Drinking in pregnancy

[PurplePizzaCake]

AIBU in thinking it's OK to have the odd glass of wine while pregnant? Maybe 2 very small glasses a week?

Yes = YABU and shouldn't drink that much/anything at all

No= it's fine to have the odd glass

Fair enough. I stopped drinking when pregnant and haven't touched a drop since. No point. Save loads of money and don't get hangovers.

I had a small glass of wine once a week and my baby was fine. A small amount is fine.

Mumsnet is odd about drinking when pregnant. IRL most of my friends had the odd glass or too when pregnant. Me too.

There's just no point in drinking. If you can't manage to stop then that points to having an alcohol problem IMO. And who cares if people think you're pregnant if you don't have a drink. Thats their issue.

All I’m gonna say is Mumsnet is not known for its balanced opinions on alcohol consumption.

This. Times a million.

I haven’t read it but I’ve been recommended Expecting better, as the book explores many things women “can’t” do and what evidence supports this.

I’m 30 weeks and I haven’t drank and I won’t drink now. I’m not against an occasional drink if the mother weighs up the risk. I would have probably had a small drink in pregnancy but the situation hasn’t worked out. In the first trimester I felt so ill that alcohol was not appealing. In the second trimester I craved beer and I would have a sip of DH’s beer but I’ve never liked beer and still don’t like the taste so no idea why my body wanted it so badly. Now, alcohol will contribute to acid reflux and I think a glass of red wine loses something if it’s chased by gaviscon. I also have gestational diabetes so a glass of wine would send my sugars all over the place.

@scully29 I couldn’t see any evidence on that website that drinking in small quantities caused FASD

I wouldn't bother. Why would you drink when you say can easily do without it.
If you're at a social occasion and handed a drink, but don't want to say you're pregnant, just accept the drink and pretend to sip at it.
Even though I'm sure the odd drink is fine, I still wouldn't take the risk.

Yabu. Honestly when not pregnant I drank most nights. When I was pregnant no desire to drink and would not risk it. After giving birth kept to two drinks a night spaced out due to breastfeeding.

Yabu.

I wouldn't, but one glass occasionally I think probably wouldn't do much harm.

(note I am not a science or medical expert, do not take my advice, or that of anyone else on here!)

I think it depends how many weeks you are - if you're early enough to be having a glass to avoid telling people that you're pregnant then are you under 12/16 weeks? If so, then no I wouldn't drink at all, I think after 20 weeks then a glass here and there is probably fine.

I love wine but I didn't touch a single drop in any of my pregnancies. The risk might be small but in my view it's simply not worth taking.

The glass of champagne from the bottle my lovely SIL sneaked into the postnatal ward after DS1 was born tasted absolutely heavenly

You should make your decisions and assess risk based on proper data. Studies dating back to the mid 1980s on alcohol use in pregnancy show conclusively that heavy drinking is harmful but no data indicates that moderate drinking is harmful. The available good quality evidence, that is out there, from studies conducted over the last 40 years indicates one drink a week in the first trimester/one drink a day in the second and third trimesters is not harmful. Economist Emily Oster got frustrated with poor quality data and advice when pregnant and did meta-data analysis of hundreds of studies on all sorts of pregnancy questions from alcohol use to caffeine, other food stuffs and birth choices (i.e. how much does an epidural increase the likelihood of interventions), and summarised what the data actually shows. I highly highly recommend her book: www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/19/expecting-more-emily-oster-review

There is rapid brain development in pregnancy - alcohol is incredibly toxic during this time. Fetal alcohol syndrome is associated with higher intakes but causes such significant cognitive and developmental harm - I cannot imagine that even a small amount is OK to be honest. Fetal alcohol is difficult to diagnose - so it tends to be severe to be able to easily identify it. We do not really know what the impact of smaller volumes of alcohol

Don’t bother asking these questions as you’ll get this rubbish. If you have actually don’t your research you’ll know that less than a third of alcoholics who drink through pregnancy have children with FAS and that there has never been any research ever that shows that moderate drinking causes FAS

I love wine but I didn't touch a single drop in any of my pregnancies. The risk might be small but in my view it's simply not worth taking. The glass of champagne from the bottle my lovely SIL sneaked into the postnatal ward after DS1 was born tasted absolutely heavenly grin

You’re so crazy!!!! Wrong scientifically but, yes, totally fun! What will you do next???!!

@DramaAlpaca

Sometimes I think it's easier to accept a drink at a social occasion than basically telling people you are pregnant by not drinking

I haven’t had a drink in years, nobody ever thinks I’m pregnant.

and on the "it's not worth any risk at all", we do many things during pregnancy that could technically be a risk. Like travelling in a car. Or eating bananas! Quote from Oster:
“If you have too many bananas (and I mean a LOT of bananas), the excess of potassium can be a real problem, but no doctor is going around saying “No amount of bananas have been proven safe!” He’d be laughed out of a medical conference.”

@scully29 there’s no scientific evidence there that drinking a small amount will be detrimental. And the women that run that charity have no scientific background

YABU it's not worth the risk, there's a lot of evidence to confirm alcohol harms a developing baby even in small doses

@hereforthechat link to this research please?

I don't think it will necessarily hurt to have the odd glass of wine on special occasions but not regularly even weekly. It goes into placing and into baby via your blood stream . You're building baby and their neural connections and it doesn't take much to disturb what is delicate neural functioning.

I couldn't drink at all, not even a glass of wine during any of my pregnancies once I knew I was pregnant
Nor was I keen on drinking any alcohol whilst breast feeding as it dehydrated me a bit & well it felt wrong.

So that's my random stranger's view and I'm not against drinking in general in moderation but nothing whilst pregnant

I drank 2 very small (measured) glasses of wine every week of both my pregnancies.

Tried to stick to red wine when I could. Made me feel
Happy and relaxed. Both kids fine.

Once in second trimester I had one small glass (150ml, I measured it!) every 10-14 days. The point was I really savoured it and loved it. I also ate chocolate and McDonald's chicken burgers sometimes when pregnant as I really fancied them too.

I also ate generally ate healthily, took my vitamins, went to all my medical checks and looked after myself and my babies. I don't feel the occasional glass of wine was a risk.

@DangerMouse5 link to studies showing this please

@hereforthechat link to this research please?

Would also be interested to read this!
A small glass every now and then is fine.