Women Who Are Not On Birth Control Should Not Drink Alcohol-CDC

'Women who are not on birth control should not drink alcohol'

When I posted this link up on my twitter, with the quote above as a headline immediately got a plethora of responses confused by the wording of this particular public health communication. 

Basically, the CDC in this case has referred to birth control as any method used to prevent pregnancy i.e abstinence, barrier methods, the pill, IUD and depo etc. 

It therefore follows that any woman who is having sex, without any form of birth control may get pregnant.  If the woman has been drinking alcohol and then gets pregnant, the unborn child may be at risk.  In the CDC study, a woman was considered at risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy during the past month if she had sex with a male, drank any alcohol, and did not (and her partner did not with her) use contraception.

Number At Risk

Every month, more than 3 million women in the United States risk having an alcohol-exposed pregnancy. 

About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, and even if planned, most women won't know they are pregnant for the first month or so, when they might still be drinking," said Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director at the CDC.  The percentage of pregnancies that are unplanned in Nigeria is therefore probably much higher than 50%. 

Possible Harm

"Alcohol can permanently harm a developing baby before a woman knows she is pregnant," Schuchat added. The report advises health practitioners to inform women to stop drinking as soon as they stop taking birth control.

Drinking alcohol during pregnancy is "associated with a range of complications and poor reproductive outcomes and can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs), which are characterized by lifelong physical, behavioral, and intellectual disabilities," the CDC report said, adding that exposure to alcohol in the womb is one of the leading preventable causes of intellectual disability in children.

It can also increase the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, prematurity, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). 

Alcohol And Pregnancy In Nigeria

The percentage of women who consume alcohol during pregnancy in Nigeria is as high as 50% in some studies. This is probably partly due to lack of public health education. Many women still believe that consumption of alcoholic beer will help with tiredness/anemia during pregnancy . 

Please share this article with every woman you know. As Nigerian women we can educate each other to ensure safer pregnancies and healthier babies!

*Information for this article was culled from the CDC and CNN Health websites. It is no substitute for expert advise from your healthcare practitioner.