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/

Well, look at that, I get another go!

is it done? haychee where are you going next

Leati,

Apparently US moms-to-be are not advised to avoid eating peanuts/peanut oil products whilst pregnant.

In the UK pregnant women receive this advice in various leaflets etc.

Did you avoid peanuts in pregnancy ?

An expat acquaintance living in the US but with lots of contact with UK friends knew about the conflicting information and avoided them anyway just to be sure. She said most of her US friends said they were/had been happy to eat them despite her passing on the information.

I would hazard a guess that the US agriculture does include peanut farming in the South and that is why the government have not yet decided that there is sufficient evidence to issue the avoidance advice to its moms-to-be.

The point I'm making is that intelligent people can and always will decide for themselves what levels of risk they are happy with. They know for example, in this country, that the extreme limits are there as a guidance for all but particularly for the not so intelligent who have more trouble working out what is and isn't safe.