How did you manage to not drink during pregnancy?

[enkelt2]

Just that, really. I've never been pregnant. Out of all the things pregnant women do for their children, the one thing that impresses me the most is that they can manage to not drink! For such a long time!

I'm not an alcoholic but just cannot fathom not being able to get a beer or two every couple of days, whenever I want.

So for people who used to drink regularly before your pregnancy, do you just... go cold turkey out of sheer will power?? Or did pregnancy make you alcohol-adverse?

Genuinely curious.

I was just so happy to be pregnant with each of that it was a small sacrifice to make and I didn't have to think about it. I do enjoy alcohol now but while mine were babies and very young I didn't drink a lot. I was just focusing on them and their needs. I had a drink now and again but getting drunk, like a lot of other things, wasn't on my radar when I had a newborn.

@enkelt2 I’m actually not sure if you’re being genuine now or not 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

Youre in awe of woman that give up alcohol for the health of their growing baby? 🤔😳

There's a difference between choosing to do something that will potentially be harmful to you as an adult, and choosing to do something that will potentially harm your child.

It's the beginning of not always putting yourself first.

In my first pregnancy my first symptom was going right off alcohol. I’d ordered a cider with my breakfast (was 3rd year at uni 😂) totally normal thing for me to do but when it came I threw up at the smell of it. With my second, I was just so excited and happy to be pregnant (trying 5 years and many losses) that I would never have even chanced it with a sip of alcohol. It never crossed my mind and I didn’t miss it.

I've had 2 drinks in second trimester. Probably wont have anymore

I mean it causes significant damage to your baby so I would assume if that’s not a strong enough motivator, you have issues with alcohol. Maybe it’s hard for some people to imagine the incredible love you can have for your child. I didn’t miss it during pregnancies but missed it a bit breastfeeding, just not enough to stop breastfeeding!

When you know you can’t, you just don’t think about it. It was surprisingly easy, a complete none issue.

I wondered the same as you before I was pregnant though.

I didn't really feel like drinking alcohol. I didn't miss it that much. I did have the odd tonic water or alcohol free beer. And the very occasional glass of champagne in my second and third trimesters.

I drank pretty regularly before I was pregnant but I found it very easy to stop. It just wasn't an issue.

If going without a drink for 9 months sounds like a huge sacrifice, I would be questioning whether your relationship with alcohol is a healthy one tbh.

Easily. Not great for baby. Needing a drink every couple of days does seem rather a lot.

You can drink and breastfeed

You do feel sick for quite a bit which means you don't want to drink. And then you just know you can't really drink. I found to really easy while pregnant but not easy at all when not pregnant!

I love wine and almost certainly drink too much, but I have never struggled to give up drinking during pregnancy. I also thought it would take a lot of willpower before I was pregnant, but actually, when I see a positive test result it flips a switch - it's not that I suddenly have to deny myself a drink, it's just that it's off the table in such a fundamental way that I don't really think about it.

There were a couple of occasions towards the end of my last pregnancy when I did miss it (a wedding when I was 35 weeks pregnant springs to mind), but by that point the end was so close that it didn't seem worth it: I'd only have had half a glass of champagne if I had decided to drink, and what's the point?!

You literally have to have alcohol poisoning for it to reach to baby*

It’s easier not to drink in the evenings when you’re knackered and just want to go to sleep in the evenings.

It just seems a bit of an own goal, to drink and risk FAS when it is so entirely avoidable.

You love your baby more than anything, so it's very easy to give up something so as not to harm them. It's an unconditional love and you put them first naturally.

I like a beer but it wasn't exactly difficult to stop for the pregnancy. A bit annoying to be the designated driver for ages, but it wasn't like I needed alcohol...

I did drink some 0% nonalcoholic beers but they are not all that nice tbh.

I just knew I couldn't and shouldn't, so I didn't.

It never occurred to me to want a drink. It was very easy.

Well theres the great magic of morning sickness. For the first 3 to 5 months most people feel horribly ill at even the thought of a sip of beer nevermind a few drinks. You feel hungover all the time in early pregnancy, tired, sick and awful so its like aversion therapy even if you did enjoy a drink before. Then by the time you are out the other end youve 'broken the habit' as it were and its not long till babies born so I imagine even without the willpower effect and knowing the awful effects of FAS, most people find it pretty easy not to drink. I've had 5 babies and have never been bothered by not drinking while pregnant.

I am being genuine. I am curious about the whole transition to putting yourself second. How hard it feels, or maybe how easy and natural it is, etc. Because I just cannot imagine doing that for another person. Yes alcohol might be relatively trivial or a "luxury" to give up to start with. But it's only one of the many restrictions! Thanks for sharing

I actually thing giving up booze was one of the easier things to give up during pregnancy. My whole first trimester felt like a terrible hangover which put me off a lot! There are clearly always going to be people with addictions who will struggle to give it up but I think it must be harder for smokers to give up than for most people to cut out alcohol.

I’m a recovering alcoholic. I drank a lot when not pregnant. It honestly wasn’t an issue to not drink when pregnant as I felt so abysmally awful at first. It was like having a stomach bug for 3 months. Even if you like a drink, you probably don’t have a desire for one when you have a stomach bug.

And most of the desire for alcohol is a combination of habit and physical cravings. Anyone who goes 3 months without drinking won’t really have much of a desire to drink at 3 months and 1 day. The habit and the physical control it has over you has been broken. Honestly, I didn’t miss it at all.

I’m nearly 2 years sober and it’s truly no different now. I don’t drink now. It’s no longer part of my routine or things I do, and I have no physical desire to drink. I really don’t miss it. Actually I smell it and think, god, that smells like shit!

If you think you couldn’t stop drinking, truly I’d challenge you to have a break and see how you feel after a month, 3 months, 6 months, whatever. I know lots of people who have stopped drinking, some of them who had drinking problems, many who didn’t, and none of them say they’d want to go back to drinking loads again. It’s a bit like smoking. You do it because you do it and it’s habit, but once you stop, you realise it’s quite smelly and not very nice and you love getting a good nights sleep and your skin doesn’t look like shit.

It actually felt more like putting myself first, not second. I actually feel a bit sorry for friends who still drink. They waste a lot of time and money feeling like poo and don’t seem very happy. Whereas I get lots of sleep, save money to do fun stuff, actually get out and do fun things, etc.

It was difficult for me to stop - but you have no choice, so I turned to non-alcoholic beers for the taste, and then your body re-wires itself slowly. I turned to online shopping for the baby instead! Then by third trimester, I felt like a slug and just ate cake and drank gaviscon...