Alcohol During Pregnancy: Is It The Mum's Or Midwife's Responsibility?
March 6, 2010 No Comments
Apparently midwives are having a hard time determining how much alcohol their pregnant clients are consuming and have to do “detective work” to find the truth.
The pregnant women either don’t know how much they drink or don’t want to tell their midwives. But why should they?! It’s the midwife’s job to educate the pregnant woman, but beyond that it’s none of their business.
This is why a new test to measure how much alcohol a pregnant woman has had in the last two weeks is both a positive thing and a scary tool if it gets in to the wrong hands.
They say that this test is beginning to be used as a “lifestyle alcohol assessment”.
“It’s voluntary, but routine at the time of the first booking appointment. We have not fully evaluated it yet but the midwives are convinced it is leading to a reduction in drinking because women are faced with actual evidence on a chart.”
I think this will be a great tool if it is used voluntarily by women who feel they might need to monitor their alcohol intake for some reason. It could also be a great tool if social workers are dealing with people vulnerable to alcohol abuse.
But I think the problem lies in the notion that women don’t know what they are consuming and are unable to make their own choices.
Public knowledge around alcohol and pregnancy is sketchy at best. In the UK the government recommendation used to be that moderate alcohol intake was fine but have since said “that pregnant women should avoid alcohol altogether”. When I was in Australia, I heard through rumblings among pregnant friends that it was the opposite and they used to say no alcohol at all and now moderate drinking is okay after a certain time in the pregnancy.
Either way, my personal belief is that if there is even a slight possibility of damaging the baby, why take that chance?
But I have issue with the fact that midwives might use this to try to control what their patients are doing.
Yes, it may be damaging to the baby and yes, it may be immoral, but, as with anything else in life, the best we can do as health care workers is to educate people. After that the choice is theirs.
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