There is growing concern that increasing numbers of babies are being damaged by their mothers drinking during pregnancy. Health Editor Barry Nelson listened to a North-East expert.

IT is quite shocking when a hospital consultant compares alcohol with the infamous birth drug Thalidomide, which led to so many deformed children being born in the Sixties.

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But Dr Shonag Mackenzie, a consultant obstetrician at a North-East hospital makes no apologies for linking the two substances.

Talking of alcohol, Dr Mackenzie told a conference organised by Balance, the North-East Alcohol Office: “If this was Thalidomide, there would be an outcry. Alcohol is damaging more babies and children than any drug prescribed to pregnant women.”

Dr Mackenzie realised alcohol was posing an increasing threat to women, as well as men, when she began her medical career.

“My first medical job was in a liver unit.

Because many women are drinking as much as men, we now have women dying in their 20s from alcohol-related liver disease. They used to be in their 40s.”

As an obstetrician at the Wansbeck Hospital in Ashington, Northumberland, Dr Mackenzie looks after the health of hundreds of pregnant women every year.

In recent years, she has become increasingly concerned about the impact of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) on babies.

This term is used to describe a wide range of long-term effects that can occur when a mother drinks alcohol during pregnancy.

This may include physical, mental, behavioural or learning disabilities and may have lifelong implications.

Apart from the risk of FAS, it is known that drinking during pregnancy is linked to conditions such as spina bifida, heart defects and kidney defects.

Dr Mackenzie, who has a particular interest in FAS, fears that the extent of this problem in the UK is greatly underestimated.

“In 2003, a total of 128 children were diagnosed with this syndrome in the UK. I believe there are loads more than that,” she says.

In fact, Dr Mackenzie estimates that about one in 100 babies in the UK are born with this problem – in other words we are facing “a huge problem”.

With about 30,000 babies born in the North- East every year – that works out at about 300 born with FAS.

Statistics from the US suggest that there are about nine in every 1,000 births affected by this syndrome, but Dr Mackenzie believes the figure is much higher for the UK, where many more women drink compared to America.

“The problem is that ethanol, the scientific name for alcohol, is a poison which crosses the placenta. The baby doesn’t process any of the alcohol, the baby has it neat,” she adds.

“Alcohol also causes poor blood flow, growth retardation and stillbirth.”

Dr Mackenzie says the leading cause of miscarriage in the people she sees in her specialist miscarriage clinic is drinking.

“Ninety per cent of women and men I see are drinking above the recommended limit and the limit, if you are planning a family, is nothing.

If they stop drinking, they go on to have children.”

SOME professional couples are horrified when she points out that drinking could be the problem.

“They simply don’t see themselves as having a problem,” she says.

As far as drinking during pregnancy is concerned, it is the first three months where the most damage is caused.

“It is especially dangerous when women are drinking and they don’t know they are pregnant,” the consultant says.

Drinking during pregnancy can have a number of effects, ranging from the baby being born with a smaller brain and poor motor skills to affecting eye and hand co-ordination.

“By drinking, these women are damaging their babies and this makes a child’s life hell.”

Even if the mother does not disclose her drinking during pregnancy, it is relatively easy to identify babies affected by Foetal Alcohol Syndrome.

There is even a number of recognised facial characteristics which experts can identify.

“One of the signs is having a small head or small stature. There are also a number of cranio-facial abnormalities, including smaller eyes, a thin upper lip and smooth tissue between the nose and lips,” says Dr Mackenzie.

While these characteristics will gradually fade as the child gets older, they are likely to face life-long problems as a result of their mothers drinking.

“You could be talking to a 16-year-old who might sound perfectly normal, but if you asked them what time it was, they couldn’t tell you.

Some of the parents of FAS children have told me it is like groundhog day every day. They have the same things happening over and over again.”

YOUNG people with FAS get labelled as naughty and can have “a horrible life”, says Dr Mackenzie.

“They can’t read visual clues, they can’t tell whether somebody is angry or sad, and they have very few close friends.”

Her advice to anyone planning to get pregnant is to stop drinking and stay off the booze throughout the pregnancy.

She also would like to see more effort being made in the regions maternity units to identify women who may be drinking.

“We need to improve detection but we also need to improve our support for these women,” she adds.

• For more information about Balances Enough is Enough campaign this week, go to balancenortheast.co.uk