To want a couple of glasses of wine when pregnant??

[tootidy]

I am nearly 10 weeks pregnant and would like to drink a couple of glasses of wine (per week) as I did when i was pregnant with my other children. The current guidelines are not to drink at all which is different to what it used to be.

By the way, I've been wading through the literature on alcohol in pregnancy - has anyone else noticed how differently researchers define "moderate" drinking compared to how it's being defined on this thread?

In Australia the recommendation for pregnant women is "fewer than seven standard drinks per week, and no more than two standard drinks on any one day" and there's apparently a lot of argument about this because many feel it's overkill and not justifiable by the evidence.

A couple of other studies I saw defined moderate drinking as greater than 2 but less than 10 units per week (and found no discernable effect from this).

I'm just seeing if I can download and read in full a big, very robust study from the UK (Avon Longitudinal Study) which has just come out.

Will report back later if I'm able to download it, but the abstract says they found that the effects of moderate alcohol and cigarette intake on IQ were similar for mothers and fathers, ie suggesting social mechanisms, not medical ones.

i'm thinking the CDC guidelines are put in place so they can get better information of the affect of alcohol on the fetus. using scare tactics, stating that women should NOT drink at all simply because there are no definitive results, is a way to get better results when surveying groups. i read the list of possible symptoms and many are attributed to other diseases and factors as well. many many generations of women having a couple of drinks a week have giving birth to healthy individuals. underdeveloped sperm caused by alcoholism that manage to impregnate the egg are a concern as well. at this rate, we'll have world wide prohibition again.

tootidy

you are not being unreasonable to want a couple glasses of wine while pregnant.

done.

Makes sense welliemum.
My two SILs are in foreign lands which have very different guidelines for eating, drinking and smoking in pregnancy.
My BP was v low during pregnancy and my GP suggested a drink..perhaps a glass of wine. I tried but the acid hell killed me

There's also a strong possibility that blaming every possible problem on women's behaviour saves an awful lot of money and time spend researching the possible risks of chemicals used in the food industry, siting of mobile phone masts, prescription medications, computer use etc. The vast majority of babies are born fairly healthy no matter what their mothers do, and some of those that are born with severe problems are born to mothers who did absolutely everything they were advised/bullied into doing, and then the poor mothers get cross-examined and accused of being crack whores too stupid to own up to it...

And there does seem to be some evidence to the effect that men's behaviour can affect a foetus - of course, domestic violence, which frequently starts in pregnancy, isn't ery good for babies at all. Also men who use recreational drugs or binge drink may have malformed sperm; if they are living with a pregnant woman and smoking dope or crack or smack then traces of it can get into her body even if she is abstaining throughout her PG or does not in fact use drugs herself.
But MEN are never told to modify their behaviour, it's only women who are supposed to exist solely for the benefit of others, and who are constantly condemned as 'selfish' for insisting on the right to make up their own minds about what happens to their own bodies.

Although I can get pissed as a fart in normal life, when I got pregnant I was bought a Malibu and coke and I had one mouthful and I did not feel right about drinking. I didnt feel nice as a mum....didnt drink through out preg.

Most of the mums I know completely abstained with DC1, then had a few glasses in month 8/9 with DC2, and with DC3 the wine started in about month 4!! I completely abstained with DS but i honestly can't completely guarantee the same for any next child (mind you the smell from 10 yards made me heave)

Like many other things, the PFB syndrome has an effect. You sterilise for a year with the first, 4 months with the second, and by the time you get to the third you let the dog lick the bottle clean. (poetic licence here)

My general light hearted point being that we take everything so SERIOUSLY with the first child, then when they thrive, we allow ourselves to lighten up a bit with the subsequent ones, as we realise they can cry for 2 minutes/fall off the bed/eat a biscuit off the floor without coming to harm. So i think peoples' attitudes gradually relax. If this includes an occasional glass of wine, should we really throw stones?

thanks for clarification, Starlight McKenzie (eons ago - had an early night!)

Welliemum has said something very important about 'social mechanisms' not medical ones and this debate needs to take into account that there is no longer nature vs nuture, it is the effect of one alongside the other.
Genetics will alter what effect risk factors have on both mother and child. Whether that's alcohol, abusive relationships or chronic anxiety etc.
What is increasingly known (with my neurodevelopmental hat on) is that the early interaction between a mindful mother and a securely attached child is of paramount importance in developing abilities around attention, empathy, emotional intelligence and more. No study on risk factors has ever actively controlled for that one and so we develop guidelines in the relative dark about what really happens in a growing infant's brain.
Being thoughtful about your relationship with your own body and your unborn child may be as good as it gets. Mothers should trust themselves a bit more to get this right and the medical profession is often a little too male dominated to let them.

My sister drank through both her pregnancies, mainly because she's an alcoholic, but a functioning one at that, so no messed up lifestyle to go with, just too much alcohol. Her first has ADHD and her second cried everyday for the first 14 months of his life! I avoided it while I was preggers mainly because I thought it's hard enough to have a baby, why possibly make it harder by drinking if I don't NEED to?? Then again, I've not touched anything with aspartame in it for as long as I can remember. I treat my body well and to me drinking while pregnant is basically the same as putting a small amount of booze in a bottle when you have the baby.

Yes, I succumbed to an epidural...it was painful and the next time, I don't know what I'll do but I'm hoping to try something else like hypnobirthing. I'd like to give my kid the best chance at a healthy start.

That's just my opinion though....

I've always found this whole issue of whether to drink or not to drink during pregnancy totally bizarre.
You're pregnant for nine months, which leaves hundreds more months in a lifetime to drink till your heart's content.
I didn't drink a drop when I was pregnant - didn't even consider it.
Whether the studies are inconclusive or not is almost by the by ... it's pretty obvious that alcohol isn't good for you so you're doing yourself good as well as the baby by being teetotal for a little while.
If giving up drinking for a measly nine months is so stressful then that's a completely seperate thing.

I've always found this whole issue of whether to drink or not to drink during pregnancy totally bizarre.
You're pregnant for nine months, which leaves hundreds more months in a lifetime to drink till your heart's content.
I didn't drink a drop when I was pregnant - didn't even consider it.
Whether the studies are inconclusive or not is almost by the by ... it's pretty obvious that alcohol isn't good for you so you're doing yourself good as well as the baby by being teetotal for a little while.
If giving up drinking for a measly nine months is so stressful then that's a completely seperate thing.

With DC1 I had one drink at Christmas and then nothing until 36 weeks one my Obstetrician recommended one small glass of wine in the evening to help me to sleep.

I am currently pregnant with No.2 and I have had one glass of champagne only so far, I may have a couple of glasses a week when I get to 36 weeks, then again I may not!

Only you can truly know whether you are doing the right thing.

Think about what would be best for you and your baby.

From my own point of view I didn't drink until after I stopped breastfeeding and then celebrated with a very very nice expensive bottle of wine.

I also tried alcohol free wine and alcohol free beer which is great. The Becks alcohol free lager is fab! I still drink that now every now and again.

xx

We ALL (or most of us!) want what is best for our babies, we all struggle with our choices and, to be frank, some people have a holier than thou attitude to the whole pregnancy experience...I drank 2-3 small glasses a week with both children, who are fine, and my husband who is a Genetic Scientist looked into the research and we both felt that was ok and based on most modern research, was low risk. It's really up to you, but I think if someone is well intentioned and responsible then others should be respectful of their right to a choice and avoid childish comments where they plainly feel they have "won" by being cleverer at pregnancy and more responsible / a better mother by not drinking (because that is the undertone) - please. Get over yourselves and let's try to be supportive of each other as parents, it's hard enough already!

BTW, KVC - you seem to style yourself as a bit of an expert but please be very careful making throw away comments about a few glasses of alcohol per week causing FAS - COME ON....give us the proof or stop frightening pregnant women with ill founded and unprovable false statements - now that really does make me mad.

Happy pregnancies everyone - do as you feel is best for you and your baby, and enjoy what is a wonderful and special time for you and your darling children to be.

the process to get the alcohol out of those alcohol-free products is chemical laden.

I will probably be shot down in flames for this, but according to my mum she had no advice in the late 60's for this, and duly srank as usual which wasn't a great deal. I, however was pregnant last year in the gestapo Britain of today and was told not to drink at all. I didn't, apart from one celebratory glass of champagne, in the first trimester. In the second and third, however I had two or three glasses of wine a week. It did no harm, we are all overcompensating for people who have no sense of proportion and have to be guided by a nanny state.

"gestapo Britain" is an sad inappropriate analolgy nearly invokes godwins law essentially very personal choice

some do
some dont

Musgrove: so presumably your pregnancies were all planned and you didn't drink a drop once you started TTC? IN which case fair enough for you, but the majority of women don't actually know they are PG at the beginning of it and many pregnancies are not planned at all. Or is it the case that you didn't drink a drop since you had your first AF and won't touch another one till after the menopause just in case??

Excuse me, scottishmummy, I WAS advocating personal choice, which is sadly lacking in Britain today. For instance, breastfeeding, I expressed for 6 months but sat sobbing my heart out a week after birth because of the inflexible opinion of midwives who felt it was not a solution. Secondly, no option of epidural in my home town, so endured 36 hours of labour to give birth naturally but had to have CSection due to lack of progress. I had little choice with either of these and resent the fact that we are not allowed to exercise commmon sense today. We do not need more people making us feel inadequate in this life.

I haven't read all 15 pages of replies I am afraid, but health benefits of red wine;
packed full of resveratol, a powerful antioxidant and very beneficial to health, alcohol, in a small glass can help thin the blood and stop clots, other nutrients beneficial to health,
on the bad side, alcohol can damage your liver causing toxin build up, 'corked' wine if ingested can be toxic to the system (but you would have to be pretty desperate or unable to smell to drink 'corked' wine.

personlly for non pregnant women, I would suggest a small glass (125ml) of red wine is actually very good for you, I cannot say the same about pregnant women as by law I am not allowed to, but as with this PC brigade who want to control your every action, I would take advice on pregnancy from anyone (except midwifes perhaps?) with a pinch of salt.
would you feel guilty about having one small glass a day? if yes, don't touch it, if no, then have a think about it