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.

YANBU. Say two glasses a week won't cause any harm.

I'd be wary of anything more than that, FAS is a very real problem but two glasses a week will be fine.

I wonder if French and Italian mothers abstain completely?

I think you have to weigh it up for yourself and what you are happy with. During this pregnancy, my 3rd, I have found looking after 2 small children whilst being pregnant and coping with my mother being terminally ill. A few glasses of wine a week has seriously helped my stress levels which i believe could also be pretty harmful to your unborn child. I also have a friend who is a paedicatrician who believes that it is all about moderation and also that what you do after 24 weeks will make little difference anyway as baby pretty much developed by this point. I do feel there is a conspiracy to make women feel guilty about everything they do from the moment they are pregnant and which continues basically for the rest of their parenting life ?

I am 17 wks pg and still enjoy an odd glass of wine, I;ll have about 2 half glasses of wine a week. However, I got blasted by the maternity clinic about this and advised of FAS, delayed development...
I understood that FAS was due to regular/ sustained binge drinking, not what I consider to be very moderate intake with food.
I wasn't asked if I had a drink dependency problem, or given advice on how to give up were that the case.
I will continue to enjoy my wine, love the taste relaxes me

Ok, to play devils advocate a little.......

"When you drink, alcohol reaches your baby through the placenta. But the baby can't process it as fast as you can, so it is exposed to greater amounts of alcohol for longer than you are, which can seriously affect the baby's development.

Pregnant women or women trying to conceive should avoid drinking alcohol. If they do choose to drink, to protect the baby, they should not drink more than 1-2 units of alcohol once or twice a week and should not get drunk. Additional advice from the National Institute" NHS Choices.

A typical/standard glass of wine contains 1.75 units, that's more than a large shot of tequila and nearly as much as a double vodka or whiskey. Units table here, two glasses of wine equals 3.5 units, you want 2 glasses a week? Times that by 40 equals 140 units for a normal 40 week pregnancy. That to me, is quite shocking. You're already 10 weeks, so 30 weeks worth of your chosen alcohol consumption is 105 units for the remainder of your pregnancy. A 1 litre bottle of Smirnoff vodka is 37.5 units. That's 2.8 bottles of Smirnoff vodka for your 105 units during your pregnancy.

I am in no way trying to tell you it is right/wrong to drink during your pregnancy, that is your choice. But I think it's easy for people to forget the number behind each beer/glass of wine - it adds up. And at the end of the day, in all seriousness, is it worth it? If you're stuck in during the week, why must you drink? Pick up a hobby, read a book/magazine, watch an old movie, knit lol. Why do you feel you want/need those two glasses of wine, there are other ways to unwind and relax. Again, it's your choice and I'm not here to slap you on the wrist. Again, playing devils advocate, would you feed your newborn a glass of wine after their milk feed? Twice a week? For 30 weeks? Surely that would be awful, no?

Reading up on all of this has really surprised me, I didn't know just how many units were in drinks! Very

I'd never give my baby a glass of wine after their milk, maybloom,it would curdle the milk. so maybe an hour before would be better. But not if it was teething, cos then it would be getting brandy on the gums!

maybloom, buy smaller wine glasses for your cupboards!

"would you feed your newborn a glass of wine after their milk feed? Twice a week? For 30 weeks? Surely that would be awful, no?"

No, but then again i would'nt give it a cup of tea either![smile}

Easily solved, I have old fashioned little glasses besides - normally a wine glass is never filled to the brim, you actually use about half its capacity.

Advise from my doctor was to avoid before week 12 but after that the occasional glass of wine was fine.

I wonder also whether our bodies and minds are more intelligent that we think (?)

I could not face caffeine during my pregnancy (some people are ok with it) and I wonder whether its my body's way of saying no. I actually craved a cup of tea (and was given one) once I had my epidural - it was an immediate craving after not being able to stomach it for 9 months.

For me, I couldn't face wine. Am sure that others must be more tolerant than me, we all process alcohol differently

That's a lame argument@MayBloom. I wouldn't give a baby child any of the things I eat or drink, in fact, anyhting other than it's milk

"Why take the risk...?" people keep asking.

Okay, here's my take. We live in a society which expects parents nowadays to take only zero risks with children, only a ZERO level risk of risk is considered acceptable. Anything else is labeled negligence.

You aren't allowed to trade off other possible benefits or costs, you aren't suposed to have other priorities. It's f-ing madness, and why our children can't play out alone or climb trees any more (etc.).

So I could give you the reasons why I personally would still choose to have some alcohol in pregnancy, but they'll never be accepted by some people, because they just aren't the same as ZERO risk.

Pah.

Agree Peanutbutterkid, and with the refusal to accept that real life involves risky choices comes a kind of implicit condemnation of the unlucky.

'implicit condemnation of the unlucky' - that is so true!

My mum was saying the other day that when she was a child, another child was killed in a road accident while playing out. She said there was absolutely no thought of blame in anyone's mind for the parents, only a feeling that it was a tradegy. Nowadays there would be condemnation of them for letting the child play out, what area the child was playing in, how old the child was, and what time of day it was etc etc etc

definitely agree about the zero risk/blame culture

Alcohol is a drug pure and simple! Why give it to your unborn child I just don't understand. If alcohol were discovered today it would be class A and illegal. Drink if you want I don't care! You can find research to back up any decision drink or not. But I gave it up for 2 years when I was pregnant and breast feeding. Didn't feel the need. The health of my growing child far more important then a glass of vino!

I think it's FUCKING discusting when people dring and smoke during pregnancy it's only 9 months FFS.

I remember seeing a little boy on tv once and he loads of things wrong with him all because his SELFISH mother couldn't stop drinking.

It really makes me mad.

Caffeine is a drug. The anti-depressants prescribed to keep some mothers sane are drugs. Gaviscon and ranitidine are drugs prescribed to pregnant women. G&A, diamorphine and epidurals contain drugs.

Lots of drugs out there.

You used any of those, must mean you don't care about your child's health .

'If alcohol were discovered today it would be class A and illegal.'

That's the funniest thing I've read all day. It really is.

Did someone blow up the bridge?

Jayzu, but they are coming out tonight!

you wouldn't give baby alcohol? so why give it when foetus?

I drank it whilst breastfeeding.

Felt it was a better alternative to those anti-anxiety drugs the doctor prescribed that were totally synthetic.

Yes he had FAS because she couldn't stop drinking, there's a big difference between constant alcohol consumption and one or two glasses a week.

I wouldn't give a baby a thai green curry either, but I'd eat it. It's a nonsense argument.

green thai currry has no known contraindications for foetus.alcohol does

might have MSG and e numbers in it, that Thai Green curry.

who knows what the effect is of those.

naughty you, msd .

hope you're not washing it down with any beverage containing artificial sweetners.