Those of you who have given up or greatly reduced your intake of alcohol ...

[eekamoose]

Can I ask

Why you did it? What were your incentives?

and

How did you do it?

Would be very interested to hear your stories ...

Thanks

gave up drinking when i became pregnant, just stopped and then just didnt really feel like drinking after that. do feel better for it but my god do i suffer if i have a night out now, the hangovers the next day are awful (but that could be down to getting older!)

So you obviously didn't give up altogether Nancy. Do you only drink when you go out now?

I am reducing my alcohol intake, both cost and health reasons really.

I found I was having a drink most nights "to relax" and decided this wasn't doing me any favours and my budget just can't take it. Reduced it to a few drinks at the weekend, and it feels more like a treat than something I need. Still drink toomuch when away on overnight work trips, but will have to reduce this too as I simply can't afford it or justify it any more.

I initially stopped drink when preg with ds1 (now 8) and never didnt get back to the young days of partying. However since preg with ds2 (now 10 months) I have had on 3 occasions a glass of wine and on each i have had a reaction (red red red red face and hot) so i reckon i am intolerant and i dont mind really. NOt interested in getting pissed, and lots of other drinks taste nice so not bothered.

My dad was/is a heavy drinker and i made concious decision when ds born that i didn't want him to see me like that. I drink very occaisionally now and only if he's on sleepover at grandparents. Feel like i've got a drink problem in reverse sometimes if that makes any sense!

I stopped drinking when expecting dd1 and never really got back into having a taste for it. I've never felt tempted to embark on reacquiring the taste for it as I work in a hospital and have seen quite enough damage done by alcohol. Not be sensible, moderate drinking of course - but then nobody starts out by thinking they'll become a drunk do they?

when younger, i could only be what is now described as a binge drinker. we always had alcohol in the house, always a bottle of spirits, and i would spend a lot of weekends/days offs/holidays etc, havign a drink with friends or down the pub.

i stopped drinking almost 7years ago now as life changes.

I last had a drink, errr a year ago on a night out with friends. i might crack open a bottle this xmas though, but only have one drink.

it wasnt a case of my drinking was out of control as was sober a lot of the time as well, but it was v v v much a social thing for me.

I am not one to be drinking alone, even a glass of wine doesnt appeal unless it shared with friends over a meal iyswim.

i do find that all alcohol makes me v red faced and flushed, which is emabaressing as well, so that puts me off also.

Thanks all, very interesting. It seems you can get out of the habit quite quickly.

Any of you afternoon crowd got any experience?

Hello, I rarely drink anymore. In fact I bought some wine the other day with the weekly shop and realised that i hadn't drank any alcohol for 3 months since a rare night out with my brothers and sister.
Used to drink alot and party a lot when i was younger but same as other people on here I stopped when i got pregnant with DD1 and never really got back into it. Had another DD soon after and as we all know alcohol and having children do not go together. Couldn't bear to have a hangover now. It's ok if you can lie in bed all day.
Also my husband is Muslim and doesn't drink(well not v often!) so i guess that maybe if he drank more then maybe i would - you know share a bottle in the evening or something. And - OMG I'm going on and on - i get bad PMT and not drinking does help me keep sane(ish) each month.
Am looking forward to some champagne at Christmas though!

I don't drink very much any more. I was never a huge drinker anyway although i used to enjoy a glass of wine with a meal or out with friends. When i was a student and much younger I used to drink quite a lot.

I stopped when pregnant with DD and like others never really got back into it. I can't be bothered with it now tbh. It makes me feel so tired when I'm often exhausted anyway. I just don't have the opportunity to recuperate so the pain outweighs the pleasure. I will have the odd glass here and there to be sociable but pretty infrequently. DP doesn't drink much either and I think that probably contributes too.

I reduced my alcohol consumption quite a lot.

We were used to sharing a bottle of wine a night on 'school nights' and more at weekends. I decided to do it for health reasons, to lose weight and because I was willing to try anything if it helped us conceive as we were struggling to conceive dc2. I had started running too and could notice it was more of a struggle the day after having a drink.

I cut out drinking entirely mon - thurs and then fri to sun would only drink with dinner. So, no pre-dinner drinks. I also drove more if we went out so I wouldn't drink when out (which would be more than normal consumption !).

I am now 22 weeks pregnant so not drinking (I have had 3 glasses actually since finding out). Am hoping to go back to the above once I am able to drink again.

It is definitely habit forming either way - you can get into the habit of drinking and you can get into the habit of not drinking (but easier to get a habit of drinking IME ).

Pregnancy and breastfeeding. I've had two glasses of champagne, two glasses of wine, and three halves of lager since August 2007. When he starts sleeping more at night (please God let that be before we end bf!) I shall share a bottle of wine with DH of an evening now and then.
I couldn't get drunk anyway, as I'd want fags as well, and I don't want to ever go back to that!

xx

Just realised I do have a tip - it's dh's really. He found it very easy to have a glass of wine with dinner and then top it up slightly and so on and then you look at the bottle and think 'where did all that go' Now I used to nag him about this (nagging puritanical shrew or caring wife - take your pick!) and so what he does now is he uses a measuring glass to measure out a unit and then drinks that and thats it. He knows exactly how much he's had and isn't tempted to have more thinking - 'oh the first glass was just a small one etc etc.'

stopped drinking when preg with number 4. I never drink while pregnant. Number 4 born brain damaged so never started again as she has seizures and needs too much care. Couldn't ever risk being drunk or hungover.
Don't miss it at all.

I've recently stopped, in preparation for ttc. Since having dd, i've not been so interested anyway as more than a glass of wine would cause me to feel hungover due to the lack of sleep. i only usually had an odd glass at weekends but now have stopped altogether and feel much better for it and am starting to lose weight, due to whole sensible eating plan.

I stopped drinking when I started having stomach problems 2 years ago. Have never really taken it up again since except the odd night out or weekend away, and I used to be quite a heavy drinker by most people's standards.

You just get used to not having it.

I have cut down my drinking a lot (although probably still drink more nights than I don't which sounds quite bad!).

We used to drink a bottle of wine between us each night, and since we don't drink the cheap stuff it was costing quite a lot.

What helped a lot is the fact the kitchen (and fridge) is on a different floor to the living room, so we leave the bottle down there, and one of us has to be bothered to walk downstairs to get it.

Neither of us wants to be the one who WANTS another glass, so more often than not we'll go without a top-up.

have totally stopped as am pg with number 3
after have had this baby will restrict alcohol to fri/Satt nights

I recently did a one month detox and didnt drink (or eat rubbish) at all.I missed it a bit, but didnt miss the hangovers (which are crippling for me) and also lost a stone and a half and saved money..(though that was mostly as I only ate salad)
Have had a few drinks since detox ended but have found am not that bothered any more as felt generally much better in my self (except at the mo have a chest infection and am fed up, but thats unrelated)

I stopped drinking last new year as I was trying to loose weight, then decided to keep it up. It does get a bit difficult in social situations like weddings where everyone else is drunk as you feel like a party pooper, but most of the time I feel better for it.

Stopped drinking when pregnant with DS and never really drank much again as we co slept so I drank nothing at all until he was about 9m and then only a small glass of wine or a G&T finished before 7pm to ensure it was fully out of my system by the time I went to bed at 10 - 10.30, and that only once a week at the most (paranoid I know but he is my PFB!). He's 2.3 now and I am pregnant again so no drinking - apart from one very small glass of champagne about 3 months ago - and I imagine I will be co sleeping with this baby too, so imagine I won't be drinking again for a while.

I don't miss it but I do miss having the evening and morning to myself to do as I please! Health wise it has made no difference to me. I only drank 3-4 units in the week with occasional drunken dinner parties so I don't think it affected my health one way or the other.

Getting pregnant was the only thing that made me reduce my drinking, and tbh not before time as I was definitely drinking too much. Last year was utterly shit for me (brother died, ttc all year without success) and I was drinking every night. Not getting pissed, necessarily, but having two beers or half a bottle of wine. I was miserable. flabby, my skin looked like shit and I wasn't dealing with everything that had happened.

Found out I was up the duff the day before NYE and therefore pretty much cut out the booze (just had the occasional small drink throughout the pregnancy). Now DS is here and I'm bf, so again just the occasional drink. I look and feel so much better and although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to having a night out here and there, I'm v glad I broke the habit

I hardly drink and have found that the less you drink, the less you can cope with and the less you want.

I never say no to a glass of wine as I hate looking like a bore. I take it, sip it and take a mineral water soon as poss after and drink that instead. But you always have your glass of wine to taste with your meal.

I stopped drinking because I couldn't give up smoking and didn't want to do both . Now have given up smoking but lost the taste for wine and beer.

and hello eek and thanks for non-smoking support! are you doing both now?