Is Alcohol (wine, beer, spirits) safe during pregnancy?

Drinks

Avoid

The NHS, ICMR-NIN and Australia's NHMRC (cited by FSANZ) all advise not drinking alcohol in pregnancy.[1,2,3,4]

What official sources say

NHS: Foods to avoid in pregnancy

  • Drinks › Drinks to avoid: Alcohol is on the NHS list of drinks to avoid in pregnancy.[1]
  • Drinking alcohol in pregnancy can cause lasting harm to the baby, so avoiding it is the safest choice.[1]

NHS: Drinking alcohol while pregnant

  • If you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, the recommendation is not to drink alcohol at all, which keeps the risk to the baby as low as possible.[2]

ICMR-NIN: Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024

  • Pregnant women should avoid smoking, chewing tobacco and drinking alcohol. (p. 18)[3]
  • Among its don'ts for pregnancy: do not smoke, chew tobacco or drink alcohol. (p. 17)[3]

FSANZ: Pregnancy and healthy eating

  • The National Health and Medical Research Council recommends that women who are pregnant or breastfeeding don't drink alcohol.[4]

Sources

  1. NHS: Foods to avoid in pregnancy · nhs.uk. Paraphrased. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (OGL v3.0). Not endorsed by the NHS.
  2. NHS: Drinking alcohol while pregnant · nhs.uk. Paraphrased. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (OGL v3.0). Not endorsed by the NHS.
  3. ICMR-NIN: Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 · nin.res.in. Printed pages 17, 18. Paraphrased and cited by printed page; the text is not reproduced.
  4. FSANZ: Pregnancy and healthy eating · foodstandards.gov.au. © Food Standards Australia New Zealand, licensed under CC BY 4.0; quoted. No endorsement implied.

Sources checked 26 September 2026.

Quotes are checked word for word against each source page, and paraphrases against the original text. Official bodies are named as sources only: none of them reviewed or endorses this page.

Educational information, not medical advice. Your own doctor or midwife may advise differently for you — follow their advice.