To be disappointed in hearing that many UK woman drink during pregnancy [shock]

[Leati]

Yesterday, I was on a thread when some of the women started questioning about US policy on drinking alcohol during pregnancies. One of the women had heard that if you have a glass of wine, you could be arrested. I assured her that wasn't true but there was chance that if you were visibly pregnant that the restaurant or bar might exercise their right to refuse service. And if a pediatrician became suspicious of drug or alcohol abuse, they could have the baby?s blood tested at birth. If the baby is found to have these in their blood, the child will be taken away. Another woman pitched that she found it disturbing that restaurants had signs warning pregnant women.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. These women seemed to believe it was actually okay to drink during their pregnancies. Hadn't they heard of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. So today, I did a little research and was shocked to learn that it is a big problem in the UK and that there is little education about it there.

Women who are angry over mothers choosing the bottle over nursing are damaging their children by drinking alcohol. This is not minor damage, in some case it is equivalent to severe mental retardation and in others it less obvious cognitive problems. Overall nearly 10% of babies born in the UK are suffering from some sort of cognitive problems directly related to alcohol exposure in the womb.

What broke my heart the most is that I have been on this site and I know that the mothers on this site care so much for their children. That while I may not always agree with everything said and our perspectives are not always the same, that we share a common love for our children. So I felt compelled to start this thread and share the information. I hope that you will share it, with your loved ones and it may spread.

I have attached some sites so you can research this yourself. These sites are both from the UK and the US.

www.fasaware.co.uk/

www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/west/series2/fetal_alcohol_syndro mfaspregnancydrinkinglearning_difficulties.shtml

www.healthychildrenproject.org/glossa ry/

OK I WILL NEVER DRINK AGAIN

"doctors and midwifes in the UK are not educated to the dangers of drinking alcohol during pregnancy"

heavens its a wonder there are so many living britons given how ignorant our doctors and midwives are. thank goodness there's someone in California to point that out to us....

YABU. And preachy which is a far worse sin in my book.

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and my personal fave:

?

Stop googling.

Are you concerned about the potential bowel problems that your child may have as a result of introducing gluten at such an early age?

heeheheeehee And if you are not concerned, don't you feel a bit ashamed?

yes

I HAVE GIVEN UP DRINKING FOREVER

now can we talk abuot something else

No, I want the source of your claim that 10% of babies born in the UK have cognitive damage directly linked to exposure to alcohol while in the womb.

It isn't on those links.

most pregnant mums are intelligent women who know if alcohol makes us feel woosy then it must be making a tiny developing baby feel awful.

One glass is not going to harm a baby - how many of us drink as normal right up until we find out we are pregnant - baby has been there for weeks before we find out and they still turn out ok. I was in ibiza for a week before i did my test, getting drunk daily, 2 perfectly formed little boys i have now.

Scaremongering is definitely correctly - it's a personal choice and to ram quotes and links down our throat making us feel like awful parents it truly out of order.

I am looking for the link right now. Give me a minute because I found it earlier today.

Every week in the
United Kingdom...

13,502 babies are born
702,000/yr: Labour Force Statistics, 1999 Edition

1 of these babies might be born with Muscular Dystrophy.
1 in 50,000: Muscular Dystrophy Campaign

4 of these babies are born with Spina Bifida.
3.2/10,000: Center for Disease Control and Prevention

7 of these babies are born with HIV infection.
374/yr: Public Health Laboratory Service

13 of these babies are born with Down Syndrome.
1/1,000: Center for Disease Control

26 of these babies are born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
19.5 per 10,000: Natl Org. of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

135 of these babies are born with Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder. 1/100: Teratology 1997 Nov;56(5):317-26

www.come-over.to/FAS/UKbirths.htm

ffs

You might want to revisit your maths...

bobsmum

Do you really think attacking me personally is going to shut me up? I am not talkin for you, I am talking for your child.

1/100 is 1% not 10%

Actually, I think you are giving Leati short shrift.

I'm not going to tell pg women to stop drinking fullstop, same as I wouldnt tell them to stop smoking although both contain harmful substances and drugs. I wouldnt tell them not to have an abortion either.

I am pro-choice, definitely. But I reserve the right to frown upon those who dont have the conviction to quit fullstop

I do concede that both alcohol and cigarettes contain addictive substances and so the perspective of the user/dependent is somewhat skewed .

See now that is patronising

lol

OK lets all give up drinking JUST IN CASE we are pregnant at this very minute and we don't know - we could be ADDING to leati's statistics!

Leati, do you have long and meaningful conversations with your husband, quoting stats at him too?

1 in 5 husbands kiss their wives good night

2 in 5 husbands think an ironed shirt is an act of magic!

etc etc

I don't know whether you were born with FAS but a reasoned debate with the highly intelligent women on here does not consist of cutting and pasting.

You are not a health professional.

I am, and I posted that one or two units a week is fine. In line with current health advice.

and bobsmum was not attacking you personally but talking for your child seeing as you may have harmed her by introducing gluten too young

lol at stats, but come to think of it lol that you genuinely can't see the difference between my concern for your child's diet and your "concern" for our pregnancies. Take the blinkers off.

That also seems a really small number of babies born in a year. Surely there are that many birth announcements on MN alone...

Are you sure about your figures (and BTW, even using those figures it isn't 10%)

God, I need a stiff whisky to relieve the tedium...

You are NOT TALKING for someone's child you sanctimonious prissy *&^%

Look Leati I can see why you are upset.

There must be at least 2000 pregnant women posting on mumsnet this month. If we assume they follow the rough social norm, I'm guessing around 50% of them will have the occasional glass of wine.

Meaning, if we follow your logic, that 1000 Mumsnet babies are about to be born with FAS.

I don't know how to break this to you...they aren't. It's not just that most of us have looked at the evidence (you know, actually read the reports and made an informed decision based on our own), it's that many of us have children who have been exposed to alcohol in pregnancy and they are perfectly fine. So we know, beyond doubt, that anyone coming on here and telling us that drinking alcohol in pregnancy will certainly cause damage to our unborn child is talking unmitigated crap and furthermore, inadvertantly reducing us to the status of wombs on legs who have no rights whatsoever to make up our own minds.

Which makes us a little cross. Understandably.