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/

Leati it obviously means I'm an awful mother and shouldn't be allowed.

I am not trying to be insulting. I am shocked that I can show you a hundred agencies that recommend that you don't drink alcohol during your pregnancy and yet you still think it is okay.

Leati someone else has already said you obviously mean well, and I'm sure you do, but in the USA aren't pregnant women also told to stop drinking tea/coffee and eating chocolate because of the caffeine content?

Does that not tip you off to the fact that in the states you seem to very much err on the side of caution?

I really struggle to understand why you are getting so wound up over this.

Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause physical and mental birth defects. Each year, up to 40,000 babies are born with some degree of alcohol-related damage (1, 2). Although many women are aware that heavy drinking during pregnancy can cause birth defects, many do not realize that moderate?or even light?drinking also may harm the fetus.
In fact, no level of alcohol use during pregnancy has been proven safe. Therefore, the March of Dimes recommends that pregnant women do not drink any alcohol?including beer, wine, wine coolers and hard liquor?throughout their pregnancy and while nursing. In addition, because women often do not know they are pregnant for a few months, women who may be pregnant or those who are attempting to become pregnant should abstain from drinking alcoholic

www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1170.asp

does anyone have any idea how much damage extensive cutting and pasteing can do to a fully developed adult?. I feel some discomfort in the eyes but am now experienceing sudden mood swings..

i think pg women get a hard enough time as it is. this article is fab here

well of course the best way not to be damaged by something is to avoid it! the best way not to get fat is not to eat but you aren't recommending that are you?

this is ridiculous i am off this thread.

What about sex? Is that ok during pg in USA?

When a pregnant woman drinks, alcohol passes swiftly through the placenta to her fetus. In the unborn baby's immature body, alcohol is broken down much more slowly than in an adult's body. As a result, the alcohol level of the baby's blood can be even higher and can remain elevated longer than the level in the mother's blood. This sometimes causes the baby to suffer lifelong damage.

Leati, if you want to convince people who are accustomed to using their brains, you have to present the studies and not someone else's conclusion to the studies.

Show us the facts.

Thats your view. I disagree. I'm not the only one. I think it says more about you that you can't respect the differing view of an intelligent professional woman who loves her son and unborn baby with all her heart than having the odd glass of wine while pregnant says about me.

lol pagwatch

I have to say fishie, that I'm with you on this one fishie ... alice, see you later on the antenatal thread!

The attitudes about alcohol are really different on different sides of the Atlantic. I really think British culture, as a whole, is alcoholic. There is alcohol at ever event, it seems, even school sports days. It's one of the big things I really can't adjust to in this country.

At the same time, I do think North Americans often go too far the other way.

I am getting the same cut n paste problem as you pagwatch. Sore eyes and irritable

And I'll meet you both in the pub later

I have given birth four times and I never once picked up a drink. I made the choice to have a baby and so I made the sacrafices that go with that choice.

Seems to me that you've stopped responding to other people's posts leati and are just posting random facts over and over again. You might have more luck convincing people if you actually engage in a conversation rather than doing what simply comes across as preaching.

It is a bit of a sharp contrast. Any British mother who didn't always use a car seat for her child for every journey, anywhere in the world, would be roundly criticized for taking an unnecessary risk.

How is drinking in pregnancy any different?

(I did drink in pregnancy, but never even as much as a unit at a time, and never in the first trimester. I am not always strict about car seats.)

Where do you live Leati?

I don't think alcohol is bad. What I don't understand is why mothers would take that risk. I have seen the stuff on this site and I know you love your children. So why take even the smallest risk if you don't have too.

Yes, YABU, it is not up to you to be disappointed about something another woman chooses to do. Certainly when I was pregnant (not very recently) the midwives advised that it was fine to drink occasionally. Whether it is or isn't, I don't think it's helpful to have people like you judging us.

It has been explained to you, I think, quite clearly, that the reason some women take that risk, is because they simply don't consider it to be the risk that you do.

Surely that is not that difficult to understand? See my point re: caffeine, I reckon there'd be uproar in this country if you tried to say that pg women couldn't drink tea or eat chocolate.

Having just reviewed some of the literature on the effects of alcohol during pregnancy for the pediatric theory class I teach to nurse practitioners students, I would have to say that drinking during pregnancy is a very bad idea. They are still studying this issue and there may be periods of increased susceptibility, or genetic susceptibility, but they don't know enough to say how these variations affect the fetus. There was an article about this research in the NYT a few months back. You might want to go back and read it. I was surprised to learn how small amounts of alcohol can have subtle, but nasty, effects on some fetuses, see citation below:
''Adverse behavioral effects in children exposed prenatally to risk levels as well as low and moderate levels of alcohol have been reported by many researchers. Neonatally, habituation to stimuli (lessening of response to repetitive stimuli) was most affected and at 8 months, significant effects were observed by using! the Bayley Mental Developmental Index and Pyschomotor Developmental Index scales (global scales of infant behavioral functioning). 17 Furthermore, infants have longer reaction times when exposed prenatally to low to moderate levels of alcohol. 18....These findings suggest that alcohol teratogenesis can affect academic and social functioning even with prenatal alcohol exposure at social drinking levels.''

Sokol, Robert J. MD. Delaney-Black, Virginia MD, MPH. Nordstrom, Beth PhD. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. JAMA. 290(22):2996- 2999, December 10, 2003

''Fetal alcohol exposure (even at ''social drinking'' levels) is associated with developmental difficulties in adolescence that are consistent with problems seen earlier in life. Clinicians should understand the potential role prenatal alcohol exposure plays in behavioral and cognitive problems'' J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Phsychiatry, 1997, 36(9):1187-1194.

Why won't you answer me? I just want a state and maybe city, not your home address.

Where do you live?