Background: A substantial proportion of women in Nepal consume alcohol and homebrewed alcoholic beverages
are the most common type of alcohol. Alcohol being a part of tradition and culture in Nepal and evidences suggesting
even low to moderate dose of alcohol having impacts on the birth outcomes, we aimed at exploring the alcohol
consumption pattern during pregnancy and postpartum period along with its predictors.
Methods: We studied all pregnant and recently delivered women using quantitative methods in selected wards
within selected Village Development Committees of Sindhupalchowk district in Nepal after purposively choosing the
district. We present the findings on pregnancy and postpartum period drinking and its predictors as proportion and
adjusted odds ratio along with 95% CI.
Results: One-third of women drank alcohol during pregnancy and 43% during postpartum period. Nearly all
drinking women mostly consumed homebrewed alcoholic beverages such as jaad/chhyang/localraksi. One-third
consumed it daily during pregnancy, while three-quarters consumed daily during postpartum. One-fifth of currently
drinking women drank ≥5 standard drinks on average per day in the last 30 days. Illiterate or women with low level
of education were three times more likely to consume alcohol during pregnancy than women with secondary level
education or higher. Similarly, women who didn’t know that alcohol during pregnancy affects mother and child were
four and half times more likely to consume alcohol during pregnancy than those who knew about it. Also, being dalits,
disadvantaged and janajatis, husband’s drinking and home brewing of alcohol were strongly associated with women’s
drinking during pregnancy and postpartum period.