The Researchers Who Want Dads-to-Be to Stop Drinking
Recent research suggests that alcohol consumption by fathers before conception may negatively impact fetal development, including facial structure. This challenges the traditional focus on maternal alcohol consumption as the sole risk factor for fetal alcohol syndrome.
Why it matters
It expands the understanding of reproductive health and suggests that paternal lifestyle choices are a significant, previously overlooked factor in prenatal health.
If you’re “actively trying to have babies,” one expert told me, “both the man and the woman should be abstaining” from alcohol.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty. July 17, 2026, 8:30 AM ET Share Save Pretty much everyone knows that women aren’t supposed to have alcohol while they’re pregnant. Even just a drink a day, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists warns , can cause lifelong problems with a baby’s coordination, behavior, and learning. Not all mothers-to-be follow this advice, of course, but the official guidance is clear: “There is no safe amount or type of alcohol use during pregnancy.”
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