Pregnant and drunk

Ok so my cousin is 23 years old, she did not know that she was pregnant and she went out on a saturday nigth and drank quite a few drinks. This happened around 2 weeks after she conceived..

Is this going to have some terrible side effects on the baby??

I would tell her to drink as much water as possible - this helps flush out the system.

But how do you know when too much Alcohol Is Too Much?
It's obvious that abusing alcohol during pregnancy is dangerous, but what about an occasional drink? How much alcohol constitutes too much during pregnancy?

No evidence exists that can determine exactly how much alcohol ingestion will produce birth defects. Individual women process alcohol differently. Other factors vary the results, too, such as the age of the mother, the timing and regularity of the alcohol ingestion, and whether the mother has eaten any food while drinking.

Although full-blown FAS is the result of chronic alcohol use during pregnancy, FAE and ARND may occur with only occasional or binge drinking.

Because alcohol easily passes the placental barrier and the fetus is less equipped to eliminate alcohol than its mother, the fetus tends to receive a high concentration of alcohol, which lingers longer than it would in the mother's system.

Mothers who drink during the first trimester of pregnancy have kids with the most severe problems because that is when the brain is developing. The connections in the baby's brain don't get made properly when alcohol is present. Of course, in the early months, many women don't even know they're pregnant.

It's important for women who are thinking about becoming pregnant to adopt healthy behaviors before they get pregnant.

Women who abstain from alcohol in early pregnancy may feel comfortable drinking in the final months. But some of the most complex developmental stages in the brain occur in the second and third trimesters, a time when the nervous system can be greatly affected by alcohol. Even moderate alcohol intake, and especially periodic binge drinking, can seriously damage a developing nervous system.

Tell her that at around 3-8 weeks of the baby's life is the most important time. This is when all their major organs are developing. This is also when there are most susceptible to deformities if they are exposed to any teratogens (alcohol, drugs, smoking). Tell her to COMPLETELY cut off all alcohol at this time. One or two drinks may not have hurt the baby but just tell her that she should not be drinking at all when she is pregnant. I hope she has a very safe and successful pregnancy.

I drank too when I didn't know I was pregnant. I was 6 weeks. I also did other things I shouldn't have to help 'cope' with the miscarriage I had just had. I am having a healthy pregnancy now, and the baby is developing fine. If there could be something wrong, the pregnancy will terminate itself. She should be fine though. Tell her congrats and good luck

She should be fine, If it was really early in the preg. it's ok. I did the same and found out I was a month preg. I told my Dr. and he said it was ok it happens to a lot of people. They say that if you drink a glass of wine once in a while why you are preg. it wont hurt the baby it will relax you and the baby. But just a SMALL amount!!

'If there could be something wrong, the pregnancy will terminate itself'
Where did you hear that?
A lot of kids are born with disorders, although there are a lot of spontaneous abortions this isnt true of a lot of kids...

There is really no way of telling what will happen, my mum had to be on steroids through her pregnancy (she's asthmatic) and I didint end up with any problems, while some women drink occasionally and they have kids with fetal alcohol syndrome... There is no safe level of alcohol...

Odds are as long as she stops drinking now the kid will be fine