To ask if you had a drink while pregnant

[secretdoubleagent]

So before anyone judges I'm not talking about going out and getting hammered I am meaning the occassional glass of wine with dinner.

I'm currently pregnant (13 weeks) and just really in the mood for 1 with dinner tonight. I had with my last pregnancy (maybe 3 glasses on different nights throughout the whole time) however it was not until I was much further down the line.

Just wanted to see others opinions really, I know the NHS is strickly zero, however it wasn't that long ago that it was 1 or 2 units once a week.

Yea i’d say its fine its not like your drinking a full bottle of vodka ...so if u feel like having a glass or two go for it . coz wen i was carrying i had cravings for larger and had a few cans throughout lol

Yes I had 1 small glass of wine with food nearly every week during my second trimester with both my DC. Third trimester I had such bad heartburn I could barely eat.

I probably averaged a small glass of wine once a week. I'd do it again if there's a next time too.

No, not worth the risk for the sake of a few months but not a drinker anyway so can very easily live without it.

For me id feel awful having alcohol in my body whilst pregnant, I avoided anything the midwife said too.

@glintandglide most home measures are considerably more than 175ml , a lot of people would be surprised to see just how small that glass would be, and two units if it's not a particularly high abv, even most pubs offer 250ml as standard and that's 3-4 units, and people are talking about a good of wine or two. So before you know it that's eight units and shine people are saying every weekend. A small flute of champagne at a wedding isn't going to hurt but that's not what most people are talking about on this thread

I don’t think most people are surprised at the size of a glass of wine. Most professional drinkers are well versed on it and of course, most pregnant women will be extra vigilant. Lots of unfounded assumptions about women being too stupid to keep an eye on drink sizes

And as a professional boozer I can promise you 250ml is always a large glass

With respect to the adoptive parents and carers of children with FAS, this was not caused by an occasional glass of wine in pregnancy. You must know that

I measure my wine/fizz/fun at home for that very reason so I’m well aware of just how much I’m drinking!

Yes I had a glass of red with my roast dinner about 4 or5 times in my last pregnancy. Roast beef with the trimmings needs a glass of wine with it.

It’s not a case of ‘stupid women.’ People in general underestimate intake significantly. There’s loads of work on this - very few people accurately estimate intake and many dont understand what a unit is.

A couple of percent of babies are born noticeably affected by alcohol - it’s not known how many more have more subtle impairments. Clearly there’s a need for sensible, evidence based guidelines and the NHS ones are good.

What’s also needed is more widespread support for women who have genuine issues with alcohol - women who worry about one glass of fizz at a wedding are not the women that’s aimed at.

It’s a balance - women need advice based on evidence. We can’t be policing women over every single thing they put in their bodies, what we should be doing is solid evidence based advice, along with good support for women who need it.

Yep had a few glasses of red wine once I past about 17 weeks, and a glass of champagne at my friends wedding when I was 30 weeks.

FASH84 but that’s assuming we’re all clueless isn’t it? I know exactly what a measure of wine looks like. I have wine measures and spirit measures at home. Yes some people will have no idea, but most will.

(I am someone who had one glass of champagne in each pregnancy at a wedding, but if I had have drank at home I’d know full well what a unit looks like)

@glintandglide I've seen programs where they test people on units of alcohol by stopping members of public in the street. Very few people actually know how much a small measure of wine or beer is. It also doesn't help that the alcohol volume has gone up over the years in lots of wines and beers. So while it use to be normal in the 90s to get 11% wine as standard you now can buy 15-16% without noticing. (The guidelines currently use 12%)

In regards to pregnant women - as this thread proves those who care will educate themselves on how much they drink.

Yes, a glass of wine every three or four days throughout all my pregnancies. Didn't smoke though.

Yes. We were on holiday in Greece when I began to realise that my period wasn't going to arrive. We'd been out on the lash before that. First trimester I was as sick as a dog. Then after that I would buy the teeny 'just a glass' bottles from M&S and have one on a Saturday night with dinner - usually a fat juicy steak. My midwife told me to have a glass of champagne on new years eve. But I didn't! By that point I was convinced DS wouldn't stay in for much longer despite not being due until March. He was born in Feb.

Yeah i had a glass of wine most weeks and 2 on my birthday .

During my first 2 pregnancies I stuck to the guidelines at the time of one or two units once or twice a week. Now pg with no 3 and planning to abstain completely after reading this. It’s worth a read as lays out the argument for abstaining. I am probably generally less relaxed than I used to be though.

@Bowlofbabelfish when the current guidelines changed for everyone, and then the Chief Medical Officier for England came out and said something along the lines of thinking that every glass of wine in the evening increases your risk of breast cancer, it stopped a lot of people trusting and listening to the NHS alcohol guidelines even before the drinks manufacturers stuck their oar in.

If you make guidelines too draconian without clear understandable evidence then unfortunately people aren't going to trust them. With pregnant women as most of the adult population are fine and they know whether their mother's, friend's mothers etc drank in pregnancy they can work out drinking a small amount very occasionally isn't a problem.

Nothing. But I don't drink, so not really a surprise.

and then the Chief Medical Officier for England came out and said something along the lines of thinking that every glass of wine in the evening increases your risk of breast cancer,

She was correct though. The association at that level is there. She was roundly mocked for it but she was correct. Whether people want to hear that is another matter.

The guidelines should be based on evidence. They are - the NHS guidelines are sensible.

Yes but it was the 1970s. We weren't told not to drink or eat certain foods. We just used our common sense I think.

I did with my first pregnancy, and lost the baby (only had one drink).

Didn't touch a drop with the second.

Probably nothing to do with the drink but I was terrified.

Still not drinking now and DS is 5 months.

I didn’t touch a drop in my most recent pregnancy as in a previous pregnancy I had drunk a few glasses at a Christmas party and went on to miscarry some weeks later. Probably no link but I would never risk it again.