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/

bobsmum

I actually just stopped nursing my seventeen month old, little girl. I introduced her to cereal at about five months. And just for the record, the more information that comes out the more evidence shows that alcohol is bad for unborn babies.

Katyjo - there already is a quota of fish

Ahh - now I understand what you were trying to do.
You came hear to impart wisdom to us 'ladies' and we would be grateful.
Instead of which many thought your 'advice' was based on faulty info and others bristled at your patronizing and lecturing tone.
I'm sorry. We are all going to have to learn to live with your disappointment.

5 months??!!

that is TOO EARLY!
you MUST EXCLUSIVELY BF FOR 6 MONTHS

you have probably damaged her for life
call the social workers somebody!

But 5 months goes against the recommendations - it's 6 months and certainly gluten should not be included at this stage if you go by the evidence and research.

And nursing is recommended for the first 2 years.

Are you disputing that when you drink alcohol that it goes to the fetus?

Hear hear Strawberry. I drank a few times when pregnant (after the 1st trimester) except for a wild night out when I didnt know I was pregnant and downed about 3 sambucas one after the other but there is nothing from with my DD. FAS = "heavily drinking through pregnancy and not 1/2 units per week.

i tak it was organic of the natural kind cereal and not cheerios?

Leati
you fed your DD GLUTEN way too young.
you are in no position to lecture us here.

pagwatch, you summed up what I wanted to say. I would add, that the problem is that if you just ban people from doing things because there might be a tiny risk, then you take away people's ability to assess risk, which is very dangerous. It's the same attitude that's lead to the sad situation where children aren't allowed to play outside on their own because that's the only way to be ABSOLUTELY SURE they won't be kidnapped.

bobsmum

Nursing is recommended for two years in third world countries not in developed countries. And the information I am giving you isn't ten years old.

Leati - according to doctors in the UK until very recently one cotdeath was tragic, two was suspicious and three was murder. They suddenly changed their minds on this "advice" when it was proven by other studies to be a load of old tosh. They had persecuted innocent, bereaved women for years, ruined families and one poor woman who had been wrongly convicted recently died after her body apparently just gave up due to the stress of it all.

Doctors are often put in tricky and potentially litigious situations (more so in the US due to there being a more litigious culture there) so will cover their arses with "advice" to pregnant women and the like.

amaidawish - I guess you can pick and choose which hobby horse you want to ride.

there's an excellent article on the kinds of advice thrown at pg women here. (possibly where theressomethingaboutmarie got her lettuce and listeria tit-bit from.) It's a well researched article that really does expose a lot of double standards and the negative impact of cautionary advice based on little research.

with regard to alcohol it notes that there was a study in 2006 by the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology concluded that there was no convincing evidence of adverse effects of prenatal alcohol exposure at low to moderate levels, where moderate was defined as 10.5 units per week (but, not at one sitting, obviously).

I too am horrified by the idea of a restaurant refusing a pg woman a glass of wine. that would send me apoplectic and would have a far greater negative impact on my health by virtue of my stress and blood pressure levels.

This what this thread comes down to:

"So I felt compelled to start this thread and share the information".

We are not uneducated. We have made a CHOICE. Do you understand what choice means? You may not agree with that choice, but it is ours to make.

Lecturing and patronising people is no way to get your viewpoint across.

Oh - Leati - you are on very very shaky ground using the old "Third World " chestnut - very outdated and actually wrong - we are not a different species. Do a search on here.

The majority of us on here are intelligent, critical people who can weigh up evidence presented to us and come to our own conclusions. If you read below you will find a lot of people who have read your articles, read LittleLupins articles and have reacherd their own educated conclusions. Please give us credit for our own judgements.

...and by the way - no on is saying that alcohol doesn't cross the placenta and isn't potentially harmful. We are taking a balanced view.

Mrs Bumblebee
At my sons last school a couple of parents refused to sign a consent form for the class trip ( adventure weekend) unless the head GUARENTEED that they would be perfectly safe.

Head was great - refused to back down and anyone not signing consent form just had to spend the time in school. Stupid stupid people denying that kind of experience to their kids.
Crazy isn't it?

my sil has just had to be induced because her placenta basically started giving up through her heavy drinking while pregnant.....the placenta was almost dead when they delivered it.........the thing that annoys me the most is that its only 9 months out of your life not to have a drink,

Indeed - raised cortisol levels also has a negative effect on a developing foetus you know.

heavy drinking....

so because your sil was reckless/selfish/fill in suitable adjective the rest of us are vilified for having a glass of wine? no-one denies heavy drinking is a Very Bad Thing Indeed. that's not the point

Leati, have you started this thread to deliberately wind people up? Good job, if so.

I'm expecting my first babies (twins) in 3 weeks time. I have drunk alcohol moderately throughout my pregnancy. I will not be made to feel bad about my choice by you or anyone else. In return, I will not try to make you feel bad about your choice to post on here with patronising and inflammatory remarks about how we UK women need educating about the perils of FAS.
PS, did you see Zoe Williams' article in the Guardian the other weekend? V interesting abourt the so-called "dangers" of moderate drinking in pregnancy...

I am really not trying to be a bitch to all of you, unlike your treatment of me.

I really hoped one person on this site would care enough to look into it more. Do you think I hopped on here, so I could argue with everybody here. No, I thought if I could just get through to a couple of people, then maybe something could be done.

But as turns out, the only information you are interesting in talking about is the information that says it safe to drink. You don't want to read the studies that show small amounts of alcohol have been shown to cause cognitive problems in infants. You don't want to read anything that says, you can't enjoy your drink.

I am not going to pretend I will ever understand this perspective.

Can I just point out that Leati is not the only American on this thread, yet NO ONE has yet agreed with her.