Insight: Oct 15

This week on Insight, three brave young people open up to a studio audience about what it’s like to have Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder as a result of their mothers drinking when they were pregnant.

Two of them can barely read or write. One has trouble speaking. One battles constant feelings of white hot anger.

Drinking when pregnant can lead to a whole host of physical, behavioural and developmental problems known as Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

But many pregnant women have out-of-date information about alcohol. Previous guidelines used to say that women could drink up to seven standard drinks per week. That was reduced to zero in 2009, but experts fear the message isn’t getting out.

And about half of all pregnancies are unplanned, meaning women might drink in the crucial early weeks of pregnancy and not realise the potential damage they’re doing.

FASD isn’t recognised as a disability in Australia, making access to support services very difficult.

This week, Insight speaks to pregnant women, parents, doctors and those with FASD to find out whether any level of drinking is safe during pregnancy, and what the consequences are.

Guests include:

Morgan, 18
Morgan’s mum drank heavily while she was in the womb. Today, Morgan has trouble reading, writing and understanding abstract concepts such as time and money. Like other people with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), Morgan doesn’t qualify for disability services.

Claire, 22
Claire’s anger can be uncontrollable. “I have a very short fuse and anything can trigger it off. I get sensory overload,” she says. Claire’s mum Tracy drank alcohol throughout her pregnancy with Claire and now regrets it. Tracy says she had no idea of the possible consequences and was never advised against drinking.

Tristan, 14
Tristan lives in Fitzroy Valley, Western Australia, with his Aunt Marmingee and Uncle Geoff.
His mother drank heavily when she was pregnant. He struggles with reading and writing and has to be reminded to do basic things like shower. Geoff and Marmingee are worried about him getting into trouble as he gets older.

Elizabeth Eliott
Professor Elizabeth Elliott says there is no safe level of drinking in pregnancy because each woman metabolises alcohol differently. She says that alcohol can cause worse permanent damage to babies’ brains than heroin or crack cocaine. She runs a FASD clinic at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. Professor Elliott says many doctors don’t have a good understanding of FASD and she’s worried women are getting mixed messages from doctors about drinking during pregnancy.

Tuesday at 8.30pm on SBS ONE.