posted Jan 7, 2012 4:45 AM by Canadian Coalition of Adoptive Families
Friday January 6, 2012Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) is asking the
Ontario government to develop an integrated provincial strategy for
prevention and support services to deal with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum
Disorder (FASD).
FASD is an umbrella term describing the range of effects that can
occur in an individual whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy.
These effects may include physical, behavioral, mental, and learning
disabilities with possible lifelong implications. “Countless children
are falling through the cracks because of Ontario’s continued failure to
fully address FASD,” NAN Deputy Grand Chief Terry Waboose said.
“This puts them at high risk for developmental disorders and severely
impairs their chances to grow up to lead the full, happy and productive
lives they so desperately deserve.”
NAN said Ontario is falling behind other provinces when it comes to
FASD prevention and support, many of which have strategies and targeted
mandates for FASD.
In 2006 Ontario cut the Northwestern Ontario FASD Diagnostic Clinic that provided services to many First Nation communities.
“Without assessments and proper services, many First Nation children
are at very high risk for secondary disabilities that can severely
impair their development. Lives are at risk and it is crucial that the
government officially recognizes the crippling health and social impacts
of this disorder and begins to work with First Nations to design and
implement a strategic response,” Waboose said.
|
posted Nov 14, 2011 9:52 AM by Canadian Coalition of Adoptive Families
from: http://www.promises.com/articles/alcoholabuse/fetal-alcohol-disorders-often-mistaken-for-adhd/
A
new study shows that children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
(FASD) are often initially diagnosed with attention-deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) because the two problems can manifest in
similar ways, Forbes reports.
The researchers found that children with FASD have more difficulty
interpreting social information than children with ADHD, which results
in more severe behavioral problems. The study also found that children
with FASD have a high risk of psychiatric problems.
Study author Rachel Greenbaum, a clinical psychologist with the
Children’s Mental Health Team at Surrey Place Centre in Toronto, Canada,
said in a news release that FASD and ADHD can look quite similar
behaviorally “with respect to problems with very limited attention,
physical restlessness, and extreme impulsivity.”
The study of 33 children with FASD, 30 children with ADHD, and 34
children without disorders focused on their social cognition and
abilities to process emotions. Social cognition is the ability to
consider and differentiate between the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and
intentions of oneself and others, and emotional processing is the
ability to understand and process information related to feelings.
Corresponding author Joanne Rovet, a professor at the University of
Toronto and senior scientist in neurosciences and mental health at the
Hospital for Sick Children, said that overall, children with FASD have
more severe behavioral problems. “In terms of social cognition and
emotional processing, the core deficit in FASD appears to be in
understanding and interpreting another’s mental states and emotions,”
she said.
She also suggested that these problems with social cognition and
emotional processing “may underlie that severe conduct problems” seen in
children with FASD, including behaviors such as lying, cheating, and
stealing.
"It is imperative that these children receive assistance in social
and emotional processing domains, specifically targeting interventions
to deal with their unique deficits," Rovet said.
|
posted Jun 19, 2011 6:21 PM by Canadian Coalition of Adoptive Families
[
updated Jun 19, 2011 6:23 PM
]
ANNE McILROY
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, May. 27, 2011 7:29PM EDT
Last updated Friday, May. 27, 2011 8:37PM EDT
Angeline Lau’s 10-year-old son can lose his temper at the smallest
annoyance: his sister picking up his new toy, another student singing
and humming in line at school. His brain was damaged by the
alcohol his birth mother drank when he was in the womb. But a 12-week
program at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children has helped him learn to
better understand and regulate his emotions.
“It has smoothed out some of the rough edges,” said Ms. Lau, his adoptive mother. It
also may have rewired his brain. Joanne Rovet, a researcher at Sick
Kids, and her colleagues are using magnetic resonance imaging to study
the brains of 40 children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or FASD,
before and after the 12 weeks of therapy. They are looking for changes
related to impulse control, hoping to find concrete evidence that the
therapy can create lasting changes in kids with FASD. “We believe we may have the key to helping these children function in daily life,” said Dr. Rovet. FASD
is an umbrella term to describe a number of conditions caused by
exposure to alcohol in the womb, the most severe being fetal alcohol
syndrome. Each child has a different constellation of symptoms that can
include learning disabilities, such as problems with attention and
memory, and behavioural difficulties. One in 100 children is born with
FASD and many of them develop a mental illness in adolescence or
adulthood, says Dr. Rovet. The Alert program involves using games
and props to get children to think of their brains and bodies as engines
that at times can get too revved up. Each child finds “tools” to help
their engines gear down when they feel angry or hyperactive, like
putting in ear plugs, closing the blinds or sitting on a “wiggle seat,” a
half-inflated camping pillow. Tools include strategies for dealing with
situations that upset them. The children also learn how to fire up
their engines – perhaps with physical exercise – if they are feeling
tired or sad. The principles of that program are used in three
special classrooms for children with FASD at David Livingstone public
school in Winnipeg. There is a steady stream of visitors from across
North America and Europe who come to see how the school helps kids with
FASD learn, says principal Debbie Lenhardt Mair. Teacher Sharen
McDermit’s classroom has been configured to be as soothing as possible,
with the lights low and blue sheets covering the bookshelves and
bulletin boards when Ms. McDermit isn’t using them. When she talks, each
of the eight children holds a listening tool, like a textured ball, to
remind them to focus on what she is saying. When they go to their
individual “offices,” a cardboard screen makes it easier to concentrate
on their work rather than on what a neighbour is doing. The
children, in Grades 2 and 3, have learned how their brains were damaged
by the alcohol their mothers drank during pregnancy, says Ms. McDermit,
who has been teaching children with FASD for 13 years. Two teaching
assistants also work with the children. The youngsters know their
individual strengths, in art or language or music, and about the kinds
of things that are more challenging for them, like paying attention,
math, or keeping their tempers under control. As in the Toronto program,
the children try different tools to calm themselves down, like rocking
in a chair to do their work. Those who need physical activity can pull
themselves around on a coaster board. Ms. Lau, whose son was
taught the Alert approach at Sick Kids in Toronto, has noticed a
difference at home since he finished the program in the fall. “He is
using his strategies, to walk away, ignore it, talk it out,” she said.
“Sometimes he can step on the brakes.”
Her son – she requested his name not be published – was diagnosed
when he was six years old. He is volatile and sensitive to things most
children don’t react to, which makes it hard for him to manage in the
classroom. He learned to read early, but struggles with math. Ms. Lau
says he was thrilled to be part of the research project at Sick Kids.
“He thinks it will help other kids,” she said. Exposure to alcohol
in the womb can affect areas and structures critical for memory,
learning and abstract thinking. It also damages white matter, the
connections that allow parts of the brain to communicate and work
together. Scientists are also starting to assess if there are ways
to improve brain function in these children, to capitalize on
neuroplasticity, or how experience changes the brain. In Toronto,
the focus is on self-regulation, emotional processing, impulse control
and social understanding. In addition to the 40 children between the
ages of eight and 12 with FASD who are enrolled in the study, the
researchers are assessing 20 other children in a control group. They
hope to present their preliminary results in September, at conference in
Charlottetown. Dr. Rovet is collaborating with Margot Taylor,
Jason Lerch and Gideon Koren, and the work is funded by the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research and Canadian Foundation on Fetal Alcohol
Research. The children get one-on-one therapy with graduate student
Kelly Nash, who asks parents to fill out a daily form to keep track of
their child’s behaviour at home. To see if the therapy changes
their brains, she gets them to play an impulse control game inside a
functional magnetic resonance imager. It is similar to the popular game
whack a mole. Either a mole or a garden vegetable appears on the
computer screen. The kids are asked to press a button when they see the
mole, but not when they see a carrot or a head of lettuce. Brain
circuitry that is involved in impulse control usually gets activated
when children without FASD play the game and stop themselves from
whacking the lettuce. But the same network doesn’t fire up in children
with FASD, although researchers suspect this will change after the
therapy. That’s what happened with Ms. Lau’s son, one of the first to go through the program and the before-and-after brain imaging. “After
therapy, we saw this network come on line,” said Ms. Nash. “It was
interesting to see these neuroplastic changes, along with the
improvements reported by the parent.”
|
posted Jun 19, 2011 6:18 PM by Canadian Coalition of Adoptive Families
[
updated Jun 19, 2011 6:20 PM
]
Regular exercise can help repair brain damage caused by
drinking – including in children exposed to alcohol before they were
born.
“If you exercise, even in adulthood ... that tends to
lead to the production of more new cells in the brain and you tend to
have an increase in cognitive capacity,” said Brian Christie, senior
scholar and associate professor in the division of medical sciences at
the University of Victoria.
Since he began research into the disorder in 2002,
Christie has found that increasing cardiovascular systems supports the
development of new neurons, the functional cells in the brain. In one of
his studies, children with FASD play computer games while wired to
recumbent bicycles. As the children pedal their bikes and play the
games, which are designed to test cognitive abilities, the kids’ heart
rates and brain function are tracked.
“Basically, they’re computer-like games, except they’re
designed specifically to improve underlying cognitive abilities,
including attention and working memory and inhibitory control,” said
Kimberly Kerns, associate professor in the department of psychology at
UVic.
She’s collaborating with Christie on the cycling
project, now funded by NeuroDevNet through the Network of Centres of
Excellence, which are aimed at helping children with neurodevelopmental
disorders.
Christie and his colleagues in the medical sciences are
also continuing research into repairing damage caused by exposure to
alcohol in the unborn, through the prenatal supplementation of omega-3
fatty acids and choline, an essential nutrient.
“The baby’s brain is unusual in that it’s really highly
active in generating new neurons, and that’s something that the adult
brain doesn’t do,” Christie said.
Kerns has also collaborated with the computer science
department at UVic to create a new set of electronic programs, not
related to the exercise study, meant to boost brain function in kids
with FASD.
The games are already being administered through Kerns’
colleagues in Edmonton schools. In 2007/08, Kerns used similar
electronic learning tools on children with FASD in Sooke schools. The
project is one she’d like to bring to Victoria.
This month, Kerns also begins a pilot project focused
on using meditation to improve brain function in adults diagnosed with
FASD. The six subjects of the study will use a “mindfulness-based
approach to self-regulation and behavioural regulation,” she explained.
Additionally, one of Kerns’ students is conducting an
experiment into suggestibility in FASD patients, through the Complex
Developmental Behavioural Conditions network at the Queen Alexandra
Foundation for Children.
“It may be that an individual with FASD, in an
interrogative session, might all of a sudden believe they have done
something, even if they haven’t, if they’re highly suggestible,” Kerns
said of the need for the research.
nnorth@saanichnews.com |
posted Mar 13, 2011 6:53 PM by Canadian Coalition of Adoptive Families
But research performed on frogs is no licence to drink while pregnant, scientists warn
By Mary Agnes Welch, Winnipeg Free Press
March 2, 2011
It's too early to call it a cure, but plain old vitamin A could curb the devastating effects of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
Research
by an Israeli scientist suggests vitamin A could act almost like an
antidote to the effects of alcohol on very early embryos during the
critical development of the head and central nervous system. That's when
the worst effects of FASD start. "Scientifically, this is a very
interesting story," said Abraham Fainsod, a professor of genetics and
biochemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "If we can continue our research, we could do some good." O
n M o n d a y , M a n i t o b a pledged $750,000 to help set up a joint
FASD research consortium between the Hebrew University and the
University of Manitoba. Sorting through the vitamin A issue will be
among the projects earmarked for funding. "This has the
possibility of being a relatively simple solution," said Geoff Hicks,
Fainsod's counterpart at the University of Manitoba. "That's why everyone is so excited." Fainsod's research was done on frogs; Hicks will now try to reproduce it using mice, which are the model for mammals. They'll
be looking at retinoic acid, one of the main biological forms of
vitamin A and a critical element in cell development and revitalization. That's why so many wrinkle creams tout vitamin A as a key ingredient. Alcohol
prevents the conversion of vitamin A to retinoic acid because both
compete for one particular enzyme and the alcohol usually wins. While
the body is processing alcohol, it's not making any new retinoic acid.
When this happens because a pregnant mother is drinking, it interrupts
the normal development of the head and brain cells in the embryo. Adding
more vitamin A to the equation -rebalancing the amount of alcohol and
retinoic acid -can reverse or curb brain defects caused by alcohol. Fainsod
is quick to say taking vitamin A can never be seen as a licence to
drink while pregnant. And too much vitamin A can cause birth defects as
well. So far, scientists haven't figured out what the correct balance
might be. But vitamin A could one day be added to food as folic
acid was added to white flour to reduce birth defects such as spina
bifida. Or it could be given to at-risk populations or chronic alcoholics who are unable to quit drinking while pregnant. © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun |
posted Feb 11, 2011 5:42 PM by Canadian Coalition of Adoptive Families
February 10th, 2011 11:25 pm ET
Gulf
Coast pregnant women abstaining from alcohol to prevent Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome might find their unborn babies are at risk of the disability
due to Corexit that has been sprayed along with crude according to
public health experts this week.
FASD is the leading cause of mental retardation in the United States.
Dr. James Diaz., of LSU School of Public Health has stated he is
concerned about the various forms of alcohol in the dispersant and its
chemical reactions according to Fox 8 News.
“The glycols that the dispersants contained….some could be
potentially deleterious because they are converted to alcohol compounds,
so that we should be concerned about exposures and things like fetal
alcohol syndrome in pregnant patients,” stated Diaz.
The FAS video below concurs with Dr. Soto in that there is no safe level of toxins in the human body.
The FAS video below describes the syndrome that can occur when only small amounts of chemicals enter the woman's body.
Deborah Dupre' holds
American and Australian science and education graduate degrees plus
thirty years human rights, environmental and peace.
|
posted Dec 15, 2010 10:58 AM by Canadian Coalition of Adoptive Families
Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
By: Carol Sanders. Mary Agnes Welch and Mia Rabson
Posted: 02/26/2011 1:00 AM
Maybe you sat next to someone with it at the doctor's office.
Your daughter or son might have a classmate with it.
If you're a foster parent, odds are any child who walks through your door will have it.
It is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the umbrella term for the
deluge of physical, cognitive and behavioural problems inflicted on a
baby when a woman drinks when she is pregnant.
FASD is the leading cause of developmental disabilities in the
developed world. It affects more people than Down syndrome and autism
combined. In Manitoba alone, an estimated 11,000 people live with it,
including 2,000 kids.
And those numbers are painfully conservative estimates.
Dr. Ab Chudley, Manitoba's top FASD doctor, calls the kids and adults
who have been diagnosed with FASD just the "tip of the iceberg."
Chudley says for every child diagnosed, there are likely two or three
more who were exposed to alcohol in utero and have symptoms of central
nervous system damage.
The Manitoba government spends $11 million a year preventing and treating FASD.
That's peanuts compared to the millions spent coping with the mess FASD creates.
As much as 10 per cent of the $10.7-billion provincial budget goes to
combating the spin-off effects of FASD -- the crime, the child-welfare
cases, the schools struggling with learning disabilities and behaviour
problems, the related health-care costs.
"It's an issue, and it's a long-term issue," acknowledged Healthy
Living Minister Jim Rondeau. "It affects family services, justice,
health, education. It affects everything."
The truth is, compared to most other provinces, Manitoba leads the
pack when it comes to spending on FASD. The province has one of the best
diagnostic centres in North America and a menu of new and innovative
programs, such as a court project for young offenders with FASD and a
new province-wide mentoring program for women at risk of drinking while
pregnant.
But everyone agrees those programs catch only a tiny sliver of people with FASD.
Meanwhile, the human and financial costs of FASD are enormous.
FASD is virtually invisible and mired in stigma. If left untreated,
FASD condemns people to a profoundly unhappy life of failure.
They struggle in school because most classrooms are perfectly set up
to thwart kids who can't focus, process information or learn verbally.
They get fired from jobs because they can't show up on time, keep tasks
straight or get along with colleagues. Mental illness, such as
depression, is common, and people with FASD are more likely to be
addicts. A marginal life, or a life of crime, await many people with
FASD.
"At one time I said we should be declaring war on FASD," said Chudley, a doctor, researcher and Manitoba's go-to FASD expert.
"It's really been half-hearted. People don't want to get into the
trenches because it could get messy. There's risk of offending people,
of stigmatizing people, there's risk of 'why are you putting money into
that, what about these other diseases?'"
Sometimes, there's a sense that because FASD is entirely preventable,
it's less worthy of investment of resources, that if women just took
responsibility for themselves, the problem would solve itself.
But women -- young professional women out for martinis on a Friday
night, for example -- may binge drink before they know they are
pregnant, during the critical first trimester when the damage can be the
worst. Or, chronic alcoholics drink to escape abuse, poverty and
violence, making preventing FASD a particularly daunting task for policy
experts.
FASD is not a uniquely aboriginal problem, although there is research
suggesting a genetic predisposition to alcohol abuse and binge
drinking. Rates of FASD are higher among aboriginal people, but some
researchers say Caucasian women in their 30s may in fact be the most
at-risk. There is also a suggestion that the risk of FASD increases with
maternal age.
FASD is treatable, especially if children are assessed and diagnosed
early in life. With the right help, most children born with
alcohol-related birth defects can learn, hold jobs and, depending on
their level of disability, live independently.
But there's a long line-up for diagnosis and services for people with FASD are spotty.
Services on First Nations, where the need is greater, are even spottier.
Health Canada would not provide any data about FASD rates or allow
the Free Press to interview any staff knowledgeable about FASD, but
First Nation chiefs say many reserves lack the basic tools to treat or
combat FASD.
For the last several months, with the help of a $20,000 grant from
the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a team of Free Press
reporters has combed research data, talked to experts at home and abroad
and, most importantly, talked to people with FASD and their families.
Over the coming weeks, we'll look at how FASD reaches into to the
criminal justice system, the school system and the child welfare system.
We'll also look at the challenges of diagnosis, especially for adults,
and lay out promising responses to the epidemic.
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
mia.rabson@@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 26, 2011 H1
|
posted Dec 15, 2010 10:56 AM by Canadian Coalition of Adoptive Families
By Kim Pemberton, Vancouver Sun
December 7, 2010
Students
with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder who act out in classrooms and
struggle academically are often mistakenly identified as having
behavioural problems. Many quit high school, frustrated by their inability to fit in. The
Ministry of Education is trying to change attitudes and help students
with FASD succeed in school through the Provincial Outreach Program for
FASD, which has operated out of the Prince George school district
since 1996. Program executive director Kathi Hughes said it
provides support and training for teachers by providing them with
online resources (at www.fasdoutreach.ca)or workshops in their home
school district. The program is also trying to have a designated
teacher in every district to liaise with the provincial program. So far
over 1,000 of B.C.'s 40,000 teachers have taken the full-day FASD
training program. She said the program can't reach all 40,000
teachers directly, but they can all take their 12-hour online training
program or simply go to the website to learn more about this mostly
invisible disorder. "The hardest thing is getting people to
understand FASD is a brain-based disability. In the past teachers would
look at the kids as refusing to do something when in fact the kids
couldn't do something without accommodations," she said. For
example, Hughes cited a student in Terrace who constantly threw his
pencil on the ground and the teacher assumed it was "wilful
misconduct." In reality, the student was frustrated, and had trouble
with fine motor skills. The solution was simply a bigger pencil. She
said another easy accommodation for a student with FASD who is pushing
and unable to wait quietly in a lineup is using footprint markers on
the floor so he can see where he needs to stand and wait. "This
approach shifts from blame to understanding by trying different
teaching strategies. We're trying to get teachers to look at behaviours
differently and putting in supports, so that the learning is positive
and acting out doesn't happen," said Hughes. She said since the
Ministry of Health Services increased its ability to diagnose children
with FASD their office has seen a five-time increase in the numbers of
students identified with the disorder. kpemberton@vancouversun.com © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun |
posted Dec 2, 2010 12:22 PM by Canadian Coalition of Adoptive Families
Slave River Journal
By ALEX DENONVILLE, SRJ Reporter
• Tue, Nov 23, 2010
The
three Canadian territories are leading the way in bringing fetal
alcohol syndrome and its effects to the forefront of justice issues
across Canada.
At their annual meeting held August 14-15, the
Canadian Bar Association (CBA) passed a resolution calling for changes
to the country's justice system addressing the unique challenges posed
by individuals with FASD.
"Our ultimate goal is deterrence
and rehabilitation that is effective for individuals with FASD," said
Malinda Kellett, vice-president of the NWT branch of the Canadian Bar
Association, the professional organization representing more than 36,000
law-related professionals
across Canada.
The justice system is unable to accomplish those fundamental goals with the tools at hand, she explained.
The CBA's resolution laid out a bare bones argument as to why changes are required.
FASD
affects the brain and central nervous system of individuals, impairing
mental functioning, judgment and impulse control. The justice system
works on the assumption that all individuals act in a voluntary manner,
making informed choices to commit crimes. Impaired by their disability,
FASD individuals aren't rationally able to make those decisions, and
punishment for their acts does little to deter them from committing
further crimes.
The resolution concluded with the CBA supporting a
cross-jurisdictional initiative to address FASD individuals within the
justice system.
The challenges of keeping communities safe and
FASD individuals out of jail run across the justice system, explained
Rod Snow, a Whitehorse corporate
lawyer and the CBA's current president.
"Judges in particular
are frustrated. They don't have a whole lot of options," he said. "What
the system has to offer isn't very effective."
Snow emphasized
that the CBA's resolution doesn't offer measures to change the system,
adding that the conversation about FASD and the justice system must be
extended to engage frontline workers on "how we can do this better."
"We still have a lot of work to do. We don't want this to be a flavour of the month," he said.
In
a recent meeting with the CBA, Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson
admitted that FASD was a "huge problem in the system," something that
Snow feels is a good sign.
There hasn't been widespread
acknowledgment and acceptance of the problem for a couple of reasons,
Snow explained. Inconsistent data, difficulty in diagnosing and
relatively new science around the disability make it hard for a
consistent application of law
across the country.
With the highest rates of FASD in the
country, the three territories are taking the topic to a national
audience, working together with federal and provincial justice ministers
on a solution to the problem.
Jeannette Savoie, secretary-treasurer of the CBA's NWT branch, offered her thoughts on changes she'd like to see.
The current system offers little support for those with FASD coming out of the justice system and into probation, she explained.
"What
happens next? At this stage it's almost non-existent," she said. In a
perfect world it would be about prevention and education, she noted.
Snow added his thoughts on the future of FASD-justice issues.
"In
the long term we need a system where individuals are not repeatedly
sent off to jail because of choices resulting from their disability," he
said. "We need the will of the community to search out these
alternatives." |
posted Dec 2, 2010 12:19 PM by Canadian Coalition of Adoptive Families
DANIEL LYNCH
-
Taranaki Daily News
Last updated 05:00 29/11/2010
Parents are not getting the message that drinking alcohol while
pregnant can severely damage an unborn baby's development, a Canadian
expert said.
Dr Albert Chudley, a specialist in foetal alcohol syndrome disorder, is urging dads-to-be to give up the booze as well.
Dr Chudley joined health professionals from around the world at the
Paediatric Society of New Zealand's annual conference, which concluded
on Friday in New Plymouth.
The three-day conference focused on the challenges facing those working in child health in New Zealand.
In his keynote address, Dr Chudley discussed the issues around alcohol and pregnancy.
"Alcohol is a poison, why would you risk that on your baby," he said.
An estimated five million people in North America had permanent
learning, behavioural or social problems as a result of their mothers
drinking alcohol during pregnancy. Dr Chudley said as many as 90 per
cent of them went undiagnosed because of a lack of dedicated specialists
trained to identify the disorder.
He said language impediments, short-term memory issues and
depression could all be linked to foetal alcohol syndrome. In New
Zealand the problem could be much worse.
Over a quarter of women reported drinking while pregnant in a 2008 survey.
Alcohol Healthwatch spokesperson Christine Rogan said New Zealand
needed to follow Canada's lead and invest in upskilling health
professionals.
"We need to develop diagnostic teams so we can find these kids," she said.
Without accurate statistics that paint a true picture of the numbers
affected by alcohol use during pregnancy obtaining funding is
difficult.
Dr Chudley said staying away from alcohol altogether was the safest option for unborn babies.
"When my wife was pregnant that meant I also stopped drinking. It's a
team effort and the health of my children is more important."
|
|
Chris Kornacki - Wawatay News