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Original poster

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 · 26/08/2017 20:23

Did I say 'does'? @GrandOleJuke? Sorry, I should have said 'May'. That better? And no, probably not for one drink. But will it only be one? Not one a week? Or two a week? If the OP walks away from this being told, yeah, get stuck in love, a drink or 2 will do no harm. Sure, I did it. Then the 'may' becomes more likely. And so it goes on.

Anyway, look, I guess we'll all have to agree to disagree. My advice stands. No alcohol in pregnancy. It's the only way to completely alleviate risk.

grandOlejukeofYork · 26/08/2017 20:27

One a week is also fine. So it 2 a week.

My advice stands. No alcohol in pregnancy. It's the only way to completely alleviate risk

If you want to completely alleviate risk, you need to stop eating a very long list of foods, all of which are "riskier" than one drink a week. It's so stupid to focus on this when we know that a low level of alcohol does not harm. We know that. We know that you are more at risk from salad!

But fine, keep pushing the notion that women are too stupid to know the difference between one drink and ten, and the idea that alcohol is the riskiest thing you could consume while pregnant. It's not true and it is insulting, but if it makes you feel better about yourself for some reason go ahead.

Crumbs1 · 26/08/2017 20:27

RebornSlippy yes infant mortality was significantly higher at the turn of the century - the reasons are interesting and surprising but not hugely related to alcohol. I suspect the 'olden days' you refer to are much more recent - certainly the odd glass of wine wasn't discouraged in the early 1990s and Guinness was often recommended. The infant mortality hasn't fallen significantly since then but has been reasonably static. Lots of scaremongering going on. Current infant mortality rates in western world are very, very low.

researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/POST-PB-0021/postpn527_UK_Infant_Mortality_and_Stillbirth_online.pdf

LapinR0se · 26/08/2017 20:28

If you want a completely risk-free pregnancy, make sure you don't get into a car and go for a drive.

RebornSlippy · 26/08/2017 20:36

@GrandOleJuke "It's so stupid to focus on this when we know that a low level of alcohol does not harm."

Erm, I'm 'focussing' on this because this thread relates to alcohol not food.

I'll read that now @crumbs, but just to say, you should probably direct @Dermot to that, not me. She was the one questionning how babies survived the olden days with the amount of alcohol consumed back then. I'm saying FAS was alive and kicking way back when.

Actually, just thinking out loud now because maybe some of you know. I seem to remember being told that FAS was first noted in a post war situation (France maybe?) where a lot of prostitutes, dependant on alcohol gave birth to babies all with the shared common features we now know was FAS. That ringing a bell with anyone?

DermotOLogical · 26/08/2017 20:38

Make sure you don't eat, you might get food poisoning.

Make sure you don't walk near a road.

Make sure you don't go in your house.

All of these things alleviate risk but would be fucking bonkers.

DermotOLogical · 26/08/2017 20:40

Regarding the old days I was on about 1500ish where most people drank low percentage alcohol all day.

It a wonder we didn't all die of FAS.

RebornSlippy · 26/08/2017 20:42

@Dermot, because as with most things, some will get lucky. Some will not. That's risk. FAS doesn't affect 100% of chronic alcoholics even. Our great, great, great grandmothers were lucky I guess.

KarateKitten · 26/08/2017 20:44

In my opinion one small beer is of no concern whatsoever. No risk whatsoever. And if I wanted one small beer I'd have it without asking anyone or opening myself to other people's OTT pearl clutching.

sunglassally · 26/08/2017 20:44

My mum was told to have a bottle of Guinness every day during her pg.

That was a long time ago, and I am the product of one of her pgs. Something about it being good for you at the time!

I think I am Ok.. And she is still with us too.

KarateKitten · 26/08/2017 20:46

Does anyone here genuinely genuinely believe a small beer has a FAS risk to it??

sunglassally · 26/08/2017 20:46

Women just cannot win.

There is always someone telling us to do this and that now. Not enough to give birth, have a CS, have problems, get really tired, feel fat, get indigestion, heartburn etc. No. There is a rulebook now.

RebornSlippy · 26/08/2017 20:47

Yeah, Guinness was touted for being high in iron. And so came one of the biggest advertising campaigns in history "Guinness is Good For You". We don't do that any more obviously.

grandOlejukeofYork · 26/08/2017 20:48

I seem to remember being told that FAS was first noted in a post war situation (France maybe?) where a lot of prostitutes, dependant on alcohol gave birth to babies all with the shared common features we now know was FAS. That ringing a bell with anyone?

Also not true.

OutComeTheWolves · 26/08/2017 20:50

It'll be absolutely fine. The placenta isn't fully developed yet so nothing will pass over to the baby at this point- and even if it did, a couple of units would still be fine.

Interestingly credible research (ie not the crap they print in the dm) is starting to show that it's the speed that you drink alcohol which is more important than the amount. So it takes a while for your body to metabolise(?) alcohol so if you drink a drink slowly it will have been processed by your body long before it reaches the placenta but if you drink lots of drinks quickly then that won't be the case. Disclaimer - this isn't my area of expertise so that explanation will definitely have errors in as I'm paraphrasing something that I didn't fully understand the science behind in the first place!

RebornSlippy · 26/08/2017 20:51

No? @grandolejuke Could have sworn I heard a yarn along those lines. I mean, I'm aware of the actual research in the 70s. But thought there were some old papers found by a doctor working in the camps at the time that had noted the features appearing in so many babies borne by prostitutes. Hmm, might have to go looking at some stage.

grandOlejukeofYork · 26/08/2017 20:51

FAS doesn't affect 100% of chronic alcoholics even

Nowhere even close. At least 2 thirds of children born to alcoholic mothers do not have FAS.
Which is all the more reason why we absolutely know that the odd beer does not cause FAS.

Pawpainting · 26/08/2017 20:51

If you want to completely alleviate risk, you need to stop eating a very long list of foods, all of which are "riskier" than one drink a week.

Yes, as well as not driving, using public transport, being overweight or even going outside. Those things all carry more risk than one small beer. honestly I think some people would be happy to see pregnant women stripped of all bodily autonomy and signed into pregnancy centres where everything is rationed and monitored for the duration of their pregnancy.

VelvetSpoon · 26/08/2017 20:52

Lapin completely agree.

Pigeon what are these usernames then? If you're so sure they're the OP under a different guise.

I'd be careful. Your post could be deemed as troll hunting it's certainly shit stirring

RebornSlippy · 26/08/2017 20:53

@Grandolejuke, with respect, you "absolutely" know nothing of the sort. No one does. Yet.

sunglassally · 26/08/2017 20:54

Reborn,

I know, anything that would make a pg nicer is gone now. Totally.

I am very suprised that women accept all these dictats with no real evidence that they are harmful.

I am not talking about a bottle of Jack Daniels here or anything for the record!

Pg should be enjoyable, and for the most part it is, and many would not touch a drop of alcohol either. Fine.

But some might like to now and again but cannot because they will be so totally judged and vilified.

Evidence needed.

Feminists where are you!!!

grandOlejukeofYork · 26/08/2017 20:54

. But thought there were some old papers found by a doctor working in the camps at the time that had noted the features appearing in so many babies borne by prostitutes

There may well have been but it would have been by no means the first. The effects of extreme intake of alcohol on offspring has been noted since antiquity. Mentioned by Aristotle, for example.

pigeondujour · 26/08/2017 20:54

You'd be careful, would you? I'm quaking in my boots. You'll note I wasn't actually the one to point it out.

grandOlejukeofYork · 26/08/2017 20:55

@Grandolejuke, with respect, you "absolutely" know nothing of the sort. No one does. Yet

Without much respect, we actually do. The people who have studied it do actually know that.

RebornSlippy · 26/08/2017 20:56

It's so funny, because the way some of you are describing it, it's as if you're being 'forced' to stop drinking.

Lets be clear. Nobody is forcing any woman here to do anything. All women are able to choose. Drink if you want or follow advice and don't. It's really that simple.

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