This Alcohol Awareness Month, social workers can dispel common myths about drinking, including the belief that there is a safe time, amount, or amount of alcohol to drink while pregnant. For a healthy pregnancy, avoiding alcohol and other substances is the safest thing to do. And if a client is drinking while pregnant, every day counts. The sooner the drinking stops, the better for the baby.

January is Birth Defects Awareness Month, a call to action for social workers to share a key message: for a healthy pregnancy, it is safest to avoid alcohol, smoking, and other recreational drugs.