Women who consume alcohol while pregnant are at higher risk of giving birth to children with behavioral problems than pregnant women who do not drink.

Researchers at Indiana University in Bloomington, the United States, analyzed the drinking habits of 4,912 mothers and the conduct of their children between the ages of 4 and 11.

It was found that every additional day that mothers drank alcohol while pregnant was associated with an increase in their unborn child’s conduct problems.

In addition, children whose mothers took alcohol when pregnant also had more problems related to attention and impulsivity than children whose mothers did not drink.

The study has been published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

The authors of the study wrote, “These results are consistent with pre-natal alcohol exposure exerting an environmentally mediated causal effect on childhood conduct problems. But, the relation between pre-natal alcohol exposure and attention and impulsivity problems is more likely to be caused by other factors correlated with maternal drinking during pregnancy.”

“These findings,” they added, “support a strong inference that pre-natal alcohol exposure causes an increased risk of offspring conduct problems through environmental processes. Therefore, prevention efforts should continue to target alcohol consumption during pregnancy.”

The new findings come as women in the United States are already confused about consuming alcohol while pregnant after conflicting advice was issued by the Department of Health and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

The Department of Health had changed its guidance in May 2007, saying that it was safer not to drink alcohol at all during pregnancy. However, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which advises on public health and medicines, issued a draft guidance, a few months later, saying that drinking small amounts while pregnant was safe.

Scientists still disagree on whether the behavioral problems of children whose mothers drank alcohol while pregnant were caused by the alcohol itself or by other factors such as poor education, abuse of drugs, and genetics.

Dr Brian D’Onofrio, of Indiana University, who led the study, said the team found that where mothers drank during one pregnancy but not in a subsequent one, the child exposed to the alcohol in the womb displayed worse behavior. This went on to suggest that the child’s behavioral problems probably were caused by the mother’s drinking rather than genetics or bad parenting.

In the study, those children born to mothers who drank less than once a week during pregnancy had scores close to zero, while mothers who drank between five and six days a week had children scoring an average of 2.5.

Dr Brian D’Onofrio concluded, “My advice would be to encourage women not to drink during pregnancy.”

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