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.

read day think week !!

I remember drinking one of those sparkling wine & orange juice drinks (can't remember what they call them) at a family breakfast get together, I also remember chucking it up in the car on the way home

You know diagnoses are just labels... nothing more, they're pretty unreliable too, although fashionable. They don't say anything about the root cause. A symptom + alcohol do not = FAS. Symdromes are just a way of easily talking about a collection of behaviours/symptoms/problems or whatever. it's all linguistic, and there's nothing concrete to it. 'Dyslexia' doesn't exist, it's just a collection of things often reported. It's not like a broken bone.

Amuses me how much weight is placed on a DIAGNOSIS.

' 'Dyslexia' doesn't exist, it's just a collection of things often reported. It's not like a broken bone.'

Really, because my daughter has a diagnosis of dyspraxia, and I wish it was just a bunch of stuff that are reported and not a very real condition which has caused some serious fine and gross motor skill delays and muscle weakness.

It's likely she's got learning disorders like dyslexia, we haven't found out yet because she was retained at stage - in other words, held back - from starting school.

The council actually believed the paed and ed psych's diagnosis of a 'collection of things often reported' enough to fund an extra year of tuition for her in a private nursery with an ASN (that's Scottish for special needs) unit attached.

Because her father, paternal uncle and paternal grandfather also have dyspraxia, however, it's more than likely her condition wasn't caused by that vodka bender I went on a few days before my period was due or those couple of pints of Guinness I had in Ireland or the mixed drink I had about a week before I had her.

Expat: my DS' dad is dyslexic, so were his grandfather and uncle. DS is 3.11 and as yet showing no signs of dyslexia despite my fairly major drinking while pregnant (and sheesh we are on the permanent look out for dyslexia to the point where I get chest pains if he mixes up a b and a d). There are no guarantees at all.

even the paed said we'll never know the cause but it is most likely genetic.

i don't regret those pints, though, or that pina colada.

when i went on that bender, it was like 3 days before i was even due on. there wasn't even a placenta then.

i had more to drink whilst pregnant with DD2, although admittedly not a lot because i've alreayd been terribly sick with either vomitting or heartburn with all three of them, and DD2 is NT.

i'll never see the harm in the odd glass. like i said, i'd take that over a tranq whilst pregnant any day.

I drank a couple of halfs of guiness with dd, who is a very clever and competant young lady. I didn't drink with ds, who has severe cerebral palsy and learning difficulties.

Do what YOU want to do, you do not need to justify your self to anyone but you.

HALVES arrgh

I drank a lot during pregnancy as soon As i felt like it about 16 weeks. I felt guilty but enjoyed the relaxation, this is maybe a dependance? Iam not advocating this but trying to reassure the mums who may have already taken the risks with their unborn. Chill a bit and do what you can. Enjoy your pregnancy and focus on the positives, work hard at making your lifestyle as health as poss. I have four really clever and healthy children and I know I am very lucky.

Can't believe I read the whole of this - I don't usually have the patience...

I often hear people justifing their unsubstantiated fears (and their prejudices) with 'it's common sense, innit?' we all do it to communicate opinions that we can't, for whatever reason, back up with facts. It does irk me when it's applied blindly to issues like this.

'Common sense' tells me that thousands of generations of foetuses have been exposed to alcohol with no ill effects( eg, as mentioned earlier in the thread, in days of yore beer was drunk in preference to dodgy water; and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that devout pg women throughout christendom forced down a gobful of wine at communion each week, no matter how awful it tasted to them). 'Common sense' also tells me that a small glass or two of wine a week won't do any harm unless you are the lightest of lightweights and are capable of getting squiffy on that amount, or avoid it if it's just not agreeing with you.

All of you ladies that say that alcohol=bad is common sense, do you know personally of anyone who was adversly affected by their mother consuming light/moderate amounts of alcohol?

When I fell pregnant I didn't touch alcohol as I felt I had no use for it. I was indifferent to the stuff and, since I couldn't think of any nutritional value to my usual tipples, I kept my limited appetite for other 'worthwile' stuff that my body seemed to want. However once I reached my second trimester, I started to really really crave red wine, and only red wine, which I never used to drink pre pg, so 'common sense'told me to listen to my body and have a glass about once a week when the urge took me. Since my poor tum would quickly eject anything that it didn't want, even if it was a spoon too much food , I took this as a 'common sense'sign that the wine was actually doing me some good! And boy did it taste great to me . Strangely enough one glass was always enough and I never degenerated into a mindless lush, which I guess is what our wonderful, all-knowing, Blubberment believed would happen.

Of course, if I'd followed the 'common sense' premise that a large proportion of everyone who had ever been born had been damaged by small amounts of alcohol (it wouldn't be much of a risk if it didn't occur often enough for at least some people you know to know of someone affected), I would have spent my pg in a state of self loathing at my selfishness.

I think Ladypop's point was that diagnoses like dyslexia are just an arbitrary label describing a collection of symptoms. Of course the symptoms exist, but it is not like a broken bone, or say TB, where you can clearly determine the cause. Diagnostic criteria for things like dyslexia will necessarily be somewhat subjective and controversial. From KVC's posts, FASD seems to be diagnosed in a similar way, but when the mother admits to having indulged in alcohol.

Observing a symptom plus alcohol does not necessarily mean that the symptom was caused by the alcohol. Even in the case of alcoholics, the symptoms might not necessarily be caused by the alcohol consumed, but other things that tend to go with having alcoholic parents - like maybe vitamin deficiency, stress, exposure to other substances, ability to care for an infant. Welliemum has pointed out that the abstract from a very recent major study in the UK

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 "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."

Just to add - a lot of people seem to be using the reasoning that if consuming a large amount of alcohol is bad a little must be too.

By the same argument I should never take the paracetamol my midwife reccomends for headaches because a lot of it would poison both me and my baby!

By the same argument I should never eat cake because people who consume very large amounts have poor health and problematic pregnancys.

My midwife positively encouraged me to drink - I think she thought I was a bit too stressed (looking back she was right!) - I didn't, for a variety of reasons, but she said a glass of wine a night would do me good. I spent my entire pregnancy in a state of anxiety and stress because it was our second IVF attempt and we couldn't afford another one - to us it was our only chance of a child and I felt soooo responsible for not 'screwing it up' that I didn't relax once. And came down with panic attacks and raging PND the minute dd was born. A few glasses of wine might have come in very handy, on reflection...

In the 1920's/30's my nan had a bottle of stout every day during her many pregnancies - she hated the stuff and had to force it down - she had severe anaemia, the doctor said to her she could either drink the stout or eat a large box of raisins every day - after a fortnight of raisin munching she gave in and had the stout as at least it was over quickly! All her children were healthy and reached the tops of their chosen professions - gosh, if only she'd laid off the booze, they might have created world peace, cured cancer and invented a source of clean renewable energy that cost nothing to run

I'm deeply over what FVC appears to be saying - that your child might have any number of symptoms but unless the mother 'admits' (which gives me a mental image of the poor woman sat in an interrogation chamber with a light shining in her face) she drank, they can't diagnose FAS?? So conversely, if you DO 'admit' to drinking, your mildly differently-abled child might get slapped with that diagnosis?? Seems very kneejerk to me...

To the OP - YANBU. Enjoy your pregnancy and best wishes for a safe delivery

Sorry, KVC, not FVC - the cup of tea I'm drinking has obviously addled my brain...

Thanks Upwind - that's exactly what I meant, had a few glasses of vino so wasn't expressing myself particularly well. Am loving the irony though. I have a diagnosis of dyslexia myself and have struggled to find ways of adapting situations/work etc to fit my way of doing things. Personally, I never choose to label myself as dyslexic because at least for me, it's just too varied and I don't find labels helpful - but that's just a personal thing. TBH it would be easier a lot of the time but i'm also a bit pig headed...

I've done research into the neuropsychology of dyslexia looking at possible physical differences in neurological pathways (albeit a loooong time ago). So I'm not saying dyslexia and other similar disorders or whatever you want to call them don't exist, far from it - just that - oh, what upwind said, I'm not nearly so eloquant!

So I didn't mean to offend anyone.... sorry expat!

I'm with everyone on the common sense thing about alcohol. I chose not to as soon as I knew but because I just didn't want the guilt (there's so much to worry about as it is!) but I had drunk a fair amound before I knew. I guess the problem these days is that women probably really do drink a LOT more than they ever have before - so what has been ok in the past may start to change, especially with larger measures etc. Also, if you're out drinking, planning to have just a couple - it can be hard to stick to that - how many of us have gone for a quick drink after work or whatever only to end up dancing in an awful nightclub hours later? Not that I'm suggesting the OP or anyone is likely to end up lathered but, Geez I should really pay Upwind to make my points for me... i'm sure you get what I mean.

things I refused when I first got pg:
Hollandaise sauce
Bearnaise sauce
Poached eggs
Fried eggs
All mousse
Chicken livers
Foie gras
Calves liver
Bagged salads
Deli meats
Prawns
Lobster
Oysters
Clams
Mussels
Rare steak
Prosciutto
Jamon iberico
Serrano ham
Salami
Goats cheese
Sheeps cheese
Unpasteurised cheese
Sushi
Smoked salmon
All sodas
Processed food
All alcohol

When I had done research, I added the odd glass of wine and freshly cooked lobster/ prawns to the ok list.
No lack of willpower here! Maybe the easy dissenters arenot foodies?

sorry I got tetchy, LP. just having so much trouble just now with DD1 and her dyspraxia. poor soul just does not get sequencing or things like one thing following another/after/next/and then, that sort of thing.

there is something crossing wires up there for sure!

but i can't for the life of me think that's because of a couple of pints of guinness in the 2nd trimester or that big ol' pina colada i craved for weeks before i just went and made it myself.

in fact, i even mentioned this to her consultant paed at Royal Infirmary for Sick Children in Edinburgh and she laughed. 'Erm, no. I can tell you know it wasn't that.'

Life for me when it comes to food and drink has always been one of moderation. We were brought up in a Latin American/French home where we were taught that there's nothing wrong with a little of what you fancy.

(unless you fancy your brother, obviously...)

barf, almostblue!

i fancy other peoples' purses, though.