To think baby's health should come before mother's feelings?

[missduff]

I have 1 dc and I'm currently 9 weeks pregnant and the other week it dawned on me that in neither pregnancy I've been given any information about alcohol in pregnancy and the possible affects it can have on baby.

It doesn't really make much difference to me as I think I have a rather sensible attitude towards alcohol: none in first trimester and then maybe a unit or 2 on special occasions (birthdays/Xmas etc).

But I know there are a lot of women who are very ignorant and think 'oh it won't happen to me' so I think for this reason it would be good for the nhs to educate women about FAS.

I asked myidwife at my booking in appointment why they give us so many leaflets but why do they not give us one about drinking in pregnancy, her answer was ''we don't want to scare women''. Her point was that a lot of women have already been drinking in early pregnancy before they find out so I suppose the fear may be that if they give a woman a leaflet saying ' this is what can happen to your baby if you drink' then a woman may terminate the pregnancy unnecesssarily.

BUT what about the women who just don't know? Isn't it better to educate the women and try and tackle the UK's ever increasing rates of FAS? Which btw the figures are totally innacurate, it's thought that a lot of children with FAS are just diagnosed with autism.

I just think that the health of all these babies should surely be put before the woman's feelings?

That's weird, I've definitely had leaflets & chats about it. different HAs, too.

I'm sure the purple pregnancy book covers alcohol, doesn't it? The point of that is to avoid 10,000 different leaflets being handed out. In fact the only separate ones I got were on car safety and prenatal testing.

It used to be in the NHS pregnancy book. Do they not give those books out anymore?

I have had a leaflet about alcohol both time, and talked about it at booking in. different pcts for me too.

I wasn't given any specific information, but I'm sure I would have been had I answered the question 'how much do you drink?' with 'four or five pints a night'.

As it was I was simply advised not to drink, but if I really wanted to a glass of wine every so often in late pregnancy would probably be ok.

I had a leaflet and also there was a section in my purple pregnancy book.

There are also posters all over the hospitals and clinics and a wealth of info online

What else can they do except beat women around the head with a bottle of Stella?

To answer the title - no. A mothers feelings always come first, until the child is born and a person in its own right.

As for alcohol in pregnancy - the advice is given to avoid, because there isn't the conclusive evidence and research to back up advice either way.

Our ds is 17. We knew as long ago as then that drinking should me minimal during conception and pregnancy. I have a feeling that more information wouldn't make a jot of difference in relation to unplanned babies.

It is wrong to expect to be warned about everything and spoonfed about everything. Women have a responsibility to plan pregnancies in the first place and take steps to avoid unwanted pregnancy and to think about what the need to do before they conceive when the baby is planned.

FWIW 17 years ago, I wasn't advised about folic acid even though it was just coming in and I went to the GP pre conception and the nuchal scan was done via a research project at KCH which I found out about via friends. Wasn't told about that by GP or midwives either, even though I had already miscarried at 17 weeks.

Should read 18 years ago.

I have never had a baby, but I know that drinking to excess while pregnant is dangerous for the baby.

I would also say there are very few women who have NOT had alcohol in their first trimester, as many women do not know they are pregnant from the day of conception, and therefore continue drinking for a month or so until they find out they are pregnant.

In days gone by, women were advised to drink guiness/stout.. and there was no higher increase of FAS then either... however back in those days women did not go out on the lash necking shots and bottles of chardonnay every weekend either..

I'd like to see your statistics on the UK's 'ever increasing rates of FAS' please. And who thinks that a lot of babies with FAS are 'just' diagnosed with autisim? They are both wholly different conditions.

Oh, and judgey, much? You have no idea of the individual circumstances of these 'ignorant women'.

No I've not been given any information and I've not been given a pregnancy book this time either. Strange?
Even when I asked she said that no they don't give any information about it yet.
I was watching a programme called Pissed and Pregnant the other week and in some states in the US it is a crime to drink whilst pregnant and they tell women of a child bearing age to consider themselves as 'pre-pregnant'.
There was also a woman saying that the midwife tells her everything is fine so she's gonna carry on drinking, if the midwife tells her that there's something not quite right then she'll maybe stop. To me that just demonstrates the ignorance of so many women, even if a baby did develop feral alcohol syndrome no test that the midwife does will show it , in fact you probably won't even know until your baby is getting older and just not quite right.

Pre-pregnant?!

Maybe you didn't get anything because it's your second? Just a thought.

My "children" were born back in the 1980s and we were informed about the risks of alcohol even then!
Not sure why you think this isn't being addressed OP - it's pretty well highlighted along with smoking and healthy diets.
Do you live in Ulan Bator?

wilsonFricket sorry but do you know me? Do you know that I work with children with special needs? And the mothers of the children with special needs? So yes I know what I am talking about.

All Wilson asked for were some stats please to see where people think this is not addressed enough...

I simply asked to see proof of your assertion. You don't know me, either.

The point is OP that the dangers of drinking alcohol are addressed and information is given out.
Not sure where you are but my DD was certainly given all this information during both of her pregnancies.
But, as with anything else, some choose to ignore the information.

There is a big difference between having the odd glass of wine and downing 2 bottles a night. The vast, vast majority of prgenant women know the difference and the small minority do not care. No amounts of leaflets and hectoring from midwives is going to change this.

I would like to see some proper statistics regarding the epidemic of FAS because it seems unlikely.

I was asked in my booking in appointment how much I drank, the MW said I didn't need talking to as I didn't drink a lot so would be unlikely to take up heavy drinking when pregnant. She gave me leaflets anyway as part of a book/pack thing.

Did you give information like this that made them realise you didn't need to chat about it?

I'm in the north west of england and I can honestly hand on heart promise I have not been given any information about it, not a problem for me, but I worry about other parents and babies.

I will try and find some statistics, as I said though, the statistics are not truly representative as there are so many children misdiagnosed.

Well I got that info during my PGs (from the 1990s onwards). Info on pre-conceptual care, including folic acid, was also readily available and had been for years.

I do not think OP's experience is typical.

I think you need to be looking at your pct and antenatal care in your area because seriously I think the alcohol message IS addressed enough elsewhere

Did you have a booking in appointment though? They tend to do that for all pregnancies Nd may have surmised from information you provided that you didn't need to chat about your alcohol intake.

There are lots of MN'ers in the North West, so I doubt its just an area thing.