I drank alcohol before I knew I was pregnant...worried.

Hi,

I am a 38 yr old female...The first day of my last period was April 5th of this year...I was due to get my next period sunday may 2nd...But I never got it so on wed may 5th i tested and was positive for pregnancy... I am really concerned because during those first few weeks of pregnancy my boyfriend and I drank heavily..I am hoping I have not harmed the baby.. IE: fac? And as soon as I got the results of my pregnancy test I stopped drinking and will continue to be alcohol free for the remainder of my pregnancy...  

Thank you for your time.

[Elaine Brown, MD]

HI!
I just had to answer the same question for another young lady.  Your question is very common, and here is my usual answer:

In 20 years of doing this work, I have never seen a case in which a birth defect or fetal alcohol syndrome resulted from those "It was before I knew. . ." drinks.  As long as there are no more drinks after that.  We don't know the threshhold for fetal alcohol syndrome (ie how much alcohol it take to cause it) but it is probably a lot more than a few drinks in the extremely early stages.  Also, remember that our moms and grandmothers didn't know alcohol or tobacco was bad, and alot of us were exposed to all kinds of stuff back then. . .so I feel fairly confident in saying that your baby will most likely be perfect.

Hope this helps!

Dr B