If you are pregnant....

If you are pregnant and think to yourself one drink won't hurt....talk to me.

If you are pregnant and think to yourself that your friend drank a few drinks all through her pregnancy and her baby came out ok....talk to me.

If you are pregnant and think to yourself you read in an old article that said one drink in the evening would help you relax and won't hurt the baby....talk to me

If you are pregnant and think to yourself that in your grandmother's time woman drank AND smoked during their pregnancies and their kids all came out ok....talk to me.

If you are pregnant and watch the show "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant" and all those women drank, smoked and no prenatal care at all and you think to yourself all those babies were born healthy.....talk to me

If you are pregnant and think there is no way you can go a whole forty weeks without an alcoholic beverage....talk to your doctor.....talk to me.

No matter what anyone tells you or what old literature you can dig up NO amount of alcohol is safe during pregnancy.

NO amount of alcohol is worth the risk to your baby.

Babies prenatally exposed to alcohol may indeed appear to be born unscathed even with extreme exposure.  This does not negate the fact that their brains have been dramatically impacted.  Cognitively the kids, if they are lucky might do well, unlikely but it is possible but then behaviourally not so much.    Mental health issues have a high tendency to make themselves known in adolescence.  There is a cornucopia of diagnoses that are associated with prenatal exposure to alcohol many of which might not be apparent at birth or even during the preschool years.

NO amount of alcohol is worth risking a lifetime of limitations, challenges and heartache.

Parenting begins as soon as the pregnancy is discovered.  The choices that are made can determine the child's future.  If you wouldn't give the baby a bottle of beer or a cocktail once born then don't do it before birth.

Talk to me.....