Does drinking in the first trimester create bad behavior in kids?

Everybody knows that there are some things that just do not combine with pregnancy. Among them are smoking, bungee humping (OK, kidding here, but not really!) and of course drinking alcohol. You'll find "not getting drunk", or drinking any alcohol for that matter, on any preconception checklist, and alcohol consumption while expecting a baby will always be a controversial topic. However, most of us are compassionate towards those who drank before they found out they were pregnant, and think that this won't cause any particular harm, as soon as you stop the minute you know you are with child. Well, according to a newly released study, drinking in the first trimester can create bad behavior in kids later on in life.

Dr Cynthia Larkby from the University of Pittsburgh looked at 592 children of all racial and economic backgrounds and their behavior from birth to 16 years old, and made some shocking conclusions. She claims that drinking in the first trimester results in children who are badly behaved, anti-social and aggressive. Teenagers whose moms drank alcohol in the early weeks of their pregnancy were three times as likely to display anti-social behavior, according to Larkby. She declared: "From a clinical perspective, prenatal alcohol exposure should be considered as another risk for conduct disorder. The next steps in research should be to define the interactions between prenatal exposures, environmental factors, and heritability. This would allow a more complete picture of the relations between prenatal alcohol exposure and conduct disorder."

Unfortunately, this study will not mean much for those mothers who have no idea that they are pregnant when they go out to drink with their friends. But perhaps it will reinforce the idea that alcohol and pregnancy do not mix, and that women who have any possibility of being pregnant should take a pregnancy test before enjoying alcoholic beverages?