I thought the latest advice on alchohol in pregnancy was nil?

[supersupersupershock]

Though I have seem some threads seeming to say occasional one ok? Anyone.

Not that I fancy a tiny sip of wine. Oh no. Not me

[munchkin2902]

I think it's 1-2 units twice a week. I've been having the odd glass.

At 39 weeks I feel like a bloody big glass of red tbh, but the heartburn would kill me!

[BikeRunSki]

It's advice, not law!

[Sarkymare]

I think it depends who you ask. I saw two different sets of midwives in my last pregnancy as I travelled to stay with family for a month or two.

The midwives at home said absolutely no alcohol is to be consumed. The midwives in my old home town said the occasional glass of wine was completely fine

[PrincessOfChina]

I think there was suggestion in the press recently (possibly off the back of a study) that it should be adjusted to say no alcohol at all. As far as I know, it's 1-2 units once or twice a week. I've had 3 glasses of champagne in nearly 5 months and will definitely have a couple over the festive period.

[LIG1979]

I think the current advice is to avoid it in the 1st trimester. After that 1-2 units up to twice a week.

Personally I have the odd small glass of wine and I enjoy it!! There is no evidence that small amounts of drinking does any harm. It has only been shown on pregnant women who drink a lot (i.e. alcoholic levels) and they probably also don't look after themselves in other ways such as smoking, poor diet etc.

[Pisghetti]

NHS guidelines are none at all (but if you must, no more than 1-2 units once or twice a week)

I've chosen the none at all option up until now (25 weeks) but will have a glass of fizz for New Year and another on my birthday. In much the same way I choose not to drink if I am driving rather than play the limits game.

The research seems to suggest that an occasional drink during pregnancy hasn't been shown to cause any harm however getting drunk can cause harm so 1-2 units falls below this 'getting drunk' threshold. I think the 'none at all' advice is intended to give clarity as people don't always understand units and have a tendency to stretch boundaries (just one more will be ok, one more time a week will be ok...).

[susannahmoodie]

I think the none at all advice is intended to patronise pg women who are clearly to stupid to understand what 1-2 units means.

[lemontwist]

As far as I understand the advice used to be something like "1-2 units once or twice a week" is fine but it seems many mothers were not understanding this advice and drinking more than deemed safe so the advice was changed to none. So by that it seems that a small amount here or there is safe but the actual advice is to abstain completely.

[LadyIsabellaWrotham]

There is a clear biochemical mechanism for harm, and obvious evidence of actual harm at binge levels, but there is no good evidence of actual harm at "1-2 units twice a week" levels.

Lots of people have looked, really really hard, on big studies. They've mostly found that low levels of alcohol is associated in better outcomes - but that's almost certainly because of socio-economic confounding factors, and the effect dilutes away the more you adjust for those factors, so there's always an unavoidable nagging suspicion that those socio-economic effects might be masking some low level harm, hence the zero tolerance official line. (caveat - I am not a medical researcher, I'm just an epidemiology nerd, so am willing to be corrected by actual medical researchers in my interpretation)

Don't forget that a small glass of wine = 2 units. A big glass of wine is probably too much for comfort, and half a bottle of wine is a binge and can result in noticeable harm. That's the other reason for the zero-tolerance official line, people are a bit crap at counting units.

[makeitabetterplace]

I haven't touched a drop for the 31 weeks. I got excited over cherry brandy chocolate though!

[PrincessTheresaofLiechtenstein]

You'll never have a definite safe limit recommendation, because people's tolerance varies. Some babies are more at risk than others. people lie about how much they drink. And can you imagine a study where you put pg women into groups and gave them different amounts of alcohol to drink weekly...just not going to happen. Easier to have a blanket "zero alcohol recommended" but also to say that there is no clear evidence of harm at 1-2 units a week; it allows people to make up their own minds.

[FishWithABicycle]

1-2 units 1 or 2 times a week is perfectly fine. We pathetic women with our tiny tiny pregnancy-hormone-addled brains cannot understand this and will misinterpret it as 1or two bottles of vodka a night, so they changed the advice to none at all because we are more likely to be able to understand that.

[DanyStormborn]

The results of the various studies on it vary. Some say none, some say 1-2 drinks once or twice a week after the first trimester is perfectly safe. I'm aiming for total abstinence but won't feel bad if I do end up having the odd one at a social event. I wouldn't think anything is wrong if someone I knew had a a glass of wine a couple of times every week while pregnant, just not for me.

[Mulderandskully]

Oh dear, I thought it was 1 or 2 drinks, not units. I think I had 5 this week oh well it'll be fine this one week

[catellington]

Advice is different depending on which official body the advice is from.

Summary is on here with links:

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/alcohol-medicines-drugs-pregnant.aspx

[Bondy83]

I've had the odd glass of wine. First Cape and black tower do a skinny version which is only 5.5% and still tastes nice (I've tried the non alcohol wine and it's vile )

[sleepdodger]

The thing is, the crucial but is the development stage when you don't even know you're pregnant...
I started off being tee total but 3 months in a want a drink, I'm still not pregnant and so am currently enjoying mulled cider
Dc1 was conceived after an afternoon of drinking and throwing caution to the wind
I'm wondering if my more fit and healthy clean living body doesn't know what to do

[Mulderandskully]

Thanks. It's probably ok - 2 125 ml glasses wine and 1/2 lager (on different days not together!)
To be honest I'm not in the slightest concerned, I'll pee it out in a hour.

[Mintyy]

What FishWithABicycle said.

Think about it and think about it hard: if it were essential to never touch a drop in pregnancy there would be millions, if not billions, of people walking around who had been damaged by their mother drinking a drop of alcohol in pregnancy.

Ime, severe morning sickness helps an awful lot in preventing the drinking of alcohol up to about 30 weeks! After that I would have a couple of small glasses of wine or spritzer at an occasion if I fancied it, probably worked out at 2-4 per week.

That was well within the guidelines when I was pg, not in the dark ages, but just 12-14 years ago.

[Mulderandskully]

I should say I also didn't drink anything until 18 weeks. It tasted weird until then. Everything is formed now so I'm confident it's fine

[Guyropes]

zita west say absolutely no alcohol for 1st trimester...

But then she says a lot of things which may be more or less relevant to each expectant mother.

I'm planning to have a drink or 2 over the festive period, but nothing other than that, but then I've lost any taste for it anyhow.

But I'm glad to hear the general consensus is that if I do join in occasionally with my friends it isn't wicked.

[browneyedgirly]

I miss wine. I'm 24 weeks and have had just three glasses of champagne at three weddings (as in just one glass at each!!) in that time. I'll probably have one or two over Christmas but other than that I'm abstaining... Even though I know plenty of women who've drunk within the limits of 1-2 units a week and their babies are completely fine. I also find the advice confusing.

[Caterina99]

I'm in the US and obviously official advice says no alcohol (along with all their other ridiculous pregnancy foods that are not allowed) but there is lots of information saying studies have shown that a couple of units a couple of times a week have shown absolutely no harm. the reasoning then to not drink a drop is that "one drink leads to another" which I find very patronizing!

I've had the odd small glass of wine or weak g&t and don't feel guilty at all about it.

[Iamrandom]

For pp who feel it's patronising to think that people who are pregnant won't know what a unit of alcohol is. It's a fact that most people (pregnant or not) don't have a clue about how many units of alcohol are in drinks. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7399192.stm

[LIG1979]

I think also the fact that often it is refered to as 1/2 drinks when most drinks are more than a unit. lots of drinks now have the number of units on the back which helps.