Last month, I thought I might be pregnant. I drink one or two glasses of red wine every night, and three or four in a night once or twice a month. I wasn't pregnant, but it made me wonder: What are the possible effects of a relatively low alcohol intake on an early pregnancy? Should a woman with even a remote chance of getting pregnant avoid drinking at all?

--- Molly

There is no good answer to your question on the effects of a low alcohol intake during early pregnancy; we just don't know if any alcohol at all is safe, at any point in pregnancy. Full-blown fetal alcohol syndrome may be seen in women drinking three ounces of absolute alcohol daily. (One ounce of absolute alcohol is equivalent to two beers, two four-ounce glasses of wine or two mixed drinks made with one shot of hard liquor.) Fetal alcohol syndrome involves poor growth both before and after birth, mental retardation, behavioral disturbances and a characteristic facial appearance; other defects such as heart problems and brain abnormalities are also common. Lesser amounts of alcohol may be associated with more subtle abnormalities, and these may be seen with as little as two drinks per day (one ounce of absolute alcohol). More than one drink more than two times a week has also been associated with a higher incidence of miscarriage.

> If you are trying to become pregnant, I (and the Surgeon General and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) recommend avoiding alcohol altogether. If you have an "oops" and have had a couple of drinks before you discover you are pregnant, then stop as soon as you find out; an occasional drink before you've even missed a period will probably do no harm. But if you want to have a baby, and are trying to conceive, what's the point in doing anything that has even a remote chance of causing harm to your baby?