Alcohol during pregnancy
January 7, 2017 | 25,00 EUR | answered by Dr. med. Frauke Gehring
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have just found out that I am already in the 14th week of pregnancy. Shortly before getting the results, I drank alcohol. I am in a panic that I may have caused great harm to my unborn child. I am blaming myself immensely and cannot even think about enjoying my pregnancy.
I kindly ask for honest answers to my two questions:
1. How likely is it that I may lose the child due to the alcohol consumption?
2. How high is the risk of having seriously harmed the child? Can damaged cells recover during the course of the rest of the pregnancy?
Good day,
The dreaded fetal alcohol syndrome only occurs with chronic alcohol use during pregnancy, which you did not trigger with an alcohol-rich evening. However, you could have induced a miscarriage in early pregnancy, as the first 12 weeks are very sensitive. Fortunately, that did not happen, and since the embryonic period was already completed at that time, you will not lose your child because of it. Damaged cells do not recover during pregnancy. The risk of having caused harm to your child through alcohol (you did not specify exactly what it was and how much) is however well below 1%.
All the best to both (three) of you!
Warm regards, Dr. Höllering
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