Why do women consume alcohol during pregnancy or while breastfeeding?

Abstract

Issue. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy and breastfeeding cause adverse health outcomes to the mother and child, including Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Approach. Systematic literature review and thematic synthesis. Original studies that contained reasons for alcohol consumption in pregnancy and while breastfeeding were included. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) and the Confidence in the Evidence of Reviews of Qualitative Research (CerQUAL) approach were utilised. The review protocol is available on PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42018116998). Key Findings. Forty-two eligible studies comprising women from 16 countries were included. Most commonly reported reasons of alcohol use in pregnancy were societal pressure and the belief that only "strong" alcohol and alcohol in large quantities is harmful. Other reasons were: a lack of awareness of adverse effects on the fetus; coping with adverse life experiences; consumption based on intuitive decision-making and influenced by personal/peer experiences; belief in the beneficial properties of alcohol; advice from medical practitioners; unwanted or unplanned pregnancy; alcohol dependence; and consumption as a cultural/traditional custom. Reasons for alcohol use during breastfeeding included the belief that alcohol stimulates breast milk production, unclear advice from medical practitioners, unawareness of the risks of infant exposure and to improve mood and celebrate events. Implications. Understanding the context of reasons for alcohol use in pregnancy is crucial for implementing prenatal health education, and preventing FASD and other adverse maternal and child health outcomes. Conclusion. Individual beliefs, knowledge/advice, culture and personal circumstances influence alcohol use in pregnancy. Data are limited for reasons surrounding alcohol use while breastfeeding.

Tellaintake among pregnant and lactating mothers: may it affect child growth?

“…In the present study, more than 80 % of mothers drank tella during lactation for a variety of reasons including optimising breast milk production. This is consistent with a finding reported by a recent review article, Popova and colleagues (35) . However, a systematic review has indicated that alcohol consumption resulted in a decrease in total breast milk yield (36) .…”

“…As noted by a prior study, prenatal alcohol exposure was associated with growth restrictions in weight and height, which is largely determined by birth. These growth restrictions are a particular problem among children born to women with alcohol abuse and/or dependence (34,35) . This may be because alcohol passes the placental barrier and allows alcohol to reach the fetus.…”

Cholinergic and Neuroimmune Signaling Interact to Impact Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis and Alcohol Pathology Across Development

“…In fact, alcohol is not only the most commonly used drug by females of reproductive age (24.4% prevalence), but Kanny et al (2013) found that approximately 12.5% of women continue to drink at binge levels (4+ drinks in 2 h) during pregnancy, resulting in high BECs (0.08% or greater) in relatively short periods of time ( Kanny et al, 2013 ). Investigations into this continuance of alcohol use by women both during pregnancy and while breastfeeding despite alcohol’s known teratogenicity have revealed a complex interplay of factors influencing this ongoing prevalence in behavior, including but not limited to societal pressure, internal and external stress, alcohol dependence, poor understanding of scientific data on substance use during pregnancy, and even inaccurate advice from medical practitioners ( Latuskie et al, 2019 ; Hernandez et al, 2021 ; Popova et al, 2021 ). These findings highlight the importance of greater dissemination scientific data on alcohol’s teratogenicity to lay populations and medical practitioners.…”

Researching Alcohol Consumption During Pregnancy. Opportunities and Challenges With Two Methods of Data Acquisition

“…Most qualitative approaches in addiction and substance use research and health services research use interviews or focus-groups, especially in the German research context (Ullrich et al, 2022) This is also reflected in the two reviews that included qualitative studies using telephone interviews, face-to-face interviews or focus-groups (Hammer & Rapp, 2022;Popova et al, 2022). Only three studies by Toutain (2010Toutain ( , 2013Toutain ( ,2017 from France used internet forums or chat groups as a data source.…”

“…Little is known about alcohol consumption during pregnancy and how it is related to perceptions of motherhood in Germany. In very recent literature reviews which centred on alcohol consumption during pregnancy ( Hammer & Rapp, 2022 ) and self-reported reasons for alcohol consumption during pregnancy ( Popova et al, 2022 ), no studies from Germany were found. Apart from the study by our research group, we are also not aware of any studies (neither qualitative nor quantitative) from Germany.…”