Alcohol in very early pregnancy

[FourOfFour]

Hello, I'm a newbie and have a quick question if you don't mind?

I'm well aware that alcohol should ideally be avoided in pregnancy, but what about the very, very early days? (i.e. during the 2WW?)

My understanding is that alcohol crosses the placenta, but given the fact that there is no placenta in the early days, can the developing embryo still be affected?

My DSis told me that until the placenta is formed and functioning, the embryo takes its nutrients from the yolk sac, rather than from the mother. If this is true, then how does the folic acid that we take get to the embryo?

I'm a bit concerned as am 6DPO but have drunk at least 3 units a day for quite a while (haven't been 'drunk' as such though).

Is there a chance that I've caused damage? I'm just having a little panic here, don't even know if I'm PG yet!

I don't plan to drink again until I have the LO in my arms, but just didn't really think of the consequences until today

[Besom]

I don't think you should worry, it'll be fine. Plenty of people are pissed in the early days before they know they're pregnant. I certainly was with dd (who is the picture of health).

[cariboo]

Yup, as Besom says, don't worry. But do stop now, okay?

[FourOfFour]

I will! I never thought I'd say this, but I am kind of hoping that I won't get a BFP this month now; I don't fancy 9 months of fretting over this - FAS looks like a terrible thing.

[BustleInYourHedgerow]

I drank quite a lot during the first five weeks of my pregnancy. (Was a student, and fond of getting pissed quite a lot). Once I realised I was pregnant, I stopped, and worried for the next 8 or so months. DS is ridicusly healthy

(Still feel bad about it though)

[redsugar]

I had a few tipples in my early pregnancy days before I knew I was pregnant with all of mine and on my 5th pregnancy now I found out after a night on the town that I was expecting our newest recruit! I wasn't worried but cut drink out immediately upon finding out - apart from the odd glass on special occassions. GL x

[Missus84]

Surely your embryo hasn't even implanted yet?

Honestly, you have to do some serious, prolonged drinking to give your baby FAS. Think how many people drink before they knew they were pregnant, or a couple of generations ago before people even knew it was a problem - there aren't millions of people with FAS walking around. I remember reading somewhere that FAS isn't found in babies whose mothers drank less than 8 drinks a week throughout pregnancy.

[ZombiePlanB]

I got preg the first day of a two week holiday in spain, with lashings of beer. Not ideal but no point worrying about it now! That would do more damage than the drinks I am sure.

FAS is for sustained heavy drinking, not a couple of glasses. Don't worry.

[cinnamongreyhound]

I really don't drink at all but when pregnant with my DS I did!

We had been trying for 6 months and I took a test which was negative so was depressed as every month previous but we were getting married in a few days so I focussed on that. I had a few glasses of wine on the day and shared a bottle of champagne with my husband while on our honeymoon! I still didn't have my period but assumed it was stress of the wedding so ignored it. Started being sick halfway through honeymoon and did another test when we got home which was positive.

It was more than I would normally drink over a year under normal circumstances and he is a perfectly healthy, lively, talkative almost 3 year old now!!

I really think it's sustained drinking that's a problem. Don't worry and ask your midwife as soon as you get an appointment to put your mind at rest. As Besom says a lot of people do that same thing before they know they're pregnant. As far as the yolk sac thing goes I really don't know the answer to that.

[FourOfFour]

Thanks for your replies everyone

I'm probably fretting about nothing, I'm just a bit confused as logically before implantation has actually occurred, surely nothing can 'pass' to the embryo? Why then are we advised to take folic acid before we even know we are pg?

Do you think this might be because a lot of people are unaware that they have conceived until quite late? i.e. aren't frantically symptom spotting as I am at the mo?

[cariboo]

The day, or rather night, I found out from my trusty ClearBlue that I was pg with ds, happened to be New Year's Eve. I had my champagne anyway - not enough to get even giggly - but then felt horribly guilty & selfish. Ob/gyn reassured me that no harm had been done. I think it's okay in the first weeks but wouldn't recommend it.

[PinkCustard]

I think the folic acid actually benefits the egg before it's released and fertilised.

[FatSeal]

I think the folic acid needs to be at a certain background level in your body prior to conception so that the egg and yolk sac etc are already stocked up with it, then ongoing folic acid keeps it all topped up.

I have also heard that drinking prior to implantation isn't that much of a problem as nothing is getting across the non-existent placenta so you would probably have got away with it.

There are millions of us who didn't find out we were pg until after that drinking fest and have perfectly healthy babies, so try not to worry. I had a cousin's 21st party weekend in Germany, and a fall from a horse under my belt before I found out about dd1, and she's perfectly fine. FAS is reserved for seriously heavy drinkers.

[Portofino]

I got pg on holiday, then immediately started a secondment in Dublin. It was one of these work hard/play hard scenarios, so we were out most nights. DH came over one Friday night after I had a blinder of a night out and I remember I was so hungover still, I could barely cook. . Dd is 6 next week and perfectly healthy.

[somanyboyssolittletime]

Was reading in the Times today that a study on the babies of 400,000 women who drank during pregnancy showed no ill-effects at all. Not advocating it at all, but don't panic that you may have done some harm.

[RedbinDippers]

Stick with in normal safe drinking reccomendations (add a bit to compensate for the nanny state) and you and baby will be fine.

[jojochanel]

With Ds1 I didn't know I was pregs till about 10 weeks. Was drinking every weekend up until then and was what you would call a weekend 'bringe' drinker. Remember one weekend when must have been about 7 or 8 weeks I went down to London for the weekend and literally drank wine from friday night right through until the small hours of sunday am. When I found out I obviously stopped.

Anyway without wanting to sound like a smug mum my DS1 is superbright and super healthy with no issues as a result of his booze soaked early existance.

[colie]

Don't worry about it. I know easier said than done.

At my booking in appt (think I was about 14 weeks) the midwife was running through all the do's and don'ts of pregnancy. She said "and it is fine to have a couple of drinks a week when pregnant"

I was quite shocked as everything says to sustain from alcohol altogether when pregnant. This was only a few months ago too.

I have been drunk at the beginning of pregnancy (well def in the 2ww period) during my 3 pregnancies and all are fine and hhealthy.

[Missus84]

From The Times today:

"Yet in 1997 the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists conducted a study of 400,000 women, all of whom had consumed alcohol during pregnancy. Not a single case of foetal alcohol syndrome occurred. Even those that drank eight and a half units a week had children with absolutely no ill effects.

No doctor would say that a couple of glasses a week is bad for your baby, just as no reasonable person would argue that binge drinking is safe. Yet in 2007 the Department of Health changed its advice to pregnant women to abstain completely.

Why? Because it felt that women were ?confused?. It didn?t really mean this. Most women can handle the truth. The Government wanted to lie about the health effects of alcohol to scare the ?high-risk? groups."

[cariboo]

Interesting!

[porcamiseria]

so many people get hammered beforwe they know they are PG, I did! in fact I only did the PG test as itwas xmas and knew Id want to drink

do relax, FAS is casued by alcoholic mother in my opinion (and based on what I have read...)

[ArcticFox]

Per my Obs/Gynae friend, there is NO evidence whatsover that moderate drinking during pregnancy harms an unborn child.

(she defines moderate as a glass of wine a day or a few glasses a few times a week). She puts her money where her mouth is on this and has 3 apparently fine kids.

If anything, she believes the risks are overestimated, because women who give birth to babies with FAS tend to lie understimate their consumption when asked about it (because they're ashamed/ scared).

Basically, what I'm saying is don't worry about it. It's not like you're having WKD for breakfast.

[FourOfFour]

Thanks so much for your replies everyone, that has certainly set my mind at rest!

It's really made me think about how much we drink at home. We are rarely blind drunk, but tend to have a G&T while we cook and then a couple of glasses of wine over dinner/while watching the TV. It all adds up, eh?

That Times article is very interesting - and I think its a very fair point that few problem drinkers will admit to exactly how much they do drink.

I'm obviously going to put the best interests of any LO first, but am feeling very deprived at the moment. Have completely given up smoking, drinking and am only having a cup of tea in the mornings (have switched to fruit tea for the rest of the day, but its not quite the same). Very much hoping for a BFP soon, as can't keep this up indefinitely!

Thanks again for your help.

[Besom]

Fingers crossed for you!

[SolidGoldBrass]

Please, please don't stress yourself. About 80% of the 'advice' given on alcohol in pregnancy is woman-hating nonsense. Three litres of vodka a day won't do you or a PG any good, sure, but given that women a generation or two back were encouraged to drink stout and red wine while PG, if it was that dangerous the human race would have died out. Or at the very least there would be a huge epidemic of FAS among 30-50 year olds.

[NoahAndTheWhale]

With both pregnancies I got very drunk in the early stages (ie when I was pregnant but hadn't yet tested). Both are fine (well if the bickering of a 6 year old and a 4 year old is fine ).