A leading authority puts the debate to rest: No alcohol during pregnancy is safe.
To avoid fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, the AAP advises pregnant women against drinking anything at all.
Good news/bad news for women who enjoy a glass of wine now and then and are planning to get pregnant.
Cheers! Or not. Photo by Megan Eaves/Flickr.
First, the good news: After years of conflicting advice, we finally have some clear guidelines on whether it's safe to consume any alcohol during pregnancy.
The bad news? You might want to re-cork that bottle and un-shake that martini because a new clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says that even an occasional drink is no good.
Sigh.
But hey, let's focus on the bright side. Those clear guidelines are super useful for expectant mothers and soon-to-be expectant mothers. The fact is, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are totally preventable, and this report is finally giving us the clear info we need.
First, a quick definition: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are a group of of conditions that can result from alcohol exposure during pregnancy.
According to the National Institutes of Health, the effects of FASD can include behavior and physical problems, such as trouble with the following:
- Learning and remembering
- Understanding and following directions
- Controlling emotions
- Communicating and socializing
- Daily life skills, such as feeding and bathing
For years, research, experts, and doctors couldn't definitively agree on whether any amount of alcohol could cause FASD.
Cheers? Maybe not... Photo via iStock.
In fact, just one year ago, a large-scale study concluded that "moderate" drinking during pregnancy was OK. Today Parents reported on the study, which actually found that "expectant mothers who drink moderately have children with better mental health than children of mothers who abstain."
But then, as it usually goes when the conversation turns to drinking during pregnancy, we got a conflicting opinion — from none other than the co-author of the very study that came to that conclusion.
"I really think we should recommend abstaining [from drinking] during pregnancy," said study co-author Janni Niclasen, who was a post-doctoral student at the University of Copenhagen. "I really believe that even a glass of wine now and again is really damaging."
You can see why we'd all be a little confused ... until this week, when the AAP drew a clear, hard line in the sand.
Photo by J.K. Califf/Flickr.
No ambiguity here. They named "prenatal exposure to alcohol as the leading preventable cause of birth defects and intellectual and neurodevelopmental disabilities in children."
The clinical report was published in the November issue of Pediatrics, and the abstract contained clear-cut information:
"During pregnancy:
- no amount of alcohol intake should be considered safe;
- there is no safe trimester to drink alcohol;
- all forms of alcohol, such as beer, wine, and liquor, pose similar risk; and
- binge drinking poses dose-related risk to the developing fetus."
The AAP also shared the increased odds of having a baby with FASD:
- Compared with consuming no alcohol, drinking during first trimester increased the odds by 12 times.
- Drinking during the first and second trimester increased the odds by 61 times.
- Drinking during all three trimesters increased the odds by 65 times.
The conclusion from Dr. Janet F. Williams, a lead researcher? "The research suggests that the smartest choice for women who are pregnant is to just abstain from alcohol completely."
Good to know. But, look: Parenting is fraught with judgment from everyone, pretty much from the moment a woman announces she's expecting.






a man sitting at a desk with his head on his arms Photo by
Can a warm cup of tea help you sleep better? If you believe it, then yes. Photo by 
A woman is getting angry at her coworker.via
A man with tape over his mouth.via
A husband is angry with his wife. via 
Three women sit on a blanket in the park. 
Two women engaging in a pleasant conversation inside a coffee shop
Two men engaging in a peaceful disagreement.
Resurfaced video of French skier's groin incident has people giving the announcer a gold medal
"The boys took a beating on that one."
Downhill skiing is a sport rife with injuries, but not usually this kind.
A good commentator can make all the difference when watching sports, even when an event goes smoothly. But it's when something goes wrong that great announcers rise to the top. There's no better example of a great announcer in a surprise moment than when French skier Yannick Bertrand took a gate to the groin in a 2007 super-G race.
Competitive skiers fly down runs at incredible speeds, often exceeding 60 mph. Hitting something hard at that speed would definitely hurt, but hitting something hard with a particularly sensitive part of your body would be excruciating. So when Bertrand slammed right into a gate family-jewels-first, his high-pitched scream was unsurprising. What was surprising was the perfect commentary that immediately followed.
This is a clip you really just have to see and hear to fully appreciate:
- YouTube youtu.be
It's unclear who the announcer is, even after multiple Google inquiries, which is unfortunate because that gentleman deserves a medal. The commentary gets better with each repeated viewing, with highlights like:
"The gate the groin for Yannick Bertrand, and you could hear it. And if you're a man, you could feel it."
"Oh, the Frenchman. Oh-ho, monsieurrrrrr."
"The boys took a beating on that one."
"That guy needs a hug."
"Those are the moments that change your life if you're a man, I tell you what."
"When you crash through a gate, when you do it at high rate of speed, it's gonna hurt and it's going to leave a mark in most cases. And in this particular case, not the area where you want to leave a mark."
Imagine watching a man take a hit to the privates at 60 mph and having to make impromptu commentary straddling the line between professionalism and acknowledging the universal reality of what just happened. There are certain things you can't say on network television that you might feel compelled to say. There's a visceral element to this scenario that could easily be taken too far in the commentary, and the inherent humor element could be seen as insensitive and offensive if not handled just right.
The announcer nailed it. 10/10. No notes.
The clip frequently resurfaces during the Winter Olympic Games, though the incident didn't happen during an Olympic event. Yannick Bertrand was competing at the FIS World Cup super-G race in Kvitfjell, Norway in 2007, when the unfortunate accident occurred. Bertrand had competed at the Turin Olympics the year before, however, coming in 24th in the downhill and super-G events.
As painful as the gate to the groin clearly as, Bertrand did not appear to suffer any damage that kept him from the sport. In fact, he continued competing in international downhill and super-G races until 2014.
According to a 2018 study, Alpine skiing is a notoriously dangerous sport with a reported injury rate of 36.7 per 100 World Cup athletes per season. Of course, it's the knees and not the coin purse that are the most common casualty of ski racing, which we saw clearly in U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn's harrowing experiences at the 2026 Olympics. Vonn was competing with a torn ACL and ended up being helicoptered off of the mountain after an ugly crash that did additional damage to her legs, requiring multiple surgeries (though what caused the crash was reportedly unrelated to her ACL tear). Still, she says she has no regrets.
As Bertrand's return to the slopes shows, the risk of injury doesn't stop those who live for the thrill of victory, even when the agony of defeat hits them right in the rocks.