To think 2 glasses of wine per week won't do any harm?

[Poptart4]

I fully expect to be eaten alive for this post but here we go...

I'm 4 weeks pregnant with my 4th child. With my first 3 pregnancies I didn't touch a drop for 9 months and all dc were perfectly healthy. However I have watched people, friends/acquaintances, binge drink every weekend through out their pregnancies and their children were also perfectly healthy.

To be clear i would never binge drink while pregnant!

But I have been thinking that maybe 2 glasses of wine max on a Friday evening won't do any harm.

What do you think? Anyone else done the same? Did it harm your baby?

Personally I would think it is fine; i didn't even know I was pregnant for 10 weeks - wasn't TTC and assumed at my age the lack of periods was the start of the menopause (42). I was drinking my 'normal' level of a few glasses of wine a week.

Numerous research has indicated that the 'no alcohol' rule is because it is assumed women can't tell the difference between the occasional drink and binge drinking .

Quite honestly I would think your unborn child is in more danger from a car accident than alcohol poisoning but no one is going to stop getting in a car just because they are pregnant are they?

I'm a doctor and I drank during pregnancy. A glass of wine a couple of times a week, because I enjoyed it. The majority of the doctors I know also drank moderate amounts during their pregnancies. There is no evidence that moderate drinking in pregnancy is detrimental. Could I have given up for 9 months, yes absolutely. But given there was no need, I didn't. I also rode a bike and drove a car, both of which are far riskier than a glass of wine. Do your own research, don't judge others who have. And for what it's worth, it was an ivf pregnancy.

I drank unknowingly during pregnancy and my lo had difficulties. They were not anything to do with drinking but I am still “what if “... don’t do it regularly just once in a while.

For what it’s worth I’m also a doctor (paediatrics) and didn’t drink when pregnant, my good friend also a paediatrician is 12wks pregnant and has stopped caffeine and alcohol.

I drank before I knew, before my missed period. I drank a lot as it included a hen weekend. My DD has a hole in her heart and I'm convinced the drinking was the cause. I've read enough to see that drinking when the heart is forming can have an effect. Maybe I did cause it and maybe I didn't but I'll have guilt forever. It's not worth the risk.

Thanks for all the replies. I havent said much because I respect everyone's opinions and I didn't come on here to get into a slanging match with anyone. The best way to avoid this is to not respond to individuals.

That being said I have read all replies and you have given me a lot to think about. I also have a doctors appointment tomorrow and will discuss this with my doctor.

Oyster the neural tube and heart doesn’t start to form until 6 weeks, so unless you didn’t know and were still drinking heavily 2 weeks after your missed period you definitely don’t need to feel any guilt. As I understand it, drinking before missed period can’t harm a foetus as it’s not actually started to develop yet but please someone correct me if this is wrong.

Neural tube and heart defects are linked to lower levels of folic acid and B12. Less than optimal diets may be a factor in this but it's far more likely that there are genetic reasons that some nutrients are absorbed less well by some women. Small amounts of alcohol are unlikely to change a very complicated picture.

Oysterbabe
Want to echo what rumple said. Your baby was not yet sharing your blood supply at that stage. Alcohol could not pass from your bloodstream to theirs.

It is very common for women to drink before they realise they are pregnant, and lack of factual information and a general ignorant judgypants attitude from others has lead to women panicking and terminating their wanted babies because they erroneously believe they have damaged them.

Please stop blaming yourself x

I had the odd glass . Both pregnancies

No harm done . There is much hysteria on this topic

Why would you risk it when you just don’t know what effect it will have? There will always be people saying I did it and my child was fine but that doesn’t mean it is fine.

I was pregnant when the foetal alcohol syndrome was discovered. At that time it was believed that you had to be drinking a litre or vodka a day for your baby to be born with it. Since then the teetotaller brigade have been involved with alcohol policy so they demonise drinking.

Poptart you know lots of women who binge drink every weekend whilst pregnant? Really?
As for not replying to individuals - you just wanted to goad, that's why you didn't come back!

You can get blotto in pregnancy and have a perfectly healthy infant or have one drink and harm your baby's development. It all depends on the exact stage of developing your baby is doing at the exact moment the alcohol reaches them.

I read a really interesting paper on this. Of course there can't be any testing, that would be unethical, just debriefs with affected mothers.

"You can have one drink and harm your baby's development."

No.

There's is NO evidence to support this statement. This is exactly the kind of nonsense that gets in the way of adults having a rational discussion.

I wouldn't risk it because as a PP said, if anything did go wrong, I would never be able to forgive myself.

My midwife recommended I drink a pint of Guinness in the later part of my first pregnancy due to the iron content (20 years ago now :o ).

What utter rot space. So no research, only debrief yet you can say that one glass at the weonh time can cause harm.

One drink can harm your babies development ffs

I drank before I knew I was pregnant with dd now 9,
So far she's bright and intelligent.. it doesn't stop me worrying though.
From what I've read it's when your child is older that the effects show.

I didn't touch a drop of alcohol when I was pregnant with ds who is 6 but I did have 3 cigarettes a day and he had a low birth weight..he's a great kid with no problems.. I can only hope I haven't damaged him

Im none the wiser having read talk guidelines as to why my post was deleted?????

I'm not one of these who writes #blessed on Facebook but really, you need to do your best by your baby. Your drinking alcohol is not putting your baby first.

Seriously, read Expecting Better by Emily Oster. The research actually finds that children born to mothers who drank moderately during pregnancy have better outcomes in the long term. The same book says that smoking is a complete no go. People should actually read the research before putting their judgey pants on.

Why in the world would you take the risk? Surely you can go without a drink for 9 months? The decision you make could have an effect on your baby for the rest of his/her life

Be careful mybrilliantdisguise

You might find your perfectly valid comment is deleted because it offends someone. I merely pointed out the maths ... 3 cigs a day is 20 odd a week, 90 odd a month... 100s over the course of a pregnancy. Sounds bad when viewed like that.

Sure it will be deleted again.

People can call each other allsorts on these threads but pointing out the fact that smoking cigarettes in pregnancy is not ok is apparently not on.

Ridiculous.