------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From:          Self <Single-user mode>
To:            [log in to unmask]
Subject:       Alcohol and Breastmilk
Reply-to:      [log in to unmask]
Date:          Thu, 18 Jun 1998 10:55:39 -0500

Dear Jennifer,

Thanks for your questions.  The study was on 400 women and their
infants.  What they found was that infants of nursing mothers who
drank at least one drink PER DAY were at risk for a slight motor
impairment.  There was no effect on mental development.  Infants of
women who drank less than one drink daily were not different (in
terms of mental and motor development) than infants of nursing moms
who did not drink at all.  They controlled for more than 100
variables including smoking, drinking during pregnancy, etc.

Unfortunately this is the only long-term study so we don't have
answers to a lot of your questions.  For example, do infants
compensate for this deficit at 2 years? 3 years?  What about binge
drinking?  Studies on effects of alcohol during pregnancy suggests
that this is the case.  And the Little study showed that women who
drink more heavily also tend to binge drink more.

Hope this answers some of your questions.  Sorry I don't have all the
answers!!!

All the best,
Julie

---
Julie Mennella Ph.D.
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