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Original poster

Alcohol for pain relief in labour!

152 replies

Bethbe · 23/10/2006 12:44

I'm trying to find out about use of Alcohol as pain relief for the first stage of labour and can't find a thing about it! Can anyone help?

If I feel like it I'm planning to down a half a bottle of wine (maybe more if it goes on too long), or perhaps take the odd shot! I can't find any information to say that I shouldn't........can anyone help?

Bethbe

OP posts:
morningpaper · 03/07/2008 20:34

oh look this is an ANCIENT thread and I'm repeating myself

no surprise there

Amberc · 03/07/2008 20:40

If anyone does find an antidote to alcohol, please do let us all know. Many a Friday night (pre baby) I could have done with it!

avenanap · 03/07/2008 20:42

Aimee (non alcoholic herb drink). Cracking stuff. No idea how they do it.

Saymyname · 03/07/2008 20:47

You can't find any research against it? What about the research that suggests necking half a bottle of wine in pregnancy might not be a good idea?

avenanap · 03/07/2008 20:49

Labour wise, it would go through the placenta and you'd end up with a drunk baby. If they needed to take you to theatre then the alcohol could cause problems, it would also increase your heart beat and make you need the loo alot. Sorry.

I've heard smoking pot helps.

StarlightMcKenzie · 03/07/2008 22:10

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expatinscotland · 03/07/2008 22:11

I'm a veteran boozer. No way I'd use it during labour.

I prefer the hard stuff .

StarlightMcKenzie · 03/07/2008 22:23

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expatinscotland · 03/07/2008 22:26

Epidurals are your friends .

GA is, too, but preferably not whilst pregnant.

avenanap · 03/07/2008 23:56

Starlight. I've no idea. I had some when pregnant and was off my face for a good hour.

StarlightMcKenzie · 04/07/2008 00:01

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avenanap · 04/07/2008 00:02

I wouldn't. I now mums that have though.

expatinscotland · 04/07/2008 00:02

Now pot would be tempting.

avenanap · 04/07/2008 00:06

Lol!

expatinscotland · 04/07/2008 00:08

if offered the choice among pot, booze and opiates, i'd always chose pot. not hash with that baccy shit in it. but just good ol', Oregon or Washington State bud, dried and deseeded.

in a bong.

avenanap · 04/07/2008 00:10

PMSL! Do you recom they'd arrest you for it? Heavily pregnant, on your way to push a grapefruit out of your fanjo and the police rush in and read you your rights? or do you think the medical student you got lumbered with will join you?

Id go for the one that had the least side effects.

expatinscotland · 04/07/2008 00:13

well, i'd assume they would because it's illegal, which is why i haven't smoked any since leaving the US.

but i think well-grown pot is highly underrated.

avenanap · 04/07/2008 00:14

They give you opium in the hospitals though! You can also have alcohol on prescription (brandy!). They dispense it in pharmacy for medicinal purposes' for the elderly.

ravenAK · 04/07/2008 00:16

I remember my Uni mate Melissa 16 years ago.

'Right, my waters have gone. Raven, roll me a spliff, Natalie, call my boyfriend & tell him to get his arse here...'

She & the bf are now married with 2 more dc, & terribly respectable.

Wouldn't work for me though - makes me paranoid & stroppy. As does G&A.

StarlightMcKenzie · 04/07/2008 10:28

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Boobz · 20/07/2008 22:40

Did Bethbe ever end up drinking that half bottle of wine, does anyone know??

trishpops · 20/07/2008 22:46

BETHBE - one very good reason not to drink much booze before, during or close after labour is that alcohol thins the blood and makes you bleed more, therefore greatly increasing your risk of losing a dangerous amount of blood at this time.

trishpops · 20/07/2008 22:48

god must learn to flip these htreads my comment istotally redundant. i'm off to bed where i belong :-)

AnArtist · 03/06/2010 19:39

BethBe

The only reference to alcohol I have seen is in Ina May Gaskin's 'Spiritual Midwifery'. A small sip of alcohol with each contraction was used to SLOW DOWN/retard early labour in a woman who was 6 months pregnant. As well as all the other dangers listed above if you drink during early labour you run the risk of slowing it down, which will increase the chance of intervention later and possibly complicate the birth putting you and your child at risk.

I seems like you are anxious about birth, but really there is no need. It is possible to have a natural birth. In all the recorded cases in her two books (the other is 'Guide to Childbirth') Ina May Gaskin recommends NO pain relief at all, which reduces the need for epiostomy, casarian etc.

Reading these books has put my mind at rest completely. I am also doing meditation and yoga to prepare my mind and body. A friend of mine also did hypno-birthing.

If you go with your body, and not fight against it, it will achieve so much more.

Also, you might want to research Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. Not only does alcohol during pregnancy damage the foetus but you are effectively causing your child to become dependent on alcohol. If you decide not to breast feed or stop breast feeding your child will be cut off from his/her alcohol supply, forcing him to go cold turkey and will suffer withdrawal symptoms. This will result in a very unhappy baby.

balijay · 03/06/2010 22:14

AnArtist i think the original OP is from 2006, so BethBes baby will be about 4 by now Thanks for the links to the books tho, will look out for them