The Parents Zone

When I was seven years old, my parents took me to Europe for an entire summer, and I quickly realized that the rules abroad were different from the ones at home. For example, my family’s rules about alcohol changed once we crossed the Atlantic: suddenly, I was allowed to drink wine (watered down, of course) at dinner, something I had never been permitted to do before. And I clearly remember seeing a Frenchwoman, baby bump bulging from her slim figure, drinking a glass of red wine and smoking a cigarette. Even at seven, I knew her habits would not have been okay at home in the United States. Indeed, the health guidelines doctors urge pregnant women to follow—and that some countries even require by law—change significantly from culture to culture.

From Bottles of Wine to Baby Bottles The rules about what pregnant women can and can’t do—emphasis on —are pretty prohibitive. For starters, a lady with a baby bump should say no to all forms of alcohol if she wants to avoid legal troubles and social stigmatization. It’s not illegal for a pregnant woman to drink, but according to DrugPolicy.org, a law enforcement officer can take her into custody if he feels that her alcohol use is harming the baby. And if that weren’t enough to stop a mom-to-be from drinking, the looks she gets when she even sets foot in a bar will make her order a seltzer instead.

Pregnant European women look askance at their American counterparts, too, over their pints of Guinness (a traditional remedy for increasing breast milk supply) or glasses of wine. But the American attitude of abstinence is reaching across the Atlantic, where European countries are becoming more and more aware of the risks of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), at least at the governmental level. An article in the ’s “Mommy Files” reports that in 2007, the British government ruled against even occasional alcohol consumption during pregnancy, and in France, “American-style” warning labels have been slapped onto all alcohol bottles. Even Ireland, home of that lactation-inducing Guinness, has introduced a public-awareness campaign against drinking during pregnancy.

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