Moms' Drinking Linked to Babies' Peripheral Nerve Damage

[Guest guest]

March 8, 2004 Los Angeles Times

IN BRIEF / WASHINGTON, D.C.

Moms' Drinking Linked to Babies' Nerve Damage

Researchers have found a whole new level of damage in babies born to

mothers who drank heavily during pregnancy — this time to the nerves in

their arms and legs.

The study, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, is the first to look

beyond the well-known damage to the brain and spinal cord in babies of

mothers who drink and to find damage outside the central nervous system.

It is the first study to show the infants may suffer peripheral nerve

damage as well as mental retardation and birth defects, said Dr. Duane

of the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development.