnancy, then the child is very likely to be born with serious illnesses.
- A baby born in a family where some drink alcohol is likely to lag behind her peers in both physical and mental development. Also, a child may have a congenital predisposition to drinking alcohol.
- It is worth considering that some medications also contain alcohol. During pregnancy, their use is unacceptable.
The main thing that a pregnant woman should know is that now she is responsible not only for her own life, but also for the health of the unborn child.
The influence of harmful drinks on the fetus in the early stages
It is believed that a pregnant woman can use whatever she wants. Some believe that in small doses it is perfectly acceptable to drink alcohol during pregnancy. Reviews say that nothing bad will happen. However, this approach is completely wrong. It is unlikely that a sane person will want to poison his future child with potent poison.
Any mother should decide what is more important for her - a fleeting desire to drink or the health of her child. Alcohol and pregnancy are incompatible.
The first 14 days after conception, harmful drinks will not harm the unborn baby. If a woman did not know that she was pregnant and drank alcohol at this time, then there is nothing to worry about. When the placenta is already finally formed and the fetus begins to feed with the mother, you must forget about alcohol, at least until the birth of the baby. In the first three months, alcohol is especially dangerous for the embryo. The fact is that it is during this period of time that the most important systems and organs are formed, the heart begins to beat, the spinal cord and brain crumbs are formed. In most cases, alcohol consumption in the first three months of gestation leads to developmental pathologies and various defects.
Can I drink alcohol after abortion?
Medical or surgical abortion is a great stress for the female body. Many girls use alcohol as a means to fight depression, which can develop after getting rid of the fetus. But in no case should this be done.
If you decide to terminate the pregnancy without surgery, using potent drugs that destroy the connection of the zygote with the uterus, drinking alcohol can reduce their effectiveness. This can lead to incomplete abortion or further pregnancy. It is also worth remembering that the use of alcohol increases bleeding, which occurs with medical abortion. As a result, a woman can lose a large amount of blood. In this case, hospitalization is likely to be required.
The body after an abortion is weakened, and drinking alcohol will only damage the immune system. This can be fraught with the appearance of complications. Sometimes, after termination of pregnancy, antibiotics are prescribed for a woman, and they are generally incompatible with alcohol. It is also worth considering that with medical abortion, it is necessary to exclude the use of alcoholic beverages 3 days before the procedure and 14 days after.
Is it possible for girls in the beer position?
Some believe that low alcohol and pregnancy are completely compatible. Is it so? For example, beer is a low alcohol drink. It is obtained as a result of fermentation of malt, hops and special yeast. But also, like any alcoholic drinks, beer can harm the unborn baby. Firstly, it contains ethyl alcohol, which is dangerous for an unformed body. Secondly, hops contained in beer lead to allergies and obesity in fetal tissues.
Some believe that beer has vitamins that are useful for the development of the nervous system of the unborn baby. But this is not so. Any drink containing ethanol, by definition, cannot be useful. Of course, there are natural components in beer, but their concentration is so insignificant that the use of this drink will not bring any benefit. Therefore, during pregnancy, you can not drink beer in any case.
The effects of unhealthy drinks on pregnancy test results
So what do you need to know about this? The principle of action of rapid pregnancy tests is to identify the level of hCG. This hormone is produced by the female body after the zygote is fixed in the uterine mucosa. His level does not depend on whether the girl took alcohol or not. Even with strong alcoholic beverages, the results of a pregnancy test will not change. However, if before the test a woman took a large amount of diuretic alcoholic beverages, such as beer, the level of hCG hormone can significantly decrease. As a result, the test gives a negative result.
Conclusion
Any sane mother does not want to harm her child. It is determined by nature. That is why a pregnant woman should be especially careful about her desires. The life of her unborn child may depend on them. Reason must always prevail over second weakness. Think, after all, a short pleasure for the mother can be a real threat to her fetus. To give birth to a full and healthy baby, you need to give up alcohol for the entire period of gestation.
If the woman did not know that she was pregnant and drank alcohol, the consequences can be sad. When drinking alcohol, detachment of the placenta is often observed, deviations in the mental and physical development of the fetus occur, the development of heart disease and cardiovascular diseases, disorders of the internal organs and brain, the appearance of pathologies such as cleft lip and cleft palate. And these are just some of the abnormalities that alcohol can cause during pregnancy.