To have one small glass of red wine at 38 weeks pregnant?

Go for it. Trust me, a glass of red wine does NOT go down as well when you're horrifically sleep deprived from a baby keeping you up all night and/or you are dreading the evening ahead.

Enjoy that glass of red. I don't think I've really truly enjoyed an alcoholic drink since I've had my son. He's 1 and only now sleeping through the night. Just.

Your baby is practically cooked so go for it. There is a window in pregnancy when drinking alcohol can cause brain damage/FAS. I think it's specifically when the brain is developing earlier on in the pregnancy.

I am a little surprised too to be honest but you never know what responses you're going to get online, right?

You’re confusing drinking whilst pregnant and having a glass.

FASD is something which happens over the pregnancy. It doesn’t happen with one glass. Before you tell women what they can and can’t do have an idea.

Of course. Baby is fully developed, it's fine.

Is it just ridiculous to expect women not to start neglecting their children before they are even born?!

Same, my MW suggested that I relax in the birthing pool with a glass of wine. Happy to follow advice, me

Good Lord, have a glass. YANBU.

I wonder if we are in the minority? Out of all my friends family and work colleagues I spoke to about it, I only know a couple of women that drank in pregnancy, so I always assumed it was uncommon. Maybe not though.

What are the risks? It’s 1 small glass in an entire pregnancy!

YANBU
The NHS changed to guidelines to no alcohol at all simply because it was safer as women were underestimating how much they drank. One glass of wine throughout an entire normal pregnancy will cause absolutely no issues whatsoever. But they can't say that in the guidelines as they found people were taking 'a moderate amount' to mean vastly different things and therefore putting their babies at risk by underestimating the danger. It was viewed as safer to just advise against all alcohol full stop on any NHS info.
It's up to you to make the decision for yourself. If you are absolutely sure it's just going to be one small glass of wine one time then of course that's not going to cause an issue.
I had 1 glass of bubbly on every Christmas day I was pregnant. None of my 3 kids were harmed.
My mum had me at a time they wre advised to drink Guinness!! She drank pints of it.. and I'm ok... sort of 🤣

I very much doubt it'd harm baby at this stage TBH. I had a very small flute of prosecco a week before my first arrived. Thankfully, I hated the thought of alcohol during most of my 3 pregnancies.

It's fine. Bun's just about to come out of the oven anyway.

Wrong! My midwife told me to have a glass of wine the night before I was induced!!

The mothers liver processes the alcohol though.

I’m definitely not clutching my pearls as I don’t really care about what other women do, but I did follow advice about food, there is no advice to say not to go near cats, just to be cautious with cat poo, emptying trays, and the usual advice about staying safe on roads would apply etc, so your posts just seems to be a way of trying to put women down who are cautious and follow advice when pregnant. If other women don’t want to, that’s up to them. Most of us don’t really care about what others do as in the unlikely event their child is harmed by a small amount of alcohol, eating something advised against etc, then it won’t be anyone else but them and their child having to face the consequences.

It’s quite easy to find out. Alcohol can pass through the placenta and the developing baby can’t process alcohol through its liver, at birth it can process at about half the rate of an adult.

Is it worth it?

Already answered a few times.
Yes it was a dramatic rhetorical question and I realise the amount of alcohol in one glass is ultimately not huge but I am erring on the side of caution and sharing my view (as was the point of the thread). I did tell OP that was not judging.
Interesting to see I'm in a tiny minority on this question!

In 2002, as she was 38 weeks pregnant with my sister, my mum broke down in tears to her midwife and consultant because her and my father were going through separation and all she wanted was a long drag of a Sovereign Black and an ice cold cider shandy to help deal with the stress… They told her to crack on to reduce her stress in time for labour & delivery as baby sister had already developed!

The people who don’t turn out fine in these kind of situations aren’t around to throw their 2pence in.

Op, have a quick look through the guidance first, then decide if it’s worth it. Not much longer till you can safely have the odd glass again.

“Your baby does not have a fully developed liver and cannot process alcohol.”

www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/drinking-alcohol-while-pregnant/#:~:text=Drinking%20alcohol%20during%20pregnancy%20increases,alcohol%20spectrum%20disorder%20(FASD).

There is very little risk with 1 glass at this stage. If you were in France it would be perfectly normal. My friend's SIL was married to an obstetrician and she had a drink on special occasions such as Christmas when she was pregnant, her husband said it would be fine, but they would never be allowed to say this. The risk is greatest in the early weeks of pregnancy.

I would like to know this as well @StandFirm

I love these threads. I'm assuming the women clutching their pearls didn't consume cured meats, soft cheese, go near any cats,cross roads or have any contact with anyone with a runny nose for fear they had the plague?

During pregnancy I rode my horses, had a cider at least once a week and continued to vape (mid wife was aware of all of the above)

I have a healthy 4 year old who does not seem to have suffered any ill effects.

Absolutely. I would. I did. Encouraged by a doctor

In the mid 70s, my midwife / health visitor recommended a daily glass of stout to help with iron levels. It took a while to find a brand I liked and happily guzzled it through my later pregnancy. Also had the occasional glass of wine. A friend who was living in Paris was horrified. We both had perfectly healthy boys....