Experts have welcomed a new study which suggests that drinking small amounts of alcohol during pregnancy is not harmful to the unborn baby. The findings of the study appear to contradict current government guidelines that pregnant women should abstain from alcohol altogether.

Although no amount of alcohol is considered safe during pregnancy, it is known that drinking 8 or more drinks a week or 5 or more drinks in one day will affect an unborn baby. At this time, the possible effects of lesser amounts of alcohol on an unborn baby are not known with certainty.

But they also indicated that women should not consume more than one to two units, once or twice a week. Two units of alcohol are equivalent to one pint of strong beer or a medium size glass (175ml) of light white wine.

Based on her thorough review of the research into light and moderate drinking during pregnancy, Oster recommends capping your alcohol consumption during the first trimester to one or two drinks per week and no more than one drink per day in the second and third trimesters.

There is no known safe amount of alcohol use during pregnancy or while trying to get pregnant. All drinks with alcohol can affect a baby’s growth and development and cause FASDs. A 5-ounce glass of red or white wine has the same amount of alcohol as a 12-ounce can of beer or a 1.5-ounce shot of straight liquor.

There’s a general consensus that it’s risky to binge drink during pregnancy, defined as consuming five or more drinks in one sitting. But even heavy drinkers can have healthy babies. Only about 5 percent of alcoholic women give birth to babies who are later diagnosed with the syndrome.

Drinking alcohol during her pregnancy can cause a woman’s baby to be born with birth defects and developmental disabilities. In fact, alcohol (beer, wine, or hard liquor) is the leading cause of preventable birth defects and developmental disabilities in the United States.

It is in the third week after fertilization that specific alcohol-induced birth defects begin to affect the developing embryo. At this point in the developmental timeline, gastrulation commences and the three embryonic germ layers (ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm) are set.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Pregnancy Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics all note that no amount of wine during pregnancy is deemed safe and that consuming wine while pregnant should be avoided.

“I usually recommend that patients stop drinking alcohol right around the time they are attempting to conceive,” she said. “One issue in early pregnancy is that crucial organs develop before eight weeks of pregnancy – often before a woman even knows she’s pregnant.”

Generally, you should avoid drinking alcohol during the two-week wait. The first few weeks after conceiving can be very critical, and it is better to be safe than sorry. However, you should not blame yourself if you have had a drink or two before the positive pregnancy test.