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

I'm 28 weeks pregnant and my midwife told me one small glass of wine a week is fine.

I'm not a massive drinker normally anyway so haven't drank during pregnancy myself. To be honest, I'm missing gooey cheese more!

2-3 glasses in one week is too much.
Occasional drink is fine but to me that means one every couple of months because of a special occasion.

Alcohol foetal syndrome doesn't just happen to babies born to alcoholics and women who binge drink. Any woman who drinks during pregnancy can have a child with it. Why take the risk?

Any woman who drinks during pregnancy can have a child with it.

Again, evidence?

If you want to drink so badly, then drink when you’re not pregnant.

Honestly don’t see the point. Plenty of decent alcohol free versions nowadays and it’s only 8 months of your life. I think if you struggle to go a few months without a drink you may have a problem.

@Maggie178

Alcohol foetal syndrome doesn't just happen to babies born to alcoholics and women who binge drink. Any woman who drinks during pregnancy can have a child with it. Why take the risk?

Because that's not true. FASD does NOT happen to women who have an occasional glass of wine. Why do women tell each otehr this lie?

Yanbu there is an innocent baby who didn't ask to be there,it was your choice.
Then to pour toxins into your body ,the baby may not have serious damage but could feel ill,I don't know,but it ,to me,is extremely selfish to drink whilst pregnant,even if you self justify by saying it's a small drink.surely you don't need to drink.

Yabu

Have a drink if you want to. The odd glass of wine won't do any harm.

but it ,to me,is extremely selfish to drink whilst pregnant,even if you self justify by saying it's a small drink.surely you don't need to drink.

Is it selfish to be overweight and pregnant? Because the evidence for that impacting the baby’s outcome is much stronger than low levels of drinking.

Your babies organs are growing/developing and alcohol is passed through the placenta. YABU it's 9 months.

YABU because 2 glasses a week is not ‘the odd glass’ is it? That’s you drinking fairly regularly throughout pregnancy. At least be honest with yourself - if you’re in denial about that then clearly it’s not safe for you to be drinking, you’ll quickly tell yourself ‘the odd bottle’ once a week is fine too
The odd glass might be on a special occasion like at wedding or new year.

Literally don’t see the point in having a measly 125ml glass of wine, might aswell not bother. I’m 39 weeks and haven’t touched a drop of alcohol since NYE 2020 as I did dry Jan this year and fell pregnant at the end of the month! I’m absolutely desperate for a good glass of wine but wouldn’t dream of having anything during pregnancy.

It’s not something I would do but your body and baby your choice. I got slated on here when I made a post about a colleague drinking and smoking in pregnancy. Was told it was none of my business so you do you.

Alcohol is more dangerous to an unborn baby than heroin in terms of long term effects yet we all look down our noses at addicts but not at mother's who are willing to drink when pregnant. One glass of champagne at a wedding might not be awful but every week is a terrible thing to do. Perhaps this baby will escape unharmed from it but why risk it? Why do something with no benefit but a potential for harm?

In fact if you are having a few glasses of wine, I wonder of you are ok with a few cigarettes? Maybe the odd spliff here and there? One night on cocaine? Maybe none of them will do harm in moderation either?

No there isn't any proof that one or 2 drinks cause any long term harm to an individual however there is also no proof it doesn't.

You could say that about consuming absolutely anything, though!

Alcohol is more dangerous to an unborn baby than heroin in terms of long term effects

There’s no evidence that it’s dangerous at all in low amounts, so this is pointless scaremongering

As an alcoholic, it's not worth it. Not one drop. What's the point?

The way I've always looked at it is I would never fill my babies bottle with wine and make them drink it, so I wouldn't give them wine via my umbilical cord either. Whatever I eat/ drink ultimately ends up in my babies system. It makes no difference how small.

For the sake of your babies health and well being can you just skip alcohol. During pregnancy and breastfeeding?

It’s fine! Have you read Expecting Better by Emily Oster? I found it really useful in aiding decision making on this stuff as it’s all statistics based. (Sorry if someone already mentioned this) xx

@GertietheGherkin

The way I've always looked at it is I would never fill my babies bottle with wine and make them drink it, so I wouldn't give them wine via my umbilical cord either. Whatever I eat/ drink ultimately ends up in my babies system. It makes no difference how small.

For the sake of your babies health and well being can you just skip alcohol. During pregnancy and breastfeeding?

I wouldn't put coffee in my newborns bottle yet I drink that. God, this topic is annoying. The odd, small bit of alcohol is fine. The fetus might be a bit sleepy or whatever that's literally it.

You shouldn't drink to get drunk with a new baby or when co sleeping because you won't be able to look after it and are a moderate to significant harm to it, by crushing, lack of inhibitions or whatever else. Doesn't mean you can never touch a drop

As with anything just be sensible.

It's really interesting how people are willing to share false information about how much alcohol it takes for fas to occur (a lot) and what the research says (that one glass a week hasn't been found to do any damage). Are you the nuts sharing the stuff about Covid and vaccines as well?
Seeing as most of MN advocate pregnancy over 37 I can understand why you wouldn't want any further risks. People are hysterical about what suits them in tes of risk factors.

@YouJustDoYou
"As an alcoholic, it's not worth it. Not one drop. What's the point?"
I don't think alcoholics get social drinking and enjoying what you drink. We don't all drink just to get pissed.

"Alcohol is more dangerous to an unborn baby than heroin in terms of long term effects"
The research around heroin is completely inadequate. Children born to heroin addicts aren't mapped for their entire lives. A good percentage of Mum's pre 90's carried on drinking and smoking. I was advised mackeson stout when pregnant in the 80's.

You shouldn’t put anything other than milk in a baby’s bottle. So using that as a guide for the mother’s diet isn’t particularly helpful.