Pregnant women should be asked how much they drink

Pregnant women should be asked how much alcohol they are drinking and the answer recorded in their medical notes, new "priority advice" for the NHS says.

The advice, from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), is designed to help spot problem drinking that can harm babies.

Infants with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) can be left with lifelong problems. The safest approach during pregnancy is to abstain from alcohol completely.

The more someone drinks while pregnant, the higher the chance of FASD - and there is no proven "safe" level of alcohol.

But the risk of harming the baby is "likely to be low if you have drunk only small amounts of alcohol before you knew you were pregnant or during pregnancy", the Department of Health says.

An earlier draft of the recommendations for NHS staff in England and Wales suggested transferring data on a woman's alcohol intake to her child's medical notes - but this has now been dropped, following concern women who needed help might hide their drinking.

The Royal College of Midwives spokeswoman Lia Brigante said: "As there is no known safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, the RCM believes it is appropriate and important to advise women that the safest approach is to avoid drinking alcohol during pregnancy and advocates for this.

"We are pleased to see that the recommendation to record alcohol consumption and to then transfer this to a child's record has been reconsidered.

"This had the potential to disrupt or prevent the development of a trusting relationship between a woman and her midwife."

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Source: BBC News, 16 March 2022