No safe level of alcohol consumption
To help keep you and your baby healthy, avoid drinking alcohol when you’re:
- planning to become pregnant
- pregnant
- breastfeeding
Research by experts about alcohol and pregnancy shows that:
-
No safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy or while breastfeeding has been identified.
-
The risk of harm to the fetus increases the more the mother drinks and the more frequently she drinks.
This advice is from the National Health and Medical Research Council. For more about the Council's research, read the Australian guidelines to reduce health risks from drinking alcohol.
Effects of alcohol
When planning a pregnancy
Alcohol can:
- affect the fertility of both men and women. To improve your chances of becoming pregnant, avoid drinking alcohol.
- permanently harm an unborn baby. You should not drink alcohol if you’re planning to become pregnant because no safe level of alcohol has been identified.
When pregnant
When a woman drinks alcohol during pregnancy, so does the developing baby. The baby’s blood gets about the same level of alcohol as the mothers blood. This can cause:
- lower birth weights
- miscarriage
- stillbirth
- premature birth
- birth defects
- a range of conditions known as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)
When breastfeeding
If a mother drinks when she is breastfeeding, the alcohol crosses into the breastmilk and can:
- stay there for several hours
- reduce the flow of your milk (this can unsettle your baby and cause them to eat and sleep less)
- affect how the baby’s brain and spinal cord develops
When you drink, the concentration of alcohol in your blood and breastmilk is the same. A baby’s brain keeps developing after it is born. This means an infant’s brain is more sensitive to damage from alcohol than an adult brain.
How to stop drinking
It can be hard to stop drinking alcohol in social situations.
If you’re not ready to tell people you’re pregnant, try saying:
- I’m on a health kick and have given up alcohol
- No thanks, I’m not drinking tonight
- I have a big day tomorrow so no thanks
If you’re happy to tell people, simply say:
- No thanks, not while I’m pregnant
For support, try Pregnant Pause. It’s designed to help you, your partner and your loved ones go alcohol-free. Having a strong support network can make it easier to stop drinking.
For general tips, read how to reduce or quit alcohol.
When can you drink alcohol again?
The safest option is to avoid drinking until you finish breastfeeding.
If you start drinking again after you’ve finished breastfeeding, make sure you know how much alcohol is safe to drink.
Contacts
If you’re worried about your alcohol drinking while pregnant, talk to your doctor, midwife or obstetrician. It may seem daunting, but remember that health professionals speak to lots of people about these issues.
For questions about drinking and pregnancy, you can also contact these organisations:
FASD Hub Australia contact
Resources
Every Moment Matters
The Every Moment Matters campaign aims to raise awareness of the risks of alcohol consumption while pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding. It highlights that every moment matters in pregnancy when it comes to drinking alcohol, starting from the moment a person starts trying to conceive.
What Women Want to Know resources
The Every Moment Matters campaign superseded the Women Want to Know Initiative. If you want to see this archived initiative and its resources, please visit Women Want to Know. For the Women Want to Know videos for health professionals, visit the Women Want to Know playlist.