Newborns undergo alcohol tests amid pregnancy drinking concerns

Newborn babies in Scotland are being tested for the presence of alcohol molecules after researchers raised concerns that pregnant mothers are drinking regularly.

Hundreds of babies born at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow are being tested for alcohol

Hundreds of babies born at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow are being analysed for molecules which stay inside unborn children when their mothers drink.

Results from the pilot study suggest more than 40% of mothers drink some alcohol while pregnant, with approximately 15% consuming more than one or two small glasses of wine a week.

The latest data, funded by Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, will see 750 samples of meconium, the first faeces of a newborn, analysed for alcohol by-products, while mothers will be asked to fill in a lifestyle questionnaire.

Consultant neonatologist Dr Helen Mactier, told The Herald newspaper: “Alcohol consumption in pregnancy is almost certainly contributing to a lot of learning disability in Scotland and learning disability is associated with poor school performance and criminality in the long term.

“There is an assumption that all problem drinking in pregnancy is associated with poverty and there is no evidence to confirm that. It is much easier to conceal problem drinking if you are affluent and if you are clever.”