A New Zealand study on tobacco and drinking habits of pregnant woman
recently was publicized by "The Press/Christchurch News."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/3937952a6530.html

" Warning on smoke, alcohol
 By ARWEN HANN - The Press | Wednesday, 24 January 2007

 More education is needed to encourage women to stop smoking and drinking
during and immediately after pregnancy, Otago University researchers say.
The study found that while women were more likely to give up alcohol while
they were pregnant they would often return to drinking once the baby had
been born even if they were breastfeeding.
Women were less likely to give up smoking even while pregnant.
Co-author Sherly Parackal said more educated women with higher incomes were
more likely to keep drinking while pregnant while women from lower
socio-economic groups were more likely to smoke.
"We found that 66 per cent of women were still smoking, perhaps because it
is harder to give up than alcohol," she said.
"We also found that women returned to drinking while they were breastfeeding
even though there is still a risk. I think more education needs to be done
on these things."...

The abstract is here:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1740-8709.2007.00064.x

Both the news coverage and the study abstract don't make a distinction
between the the difference in risk to the fetus from alcohol consumption
while pregnant and the risk to an infant from alcohol consumption while
breastfeeding.

This is not a well-publicized study, but I think it is another indication of
how badly we have managed the communication of evidence of risk to a
breastfed baby based on maternal consumption of food, drink, medications,
etc.  

-- Jodine Chase

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