For several decades, consuming alcohol during pregnancy was considered a no-no. Many neurological studies on young children whose mothers were heavy drinkers helped derive a set of developmental and behavioral impairments known as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).
Mothers who are borderline alcoholic or worse often give birth to FAS children, who are impaired with learning disabilities, decision making disabilities, growth and sociability impairments, and sometimes with an IQ that falls into the retarded range.