Study: Moderate drinking and occasional binge drinking for pregnant women won't hurt baby

Drinking while pregnant and even getting drunk once and a while is okay now, according to new research.

For decades,  the U.S. Surgeon General and the Center of Disease Control have been saying the exact opposite, because it isn’t clear how much alcohol, if any, is safe to consume without risking birth defects for the child, NPR reports.

But recent research conducted in Denmark and funded by the CDC has caused a 180 degree turn, revealing that light drinking, which constitutes one to five drinks a week, and even moderate drinking, which is five to eight drinks a week, may be okay for a woman carrying a child.

Even binge drinking, considered five or more drinks in one session, didn’t appear to cause developmental issues.

Scientists measured the IQ’s, attention spans and decision making skills of 1,600 5-year-olds against their mothers’ drinking habits, and it turns out, the kids were fine.

“We found no significant association of low to moderate average weekly alcohol consumption, and any binge drinking, during early to mid pregnancy with the neurodevelopment of children at the age of 5 years," according to the study published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Read NPR's report here: http://n.pr/L5jFUH