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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

WIBU to have one small beer at 5 weeks pregnant?

398 replies

BlackberryQ · 26/08/2017 16:36

It's a lovely wedding celebration outside on a hot day. How much harm could it do?

I'm on the fence and you can talk me out of it if it's really a bad idea!

OP posts:
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6
RebornSlippy · 28/08/2017 10:01

@Boffin, the fact of the matter is that choosing the exact age, partner and lifestyle we are and have at time of conception is usually down to chance and circumstances. I personally didn't have the option of several sporty blokes to procreate with between the ages of 16-21. Goals.

Alcohol, however, is a matter of choice.

CoteDAzur · 28/08/2017 10:03

"I think if it's that important to you that you would slightly risk your unborn child you should seek help. Cocaine anonymous I hear are the best for any dependency."

Hahahahahahahhahhahahaha

CoteDAzur · 28/08/2017 10:05

OP - Have your little beer. It's perfectly fine.

Especially at 5 weeks when that cluster of cells is taking nothing from your blood.

RebornSlippy · 28/08/2017 10:10

That's really interesting @Essential. I'm gonna chew that over a bit. There would be a very interesting qualitative piece in all of this for any researchers out there!

Good luck with the remainder of your pregnancy.

expatinscotland · 28/08/2017 10:15

'Alcohol, however, is a matter of choice.'

So is choosing to conceive and carry on a pregnancy in less than what studies have shown is the optimal time to ensure good foetal health.

MotherofA · 28/08/2017 10:16

I didn't drink for 16 weeks then had the odd wine now and again during the middle bit and didn't drink at the end . I still feel guilty because I didn't touch a drop with my first even though my second is fine . If I have any more I won't drink .

Gunpowder · 28/08/2017 10:17

I LOVE Boffin's idea of procreating with several sporty 16 (well, for me would be 18)-21 year old blokes to lower one's risk. Grin

SenatorBunghole · 28/08/2017 10:18

What interests me most about this type of discussion is the fact we are talking about alcohol. It is something which is completely avoidable. We talk about risk and others have mentioned the risk associated with leaving the house, getting into a car etc. Well, for the most part, these activities are a necessary part of continuing with your normal life.

You miss the point.

For virtually all pregnant women, some leaving of the house and travelling in cars is a necessity. Equally, most of us do more of it than is strictly necessary. I did have to work during pregnancy and as I worked too far away to walk, I also had to use transport to get there. Those were risks I didn't have any real choice in.

However, virtually all pregnant women also leave the house and use cars more than is entirely necessary. There cannot be many of us who didn't do any non-essential travel during pregnancy. I certainly did. Those are known, certain risks, albeit tiny, in a way that actually, one unit of alcohol every few weeks in pregnancy hasn't been proven to be. They're risks you don't have to take, in just the same way as alcohol is. But nobody seems to think it's reasonable to tell pregnant women to avoid leaving the house and getting in cars unless they absolutely have to, even though those risks are certain.

Put simply, the two avoidable risks are treated differently by some people. That's an inconsistency, a hypocrisy even if you were happy to travel in cars when you didn't have to when you were pregnant. With that in mind, the question about associations with alcohol should really be put to the people who are on your side of the argument- what is it about the avoidable potential risk of occasional alcohol that makes you want to talk it up, whereas you try and minimise the avoidable certain risk of unnecessary car journeys? It's very interesting.

grandOlejukeofYork · 28/08/2017 10:19

Alcohol, however, is a matter of choice

So is the age you are when having a baby. So is the partner you have it with. So is you lifestyle. All choices you make.

nolongersurprised · 28/08/2017 10:21

But travelling isn't teratogenic. More whataboutery.

RebornSlippy · 28/08/2017 10:22

Yes @expat. And knowing that your circumstances are already less than optimal, why would you consider adding further potentially damaging factors into the equation? Particularly when they are wholly avoidable. Which, again, alcohol is. I think my interest is the 'why' in all of this.

CoteDAzur · 28/08/2017 10:23

"But travelling isn't teratogenic."

Neither is alcohol except when ingested chronically or in binges.

SenatorBunghole · 28/08/2017 10:24

Whataboutery? Le sigh.

Do you think something has to be teratogenic to potentially be a risk to a pregnant woman?

RebornSlippy · 28/08/2017 10:25

^What @nolongersurprised said.

Anyway, that time again. Life and shit. If only I'd 'chosen' to procreate with a sporty, non-spotty fella all those years ago. He might have made it big in the sporting world and I could sit on my laurels all day long. Alas, I didn't have that option.

expatinscotland · 28/08/2017 10:25

'And knowing that your circumstances are already less than optimal, why would you consider adding further potentially damaging factors into the equation? '

Why would you consider continuing the pregnancy at all, or conceiving at all?

grandOlejukeofYork · 28/08/2017 10:26

And knowing that your circumstances are already less than optimal, why would you consider adding further potentially damaging factors into the equation? Particularly when they are wholly avoidable

I don't think you're following. ALL pregnant women add further potentially damaging factors into the equation. Every one of them, most of those factors far more dangerous in risk terms than alcohol in small amounts.
So why are you so obesessed with alcohol? That's a good why question.

RebornSlippy · 28/08/2017 10:28

Oh, hey there @grandOlejuke, on my way out the door, but wanted to address you.

I'm not 'obsessed' with alcohol at all. This thread is about alcohol. That's what we're discussing. And it interests me to find out more about the choices wimmin make. Nothing more sinister than that.

grandOlejukeofYork · 28/08/2017 10:31

That's rather disingenuos of you. Interested in their choices is not the same thing as forcefully insisting they are taking risks when those risks are not supported by the evidence available. That's more controlling their choices than being interested in them, don't you think?

JigglyTuff · 28/08/2017 10:32

As well as the policing of women's behaviour, it's piling on massive guilt to the many women who have a few drinks/get pissed before they find out they're pregnant. The only way to avoid that risk is for all fertile women who are sexually active to abstain from alcohol completely.

I suspect that's what some posters on this thread would like.

nina2b · 28/08/2017 10:33

One should not drink at all during pregnancy. IMO

grandOlejukeofYork · 28/08/2017 10:36

One should not drink at all during pregnancy. IMO

The only "one" you should be speaking for is yourself. Why would you have an opinion on what any other woman chooses to do?

sparechange · 28/08/2017 10:37

reborn
For every big word you cut and paste from google to try and make us think you know what you're talking about, you reveal your true colours with things like: So why is it so difficult to negate all risk by just avoiding a drink?

You don't understand risk. You don't understand statistics.
You don't know enough science to be able to interpret papers properly, or to know the limitations of research.

You seem to be persisting for some moral crusade to have the last word on this thread so any future pregnant woman googling and finding this thread will see your advice and not that of the other posters who actually know what they are talking about.

I'm cringing for you for some of your posts. You are in way out of your depth here with the science AND the maths, and I'm afraid the legacy you're leaving on this thread is for people to disregard everything you say.

Gunpowder · 28/08/2017 10:39

Isn't radiation teratogenic? You are exposed to very small amounts of radiation when flying. I've taken four (avoidable, just for holidays) flights this pregnancy so far because while there is no evidence that flying for leisure is safe in pregnancy, there is also no evidence that it isn't safe either so I judge the risk to be acceptably small.

No one has said to me 'you don't know that any amount of radiation is safe, therefore you should abstain from air travel for 9 months.

BlackberryQ · 28/08/2017 10:39

I think the most reassuring thing I've read is that there's no link to the mum yet so how could alcohol pass through?

I honestly will miss having a few drinks here and there during pregnancy but I won't miss getting pissed!

When I've had the second scan I'll probably treat myself to a drink here and there. The other day it just wasn't much fun because I was so aware I was drinking. Not much point if it doesn't make you more relaxed Grin

OP posts:
nolongersurprised · 28/08/2017 10:56

cote where a binge could be defined as no more than two standard drinks - see 0905 post. www.doctorportal.com.au/mjainsight/2017/24/mixed-messages-sent-about-alcohol-in-pregnancy/

The abstinence advice is coming from paeds neurologists and developmental paediatricians who are becoming more aware of the typical type of brain damage caused by alcohol exposure in pregnancy. It can look like ADHD and/or behaviour problems and can be misdiagnosed as such. Animal studies show cell damage after tiny ingested doses. Fetus' excrete alcohol much slower than their mothers do. There's a whole heap of research into ethanol effects on zebra fish that shows badness at very small doses.

I'm not sure why the radiation analogy is relevant - because people travelled on a plane everyone should drink?

Anyway, I'm going to have a drink and watch TV. When agreeing with the advice for pregnant woman to avoid a teratogen is considered the same as wanting to force sexual abstinence on everyone then the thread is getting too silly.