For all these reasons, therefore, it is worth examining how maternal postnatal retrospective self report, even years after delivery, compares to antenatal report in predicting prenatal alcohol-related outcomes. We hypothesized that retrospective self report of maternal alcohol consumption during a prior pregnancy may be at least as, if not a more valid indicator of the fetal “at-risk” drinking that produces alcohol-related effects on pregnancy outcomes, including the child’s neurobehavioral and cognitive sequelae, than antenatal report during that same pregnancy.
