As I understand it most water was dangerous to drink so people drank some form of alcohol instead of straight water. So what was the prevalence of FAS? Did pregnant women just drink a form of tea, or did they even have that. I know until the 1800's we didn't even know that boiling liquids made them less dangerous.
I mostly want to know the middle ages and the early modern era as well as everything before both of those lol
We have had a number of past threads discussing the misconception of alcohol being drunk instead of water for safety reasons:
How did people (esp. European townsmen) get fresh water in the Middle Ages?
There is always more to be said on any subject, particularly on this one, but we do have some older threads that may be of some interest to you:
How common was Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in Tudor England?
How frequently did pregnant women drink alcohol before the discovery of fetal alcohol syndrome?
How prevalent was fetal alcohol syndrome in Europe in the middle ages?