Ladettes in baby scare

Beezy Marsh13 April 2012

The growing trend for hard drinking among young women is putting unborn babies at risk of crippling disorders, experts warned yesterday.

Doctors fear hundreds of babies born in Britain every year suffer physical disabilities, brain damage and behavioural problems because of their mothers' love of alcohol.

The 'ladette' culture of bingedrinking and hard partying is feared to be increasing the dangers to unborn children.

The percentage of women regularly drinking above recommended levels has almost doubled, from 29 per cent in 1988 to 52 per cent in 2000.

Some women may not realise they are pregnant and continue to consume large quantities of alcohol in the crucial early weeks. Others choose to carry on drinking during pregnancy, despite the dangers.

An investigation by BBC2's Newsnight revealed the growing threat from foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

It causes low birth weight, short stature, flattened features, brain, heart and kidney abnormalities, deafness and brain damage leading to poor hand- eye co- ordination and behavioural difficulties.

Britain is one of the few developed countries where pregnant women are officially advised they can drink.

Government guidance is that mothers-to-be can have up to four units of alcohol a week.

For those women who are not pregnant, 'safe' levels are 21 units a week, with a unit being a glass of wine, half a pint of beer or a measure of spirits.

However, alcohol abuse experts warn that women may choose to consume many of their units in weekend binges and may unwittingly expose their unborn child to harm as a result.

Moira Plant, a specialist in foetal alcohol syndrome from the Alcohol and Health Research Centre at the University of West England in Bristol, said: 'It appears that heavy drinking bouts - binge drinking - is the key to the severity of the damage caused to the baby.

'We drink in a northern European pattern - binge drinking. We drink heavily on a Friday and Saturday night and sober up on Sunday to go back to work on Monday. That kind of pattern can cause harm to the baby. '

No official figures exist on the number of babies born with foetal alcohol syndrome and related disorders.

But the National Organisation on Foetal Alcohol Syndrome estimates at least 26 babies are born every week showing signs of alcohol damage.

That means that in Britain alone, more than 1,300 children a year could be harmed by alcohol while still in the womb.

'We have to take seriously the possibility that we have a growing number of children born with alcohol-related damage that is not being identified - which means that, as they get older, the care they need is not there,' said Dr Plant.

She called for the Health Service to take the issue of pregnant women drinking more seriously to identify which babies were at risk.

'We will always ask women how much they smoke and very intimate questions about their sexual behaviour, diet and even finances,' she said.

'However, we often don't ask about drinking. Sometimes people in antenatal clinics say women's drinking is a very personal thing. '

The survey by Newsnight found that getting a diagnosis of FAS in order to help a vulnerable child get the correct care was fraught with difficulties.

Of 81 members of the Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Trust who responded to the Newsnight straw poll, a quarter said it took more than a year to get a diagnosis.

One in eight took more than three years.

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