SMOKERS AND DRINKERS SHUN PREGNANT PAUSE

SYDNEY -- MORE than half of Australian women drink alcohol while they are
pregnant or breastfeeding, and a quarter smoke, according to the first
national survey on drug use in pregnancy.

While almost all of those who drank said they reduced their consumption
compared with their non-pregnant intake, Australian women were still more
than three times as likely as women in the United States to drink at all
while pregnant.

Just over a third of the 83 per cent of women who usually drank alcohol
gave it up completely, leavintg 53 per cent taking at least an occasional
drink - compared with 15 per cent in the US.

The results are part of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's
annual report Statistics on Drug Use in Australia 2002.

Very few Australian women gave up smoking to protect their foetus.

Of the mothers who said they usually smoked, 96 per cent had continued to
do so when pregnant or nursing. Half the 13 per cent of women who usually
used cannabis gave it up while pregnant, as did half of the 9 per cent who
usually used other illicit drugs.

Guidelines published in 2001 by the National Health and Medical Research
Council, say pregnant women should drink no more than seven standard drinks
weekly and a maximum two on a single occasion.

Melbourne obstetrician Gab Kovacs said up to two drinks daily was probably
acceptable.

"most go off alcohol altogether when they are pregnant," Professor Kovacs
said, as hormonal changes made the taste unpalatable.

"We're far more concerned about nicotine. Even a small amount can cause
fetal growth retardation.

"It's surprising only one per cent give up because I know they all feel guilty."