Mothers to be around the world can relax a little. A new Danish study showed that low and moderate drinking during early pregnancy does not have noticeable adverse effects on children after they are born.

The study looked at neuropsychological differences in children age five, compared with their mothers drinking habits while pregnant. Researchers did note, however, that higher amounts of alcohol resulted in lower attention spans amongst five year olds, and since one drink often leads to another, expectant mothers still will need to be cautious about their drinking habits.

Researchers recruited women from the Danish National Birth Cohort during their first antenatal visit and gathered over 1,600 participants. They defined low drinking as 1-4 drinks per week, moderate at 5-8 drinks per week and high level consumption as 9 or more drinks per week. Binge drinking was defined as more than 5 drinks during a single occasion. Mothers who chose to abstain entirely were included in the group by way of having a reference point to compare.

Ulrik Schiøler Kesmodel, Consultant Gynecologist and Associate Professor at Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital, and Erik Lykke Mortensen, Professor of Medical Psychology at the Institute of Public Health, Medical Psychology Unit, University of Copenhagen, Denmark and co-authors of the studies plotted the average maternal age at 30.9 years, with 50.1% as first-time mothers and 12.1% single mothers. 31.4% of the women reported smoking during their pregnancy.

Having gathered data in regard to the mothers drinking habits while pregnant, the researchers then went on to test the children at the age of five to determine any adverse effects from their mothers alcohol consumption.

It is important to note that the amount of alcohol in a standard drink varies significantly from country to country. In the UK, the volume of alcohol in a drink is measured in units and one unit of alcohol is defined as 7.9 grams. The definition of a drink in Kesmodel’s work comes from the Danish National Board of Health, which states one standard drink is equal to 12 grams of pure alcohol, making it a lot higher than UK levels, but lower than the US standard which is 14grams.

The children were tested for IQ, attention span and executive functions, such as planning, organization, and self-control. Overall, there was little effect found on the children from low and moderate drinking, and even occasional binge drinking did not show negative consequences.

Frequent high consumption, however, was associated with a lower attention span amongst the five year olds. Attention was measured using the Test of Everyday Attention for Children at Five (TEACh-5) which measures a child’s selective attention and sustained attention.

Children’s intelligence was assessed with the Wechsler Primary and Preschool Scales of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R). It consists of five verbal subtests and five performance (non-verbal) subtests. Maternal IQs were also measured during the 3-hour assessment at a university or health clinic site.

The authors clarified that abstaining from alcohol during pregnancy seems to be a sensible, although rather conservative advice, with their research showing that small amounts may not present serious concern.

They conclude:

“High prenatal exposure to alcohol has consistently been associated with adverse effects on neurodevelopment. Areas such as intelligence, attention and executive functions have been found to be particularly vulnerable. However, less is known about the effects of low to moderate, weekly average consumption levels and binge drinking … Our findings show that low to moderate drinking is not associated with adverse effects on the children aged five. However, despite these findings, additional large scale studies should be undertaken to further investigate the possible effects.”

Written by Rupert Shepherd