To be disappointed in hearing that many UK woman drink during pregnancy [shock]

i can see a point, yes alcohol is a dangerous substance and it is possible that it could harm your unborn child....but surely if you are that worried about the effects of alcohol on your unborn child you will abstain from it forever, save them having second hand effects (i.e. if you get an alcohol related illness later in life)

not everything is 100% safe.

if you were never to put a newborn at risk you couldn't eat for fear of food poisening, never go to hospital for fear of an infection/disease, never cross the road for fear of being run over......

the list could go on. you choose to do things in life with a measure of calculated risk. thats what life is about.

i drank during my pregnancies. with dd i didnt know i was pregnant until 6 weeks (unplanned) and at 4weeks i went out on a drinking binge and got slaughtered. felt so guilty my whole pregnancy because of FAS and didnt touch another drop. my dd is fine, no behavioural issues (other than being 2!!! ), no disablities, perfectly normal, if not above average. with ds i took a calculated risk, if dd was born fine having been subjected to that level of alcohol early on it would not do harm to him for me to have possibly 1 glass of wine a week (at most) in the later stages of pregnancy, guess what, he's fine too.

you cannot preach to women and basically say 'you are a baby making machine you have no choice and this is the way you will live' it isnt going to work.

"I am really not trying to be a bitch to all of you, unlike your treatment of me."

Now that was a counterproductive statement.

Can I just point out that Leati is not the only American on this thread, yet NO ONE has yet agreed with her.

Leati, have you started this thread to deliberately wind people up? Good job, if so.

I'm expecting my first babies (twins) in 3 weeks time. I have drunk alcohol moderately throughout my pregnancy. I will not be made to feel bad about my choice by you or anyone else. In return, I will not try to make you feel bad about your choice to post on here with patronising and inflammatory remarks about how we UK women need educating about the perils of FAS.
PS, did you see Zoe Williams' article in the Guardian the other weekend? V interesting abourt the so-called "dangers" of moderate drinking in pregnancy...

so because your sil was reckless/selfish/fill in suitable adjective the rest of us are vilified for having a glass of wine? no-one denies heavy drinking is a Very Bad Thing Indeed. that's not the point

heavy drinking....

Indeed - raised cortisol levels also has a negative effect on a developing foetus you know.

my sil has just had to be induced because her placenta basically started giving up through her heavy drinking while pregnant.....the placenta was almost dead when they delivered it.........the thing that annoys me the most is that its only 9 months out of your life not to have a drink,

Mrs Bumblebee
At my sons last school a couple of parents refused to sign a consent form for the class trip ( adventure weekend) unless the head GUARENTEED that they would be perfectly safe.

Head was great - refused to back down and anyone not signing consent form just had to spend the time in school. Stupid stupid people denying that kind of experience to their kids.
Crazy isn't it?

The majority of us on here are intelligent, critical people who can weigh up evidence presented to us and come to our own conclusions. If you read below you will find a lot of people who have read your articles, read LittleLupins articles and have reacherd their own educated conclusions. Please give us credit for our own judgements.

...and by the way - no on is saying that alcohol doesn't cross the placenta and isn't potentially harmful. We are taking a balanced view.

Oh - Leati - you are on very very shaky ground using the old "Third World " chestnut - very outdated and actually wrong - we are not a different species. Do a search on here.

This what this thread comes down to:

"So I felt compelled to start this thread and share the information".

We are not uneducated. We have made a CHOICE. Do you understand what choice means? You may not agree with that choice, but it is ours to make.

Lecturing and patronising people is no way to get your viewpoint across.

there's an excellent article on the kinds of advice thrown at pg women here. (possibly where theressomethingaboutmarie got her lettuce and listeria tit-bit from.) It's a well researched article that really does expose a lot of double standards and the negative impact of cautionary advice based on little research.

with regard to alcohol it notes that there was a study in 2006 by the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology concluded that there was no convincing evidence of adverse effects of prenatal alcohol exposure at low to moderate levels, where moderate was defined as 10.5 units per week (but, not at one sitting, obviously).

I too am horrified by the idea of a restaurant refusing a pg woman a glass of wine. that would send me apoplectic and would have a far greater negative impact on my health by virtue of my stress and blood pressure levels.

amaidawish - I guess you can pick and choose which hobby horse you want to ride.

Leati - according to doctors in the UK until very recently one cotdeath was tragic, two was suspicious and three was murder. They suddenly changed their minds on this "advice" when it was proven by other studies to be a load of old tosh. They had persecuted innocent, bereaved women for years, ruined families and one poor woman who had been wrongly convicted recently died after her body apparently just gave up due to the stress of it all.

Doctors are often put in tricky and potentially litigious situations (more so in the US due to there being a more litigious culture there) so will cover their arses with "advice" to pregnant women and the like.

pagwatch, you summed up what I wanted to say. I would add, that the problem is that if you just ban people from doing things because there might be a tiny risk, then you take away people's ability to assess risk, which is very dangerous. It's the same attitude that's lead to the sad situation where children aren't allowed to play outside on their own because that's the only way to be ABSOLUTELY SURE they won't be kidnapped.

Leati
you fed your DD GLUTEN way too young.
you are in no position to lecture us here.

i tak it was organic of the natural kind cereal and not cheerios?

Hear hear Strawberry. I drank a few times when pregnant (after the 1st trimester) except for a wild night out when I didnt know I was pregnant and downed about 3 sambucas one after the other but there is nothing from with my DD. FAS = "heavily drinking through pregnancy and not 1/2 units per week.

But 5 months goes against the recommendations - it's 6 months and certainly gluten should not be included at this stage if you go by the evidence and research.

And nursing is recommended for the first 2 years.

5 months??!!

that is TOO EARLY!
you MUST EXCLUSIVELY BF FOR 6 MONTHS

you have probably damaged her for life
call the social workers somebody!