To have a small drink whilst pregnant?

[PayingMyWayYouSay]

I'm just about 20 weeks now. Baby fine. Lovely little boy.

DH and I going to the pub that sells food this evening. Would I be unreasonable to have 1, just 1, WKD with my food?

DH is extremely against it and starts protesting in full when I even mention drinking alcohol

I tried to take a sip of his Fruity Cider today and there was a lot of "Why would you do that?"

He thinks it's harmful and isn't worth a marginal risk.

I know it's my body but it is his baby too so I think he's entitled to express his feelings.

Surely 1. Something unit is okay with food?

It won't be a regular thing, it's just something I fancy.

I'm a geneticist with a background in developmental genetics.

I always think this is a tough one. Alcohol IS a teratogen. There's no doubt about that. But..three things.

1. we all seem to metabolise alcohol differently. I'm pissed after a glass or two but I know people who need a lot more than that. We all have different absorption rates and different rates of breakdown. You don't know yours unless a lab has tested you.

1. The foetus is sensitive to alcohol. But there are certain developmental windows where it's more sensitive. We know some of these but obviously you can't use humans to figure out them all.

So with 1 and 2 together I, personally, never drank. The risk is small but it's unquantifiable. Current observational studies show that very low levels don't cause meaureable effects. However, that's at a population level - each individual is slightly different. There's also some newer work showing that very low levels can affect facial development in extremely subtle ways (not detectable to the human eye.) if you're a geneticist that's a big red flag because a lot of the time what affects facial development is affecting the underlying brain.

And point 3. Which is important. You're an adult with autonomy. Over policing of what women do or do not do during pregnancy is troubling because it reduces them to mere vessels.

So to summarise, yes there's an affect. It's probably so minor one wouldn't make a difference. But it's not zero risk. And it's choice to make as an adult.

Enjoy your meal. Tell dh to stop policing you - I suggest he reads the handmaids tale ...

Personally I think the odd drink whilst pregnant is fine, especially after the first trimester. I think yabu though to drink wkd

I got pretty drunk whilst 8 months pregnant, I hadn't planned to and was also young and stupid, but was quite worried when I had to go into hospital the next day for a different reason and had blood tests. I thought the nurses would judge me, but they seemed to think it was not so likely to harm the baby because I didn't drink all the time (this was the first time all pregnancy). Not sure I would do the same again, but I would have one drink probably with food. Could you dilute the wkd with lemonade?

I would. I had the odd drink throughout each of my pregnancies.

Although I really hate the way that people use pregnancy as an excuse to police women's behaviour and actions. Grown women are more than capable of weighing up the pros & cons in order to make an informed decisions which may differ slightly from someone else's choice.

Not a dig at you just still bitter 5 years on at Sil's twenty minute 'poached egg' rant at me!!

The NHS says a lot of what it does for political reasons, not medical. They know damn well that the odd drink does no harm, but they tell you none because they think you're all idiots.

Yeah, foetal alcohol syndrome and birth defects were invented by the NHS to keep us in line

Alcohol isn't essential even if you live in a binge drinking culture like the UK. It increases the risk of your baby being sick. Why even bother with it?

Haha. It's not 'a random book'

It is the most comprehensive evaluation of all the scientific studies relating to pregnancy that has been done.

It was written by a Harvard professor who was enormously frustrated by people saying 'oooh I wouldn't risk it' but no one actually being able to characterise the risk.
So she set about finding, evaluating and summarising all of the studies and making conclusions based on the actual evidence from large and small studies around the world, weighted for the quality of their methodology

I'll take that over the NHS advice that had to be updated to be simple enough for the lowest common denominator to understand, even though several medical colleges said at the time there was zero scientific evidence to support the new stance

Still my body Name change. I am a sentient being, not just an incubator. I am capable of doing my research and making intelligent decisions.

witsender - so your DH has no say over the welfare of his child until it's born? Wow.

Sorry peng i misread and actually agree with you

reading the evidence - you mean a pregnancy book?! Not exactly what I would consider sturdy evidence.

No, I mean all the studies and reports I could get my hands on, NHS and otherwise. Likewise with sushi, camembert and a few other things I want once in a while. It's irrelevant to me what you'd consider sturdy evidence - it's my body and my unborn child, and I trust myself to consider things rationally before making a decision.

If you are having to seek out opinions that tell you its fine, before you do it, then I think that says it all really. You know its not right. For the sake of one drink , why bother? Drink something else and put the baby first. 9months is not really that long to avoid alcohol. Never understand why people cant seem to manage it.

Alcohol isn't essential even if you live in a binge drinking culture like the UK. It increases the risk of your baby being sick. Why even bother with it?

It's not essential but neither are many other things which women do when pregnant which are perhaps more of a risk to the baby than alcohol.

If you don't want to bear responsibility for the health of a baby then don't get pregnant. "It's my body" doesn't work when your baby is born with a lifelong disability.

I'm shocked at the amount of people with the attitude of "it's my body so I can do what I want" when they're pregnant! I must be in the minority of people who think for 9 months you should put the needs of your growing baby ahead of your own desires.

name change nerrserr
Here is some of the evidence used by the author of the book to reach her summary that occasional light drinking isn't harmful
There is also another page of it but I've reached my photo upload limit for MN so can't include it

He gets a say in all decisions, but not the final one. That comes down to me as it affects me. So when we discussed screening, we both get a say. Mode of delivery, we both get an opinion, but final decision is mine. Whether I have half a cider drunk slowly with a meal? My decision.

Namechange2837 you haven't actually produced any evidence that light drinking causes any damage. Only the NHS guideline which starts by saying that experts are unsure of the effects of alcohol.

Apparently it takes a couple of bottles of wine a day to cause alcohol feral syndrome

I'd more worry about caffeine in wkds, can't imagine that being good for babies heart.

I didn't drink with either of my pregnancies as I'm a "all or nothing" kinda gal

It doesn't matter how slowly you drink your cider. That's going across the placenta into your developing baby and increasing the risk of many diseases.

WKD?!

that aside... personally no I would not.

namechange
I'm shocked at the number of people who can't read and make decisions based on actual science, rather than a primary-coloured NHS leaflet

But if it makes you feel better to be Compliant Citizen#2374959373 than someone with a level of independent thought and education, then good for you

Hope you feel as strongly about people eating melon and carrot juice while pregnant, because there is a strong evidence base that both could potentially be quite harmful...