To ask if you drank alcohol during pregnancy

[Butterflyflower1234]

I'm curious as to people thoughts on alcohol during pregnancy?

I was always of the opinion that I wouldn't touch a single drop of alcohol during pregnancy but now I'm wondering would it be significantly harmful to have say one small glass of wine with dinner every so often (less than once a fortnight).

I had 1 glass of wine at Christmas with my first (due a week later so knew the baby was fully cooked). Second child I was much more relaxed and had the odd drink (glass of wine) once I was 12 weeks, only ever 1 though and not all that often. We are hoping to have another and I’ll do the same as I did with the second.

Like others have said if I had lost a baby or found it very difficult to get pregnant I’d probably have a very different attitude, as it happens I’m very lucky I got pregnant right away and had very easy, healthy pregnancies.

So many things are harmful to health when consumed excessively.

Caffeine
Salt
Sugar
Fat
Chemicals in cleaning products etc traffic fumes.

I could go on. Are all pregnant women paranoid about them? Not generally. I don't get the attitude towards tiny amounts of alcohol from the occasional drink. If you don't want to drink it then obviously that's fine but it doesn't make you a better parent. Why do we all beat ourselves up blaming ourselves if there is a problem in pregnancy or with our children? Are dads giving up booze in case it affects their sperm? - only in rare cases!

As this thread has shown, many many women have an occasional drink during pregnancy. Where are the millions of babies with problems caused by this?

Depends on your definition of dependent. Physically dependent as in will get the shakes if you don't drink? No.

Unable to enjoy an occasion without the ritual of having a drink? Possibly.

The latter can be a hard ritual to break, I know as I found it hard.

It's perfectly doable and eliminates the risk of a profound and life changing condition.

That's the reasonable decision.

@bingbangbing I have read the link you posted in full in case that was aimed at me. I have also read countless scientific studies on this subject over the years and my opinion is different to some of her conclusions.
Of course you don't have to be an alcoholic to have a child with FAS but you need to have more than one small drink a week.

*The latter can be a hard ritual to break, I know as I found it hard.

It's perfectly doable and eliminates the risk of a profound and life changing condition.*

Hold on. A thing can’t be both hard and perfectly doable. Many people do find giving up alcohol entirely hard. They manage it. Or they have one drink very occasionally, with no evidence that it harms their baby. Good for them.

It's perfectly doable and eliminates the risk of a profound and life changing condition.

But there is no risk from very occasional drinking.

How many times?

Unable to enjoy an occasion without the ritual of having a drink? Possibly.

I can have a nice time without a glass of wine.
Occasionally, I like a glass of wine though. That’s my choice.

You have made a different one. It does not make those who make a different one alcohol dependent.

Here they are:

www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/langlo/PIIS2214-109X(17)30021-9.pdf

But there is risk from occasional drinking.

How many times?

I hope the 'not one sip it's not worth the risk' also abstained from orange juice and ripe bananas while pregnant. Good grief. Not to mention the caffeine in chocolate.

I drank very very lightly - the very occasional beer or glass of wine.

You've not addressed the actual point bing. If you prefer that I call her the Professor, if that's what you need in order to do so, fine. The Professor is using figures from children whose mothers, even if we assume they're being accurate, were not moderate drinkers in pregnancy and may even have been drinking more than the maximum recommended for non-pregnant women. We don't know, because for whatever reason she's chosen to be vague with her terms. She is extrapolating data from one group and applying it to a larger group. None of this is remotely disputable.

This leaves us with the questions of why we would make that extrapolation, and why if there is data showing risk for actually moderate consumption she wouldn't use that to make her argument instead.

I think some don't understand what 'risk' means in this context.

It doesn't mean probably will happen, it means might happen. It might even mean, probably won't happen.

Still doesn't seem reasonable to me.

One to eight drinks a week, is moderate.

It's fine for you as an individual not to deem something reasonable, but that's a separate issue from assessing what the evidence actually says.

Nope, none. I used to drink loads of tea though so I switched to caffeine free and allowed myself either 1 caffeinated coffee, a bottle of lucozade or two caffeinated cups of tea a day. I barely drank alcohol before though so caffeine was much more of a vice for me.

8 drinks a week isn’t moderate.

1-8 drinks a week is a very varied range of behaviours.

Very little value in lumping them together.

In my first pregnancy didn’t touch a drop. In my third I had a glass of wine every couple of weeks after the second trimester. Both babies great.

One drink a week is very low, not moderate.

www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/langlo/PIIS2214-109X(17)30021-9.pdf

This meta-analysis mentions nothing about the very occasional drink. It looks at overall risk of drinking (especially binging), and concludes about the risk of heavy drinking (more than 2 drinks a day). How on earth is this study relevant to the discussion here?

One to eight drinks a week is not moderate when you're pregnant, and depending on what they are might not even be moderate when you are. Eg 7-8 pints of Strongbow a week is more than 14 units.

And even if you for whatever reason think 8 drinks a week when pregnant is moderate, it's many multiples of the one every week max that's primarily being discussed here. So why would we assume the risk is the same?

Some studies in my link, even suggest that one drink a week may have an effect

Any studies in that link that one drink over the entirety of pregnancy may pose a risk, given your clear stance that there is no safe amount you can drink? I couldn’t see any such studies.

One to eight drinks a week is not moderate when you're pregnant

One drink a week is low level drinking whether you are pregnant or not. The definitions of low, moderate and heavy don’t change because you're pregnant.

@bingbangbing Dr Aster’s paper evidences, at best, that there is a risk of FAS from one drink per day. She says nothing about occasional half glasses on special occasions.

Also, I’m sure you don’t need me to spell out that what mothers of FAS diagnosed children “report” themselves to have drunk isn’t necessarily accurate.