B3248 - Alcohol use breastfeeding and offspring neurodevelopment - 05/02/2019

B number: 
B3248
Principal applicant name: 
Luisa Zuccolo | University of Bristol, MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (United Kingdom)
Co-applicants: 
Matt Tudball, Jon Heron, Cheryl McQuire
Title of project: 
Alcohol use, breastfeeding and offspring neurodevelopment
Proposal summary: 

Breastfeeding is recommended as the best source of nutrition in early life by the WHO. However, mothers who consume large quantities of alcohol while breastfeeding might be harming their offspring because of this ‘passive’ alcohol exposure in the postnatal period. Realistically, in the UK and other developed countries, only a minority of mothers will be consuming alcohol to excess while breastfeeding and caring for a young baby, while most mothers would consume alcohol occasionally and in moderate quantities. These levels of consumption have not been linked with definite harms or benefits to the child so far, with only a few studies examining this question and achieving conflicting results. We propose to investigate the association between early post-natal alcohol exposure and measures of offspring physical and neurological development, including risk of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), in a large UK-based sample representative of the population and followed-up since antenatal appointments, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents And Children (ALSPAC).

Impact of research: 
A deeper understanding of the impact of drinking while breastfeeding could be used to inform recommendations for mothers on safe drinking behaviour in the early post-natal period.
Date proposal received: 
Thursday, 31 January, 2019
Date proposal approved: 
Tuesday, 5 February, 2019
Keywords: 
Epidemiology, Cognitive impairment, Mental health, Pregnancy - e.g. reproductive health, postnatal depression, birth outcomes, etc., Statistical methods, Birth outcomes, Breast feeding, Cognition - cognitive function, Development, Nutrition - breast feeding, diet