Britain’s expectant mothers are the fourth heaviest drinking in the world.
Prenatal exposure to alcohol left up to 17 per cent of UK kids with health or physical problems, medics found. Symptoms can include lower IQ or speech difficulties or physical issues such as small heads or narrower eyes.
Updated NHS guidelines in 2016 advised women to avoid all alcohol throughout pregnancy.
The study, in the journal Preventive Medicine, looked at 13,500 children in the west of England.
Around 79 per cent of their mums boozed in pregnancy, and a quarter admitted binge drinking.
Scientists found 17 per cent of the kids screened positive for foetal alcohol spectrum disorder — three times higher than expected. Bristol University’s Dr Cheryl McQuire said: “It reinforces guidance that there are no safe levels of consumption when expecting.”
Only mums-to-be in Ireland, Belarus and Denmark drink more.
Sandra Butcher of NOFAS-UK, which campaigns against drink in pregnancy, called it a “staggeringly widespread and avoidable public health crisis”.
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