Drinking alcohol while ttc

[AtLeastThreeDrinks]

I suspect this has been done to death but I have searched the topics and the threads are all really old, so…

Has everyone quit alcohol completely while ttc? There's such a mix of advice online.

Not drinking has been fine during lockdown, but now various friends want to meet for 'distanced' gatherings and it would be very unlike me to turn down a drink.

I'm a terrible liar, don't drive, am unlikely to have a hangover from being at home, we always get a bottle (bottles) of wine to share… I don't want to tell anyone that we're trying, but I'm finding it very hard to think of plausible excuses.

I'm also reading about the people who downed a bottle of wine and fell pg!

So have you quit completely? What do you tell people?

Yes I largely quit but I've been doing IVF for 18 months and clinic advised to. I also read somewhere that alcohol can reduce the chance of implantation by as much as 25% (but that doesn't explain all the drunken one night stands which result in a pregnancy 🤣)

I have to say up till now my only successful pregnancy preciously was the one where I drowned my sorrows because I thought I wasn't pregnant only to find out several days later that I was! 🤣

Well I'm one of the ones that conceived after a gallon of wine, so 😬

Hi OP! We're TTC at the moment but are telling ourselves we're being very casual about it so no I haven't stopped completely, still having a couple of glasses of wine here and there as I fancy it. If I haven't seen a BFP by the end of the year though I'll knock it on the head from January (which is a good time to have the excuse not to be drinking!).

I worry the same as you; once I am pregnant it's going to be very difficult for me to casually swerve a drink without arousing suspicion. I do drive but I also live in walking distance from most of my friends and the places we frequent so hard to use that one as an excuse.

A friend a couple of years ago had a good one though; she insisted on getting her own drink from the bar every time rather than getting into rounds and just asked them to put a plain tonic in one of the big fancy G&T balloon glasses with the peppercorns and fruit and whatnot. Nobody suspected a thing . That's going to be harder to do with table service in bars now though .

Thanks so much for the responses –there seem to be so many anecdotes of people getting pregnant while trashed

The G&T trick is a good one, although you're right about table service @HowFastIsTooFast! We've also said we're going to be very casual about it, but my partner is teetotal and, though he hasn't said, I suspect he thinks I should just stop. But he's seen first-hand the raised eyebrows when I turned down some fizz at a family bbq recently! One was thrust into my hand anyway, which I sort of sipped.

I think I'm going to relax and just have a wine here or there, and drink slowly. Dry January would be the perfect time to start trying!

No, I drank alcohol whilst trying to conceive. Conceived both times very quickly and found out very quickly too.

It could take you months to conceive so don’t put everything you enjoy on hold unless obv you’ve been told to by a medical professional after x amount of time! You don’t have to go crazy but enjoy it while you still can.

Drink til it's pink 😄

I've always drunk during TTC. It could be weeks, months or years and that's a long time to put your life on hold for a maybe. Once I get a BFP obvs I cease immediately. This time for instance I was quite certain we hadn't gotten it again and was absolutely swimming in Sauv the night before I found out. Generally I find out earlier than AF date and I also usually have an inkling so might slow up.

I conceived shortly after New Year. I definitely didn't abstain of Christmas and New Year 😄. I did stop when I was in my TWW 'just incase'. But likewise if I'd had a big function/party to go to I'd probably have drunk.

Haha best advice @Wishing56! Thanks all, I half expected everyone to be horrified at the suggestion! And you're right @calimommy, I think the 'cans' and 'can'ts' add a layer of stress that probably isn't helpful, and I'm really not looking to put my life on hold. I shall enjoy the wine this weekend!