»Home »Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs

All women want their babies to be born as healthy as possible. They also receive a lot of conflicting information about what they can and cannot do while pregnant. It can be overwhelming.

They may receive advise such as:

“I smoked when I was pregnant and my baby is healthy.”
“Don’t smoke; you’ll hurt the baby.”
“It’s fine to drink some wine while pregnant.”
“Don’t drink anything while pregnant.”

Who is right?
The truth is that everything a pregnant woman eats, drinks, smokes, or takes can affect the health of her unborn baby. If a woman is thinking of getting pregnant, or is pregnant, it is best if she can stop using these substances. If she cannot stop, it will be healthier for her baby if she can cut back the amount of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or drugs she is using.

Tobacco

When a pregnant woman smokes or is exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke, chemicals cross the placenta into the unborn baby. There can be complications to the fetus because the placenta does not filter out the chemicals produced by second-hand tobacco smoke.

To learn more about smoking and the Saskatchewan Tobacco Reduction Strategy, click on the Tobacco tab.

Alcohol and Pregnancy

When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, there is a chance her baby will be born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Alcohol crosses the placenta to her baby. Because her baby is still developing, and cannot break down the alcohol as quickly as an adult, it stays in her baby much longer. This can cause lifelong neurological and physical disabilities for her baby.

To learn more about FASD and prevention, click on the FASD tab.

FASD Blog

Also, check out the latest information and news from our FASD Prevention program with our new blog!

Prevention Institute Blog

Select a category below

FASDlive 2012: 4 Reasons to Embrace Social Media during this Conference

The countdown to FASDlive 2012 begins! With only a week left until the live event, we would like to encourage you to participate on social media whether or not you can attend in person. Twitter is a tool we are using before, during, and after the conference to help share and expand upon the knowledge this event will provide. Here are 4 ways you can participate and learn about using Twitter for FASDlive 2012.

FASDlive 2012: Our Master of Ceremonies

Over the past few weeks, we have shared information about some of our presenters. For a slight change of pace, we would like to share information about our Master of Ceremonies, Myles Himmelreich.

Just How Many People Have an FASD?

When talking about the number of people who have a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), the statistic of 1 in 100 is commonly used. It is often followed by a caution that rates most likely are higher. It can also be confusing because when talking about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), a diagnosis under the umbrella of FASD, the statistic is usually a number out of 1000.

FASDlive 2012: Featured Speakers 2

People from across Canada are registering for FASDlive 2012. This conference will provide a wonderful opportunity to learn from others in the FASD field and network with people doing similar work. In this week's post we feature two speakers from the conference, Diane Malbin, who will deliver the keynote speech "Shift Happens," and Dr. Peter Butt, who will present a session about Canada's National Low Risk Drinking Guidelines.

FASDlive 2012: Featured Sessions 1

People from across Canada are registering for FASDlive 2012. This conference will provide a wonderful opportunity to learn from others in the FASD field and network with people doing similar work. We are pleased to announce two new sessions for FASDlive 2012: one by motivational speaker Myles Himmelreich and a mother daughter story conveyed through Photovoice.