Drank excessively in first 5 1/2 weeks of pregnancy - V worried

[W4mumtobe]

Ok, so I'm 33, educated (apologies for spelling in advance though!) and have been trying to get pregnant for ages. Classic scenario of didn't think it would ever happen and have been drinking excessively (on and off) for first few weeks of pregnancy (half a bottle - bottle of wine 5 times a week) I did a pregnancy test - negative again - so continued with self destructive behaviour - test positive at 5 weeks +4. First point - I'm not an alcoholic - more example of working woman who enjoys a bit too much wine!! I have stopped drinking completely and of course keeping up regular exercise, eating healthily etc. Not interested in judgement (I'm judging myself enough already and fuelling existing fears with the wonders of google and FAS affected children). I'm more interested in hearing of those who know of actually evidence of children affected both physically and/or mentally in cases of this (or not as the case may be - hopefully). At the moment, the worry is extremely debilitating, my poor DH is being patient and supportive but poor guy will obviously be getting upset at my upset (if that makes sense!).

Any doctors or nurses that work in the profession with insight into actual cases or statistics would be welcomed. I know enough from my research that serious damage/full blown FAS arrises from those who drink excessively throughout pregnancy, its more marginal cases etc as every professional publication indicates week 3 - 8 are VERY IMPORTANT!

Thanks in advance and sorry for replaying an old topic, unfortunately its a new one for me.

p.s. I do know google is bad, but just can't help it!

Just felt the need to say I agree with SGB, as well

I thought it was obvious Haper was refering to SGB's comment. Congratulations on being educated.

Oh blimey Crosshair, I've apologised, I'm hormonal, thanks

Sorry hun!

xx

I can't promise you a "perfect" baby, none of us can, but ,to add my experience, I found out my friend was pg on New Year's Eve 2002 and as i (secretly) longed for a baby, I drank way too much wine that night. I then moved onto spirits and ended up slamming tequilla with my next door neighbours. Turns out I was 4 week preg. I did the test a week later and spent 9 months totally stressed. I gave birth to a beautiful, intellegent, charming, witty boy who's going to be eight in a few weeks. You stopped drinking once you found out. I agree with the placenta comments above. I'm sure not much passes to baby at the 3/4/5 week stage.Take your folic acid. Look after yourself and try not to worry.

[I gave up alcohol to help conceive this current preg (#3) and only fell preg the weekend I went on a hen weekend and had wine/champagne (For the puzzled, DH wasn't with me, but I ovulated over the weekend and for some reason this time pg "took")]

SGB, do you really believe that? The medical community don't know the exact mechanism for FAS. I give you that.

But I bet every woman out there who has a baby with FAS, wishes that they had drunk less during pregnancy.

Odds are the baby will be fine. I drank so much voddy and orange juice on a bender one night when I was a fews days late, but didn't I think I was pregnant because I was sometimes irregular like that, that I vomitted. Tested two days later, and found out I was pregnant. Baby was fine.

Lougle: So you agree that the medical community doesn't know the exact reason for FAS. In which case, why are there so many people screaming and shitting themselves and lying and scaremongering every time a PG woman has a sip of shandy? It can;t possibly be down to them fearing for the life of the unborn that much, or they would be devoting their energies to improving maternity care, wouldn't they?

Common sense ladies...that's the thing that's the most important thing to have when preggers...obviously iron, folic acid and omega three help but common sense will get you through! OP...you'll be fine!! The first three months are a total nightmare, don't make them harder for yourself by beating yourself up!! Im preggers through IVF...I'd have bloody loved and extra five weeks of boozing ... Good luck!

In my case, I went off booze and fags very soon after that bender (the fact that I got sick made me think because I don't normally boak after boozing), but I did have a half pint of Guiness and a few sweetheart stouts in my second trimester.

With my second, I had a couple of glasses of wine on a dinner out in the first trimester.

With my last, I wasn't as sick so had the odd glass of wine or beer.

solid

1. No one's ever going to agree to run let alone be in a double-blind study where mothers are given varying rates of alcohol to test the influence on a foetus...are you mad?! Not surprising that, therefor there is little data on the exact causes of FAS. It could be that a specific genetic grouping, or similar will ONLY get FAS, but again, who's going to be allowed to run the study on that?! So why risk it? If you wanted to say something like 25% of children born to mothers that drank 'moderatly' during pregnancy will have some educational developmental delay by 14y/o, then would you risk it? No? But it's not exactly something you CAN prove (ethically) and so many factors go into this kind of thing, one, being proving cause and effect in a double-blind study. Either you're not understanding statistics, not understanding why the stats just aren't possible to obtain (therefor are driven by early global indicators in infancy), or are just hugely paranoid that the world's out to repress you!
2. If you don't drink, it's not an issue...so again, why risk it? It's not like many women question taking low doses of heroin throughout pregnancy...alchohol is just a 'legal' drug.
3. If you think men are trying to control you soo flippin much then why have children at all? Surely it's only societies 'expectations' that drive women to childbirth?

She was feeling down about negative pregnancy tests. She didn't know she was pregnant! It's done now, why beat her up even further?

SGB - they know enough to know that FAS isn't good, whatever the exact amount or freuency of alcohol. I get your feminist views...I know where you are coming from. But sometimes, just sometimes, think about the damage that could be done when someone reads your posts, thinks 'yea, they just want to control me, it's fine to drink whatever I like during pregnancy' and then has to live with the consequences forever.

I have seen FAS, it is awful, for the baby and the family.

Anyway, this doesn't help the OP.

W4mumtobe, It is great that you stopped drinking as soon as you were aware, and a great deal of the physical development of the baby is after the time that you were drinking. Another poster has already said that the placenta formation is some time later.

I'm not a big drinker, and often go for weeks without a drink, but in both my pregnancies, I was drunk the weekend before I found out!

DC1, we had been trying for a year, had just seen the GP to book hormone tests, as they were going to retest a known hormone problem, was waiting for period, had friends over, made cocktails, got hammered, period didn't arrive, did test, pregnant. DS now 7 and top of class:)

DC2, had been on holiday in small apartment with parents, and thin walls, so convinced not chance of baby that month. Made the most of it, went out with friends, are pate, seafood, soft cheese, drank a fair amount, felt awful for ages with worse hangover ever, which turned put to be pregnancy! Not only was I convinced something was wrong the the baby, but neither DH or I could remember when he wad conceived! (did work it out eventually )

Anyway, DS2 is also great.

My OH spent the first pregnancy convinced that the baby would be ill because he'd had a w* earlier that day and he thought his side of things wouldn't have been on top form!

It is natural to worry. DH was so worried he wouldn't let me unpack the cot and pram until we actually got back from hospital.

You will find thousands of women who drank during the first couple of weeks, and all was fine. Hope you can enjoy the rest of your pregnancy. X

Lougle: and you think about the thousands of women who spend their pregnancies miserable and terrified because they had a couple of glasses of wine the day after they concieved. And the ones who have a baby which turns out to have SN of some sort and, when they seek help, the first thing they have to deal with is the health services trying to stick the blame on them, given that there is no conclusive proof at all that drinking alcohol in pregnancy causes harm to foetuses. That's NONE, because, as you rightly state, there is no ethical way of conducting a trial to prove that consumption of alcohol on its own harms foetuses.
And think about the pate/soft cheese squawkery for a bit. If you are not a vegan and therefore eat these things when not PG, how many times have you had listeriosis? I expect that would be a Not Many. But, once again, it's being used as another method to tell women that they do not own their bodies and have no right to autonomy because THINK OF YOUR BABY! YOU don't matter, you're just an incubator.

I thought the greater listeria risk was due to the affected immune responses in pregnancy?

SGB - your bizarre conspiracy theory is so boring. Take another swig out of that brown paper bag and settle down on your park bench.
I suspect you're not giving OP much comfort, given how clearly ridiculous your argument is.

Amusingly, there was quite a good study on alcohol and pregnancy recently (based on outcomes and self-reported amounts drunk during pregnancy) where the results showed a slightly better outcome for women who reported in the 'one or two drinks a week' category than for women in the 'no alcohol' category. The authors were at pains to point out that assuming cause and effect would be erroneous, as it was in fact far more likely that the results were reflecting lower levels of stress and anxiety already existant amongst the group of women who did not give up alcohol completely, (ie, they were not less stressed because they drank, they simply did not give up alcohol completely because they were less anxious).

Harperseven

@W4mumtobe
Hi.. I know yours is an old post.. but your reply will mean a lot to me..
I am facing a similar situation today.. last month I have been drinking a lot. (Binge drinking and smoking everyday in first 2 weeks and then 1 instance each of 5drinks in 3rd and 4th week) . it was my sister's marriage.. and now I realized I m 5 weeks pregnant.. I am super worried about the impact it could have on my child..
Did you continue with the pregnancy...if yes, how's your child doing

I know this thread is very old, but I am in a similar situation, found out 5 weeks 5 days in I was pregnant and I had drank 7-8 times and about 3 times had about 5 drinks of wine or beer (one night also 2 margaritas). Really afraid I affected my baby. Was everything okay with your pregnancy?

Oh @W4mumtobe you are def not alone!!

When pg with my first I was working in the city, banging shots, smoking and caning the wine. Realised I was pregnant at 8 weeks - all fine.

I craved cider with my second and had the odd cider shandy - all fine.

My gp prescribed me a glass of red wine a week with pg3 - said a small glass is great for dilating blood vessels 😅 not recommended for one sec but no harm in my case.

I would not worry, Fetal alcoholic syndrome is when women drink humungous amounts throughout pg as far as I’m aware. Try not to stress x

Wowsers mctrousers this is an old post and I’m glad to reply. My son is now 8, sparky and aside from being a cheeky little bugger at time’s (we have spent 12 weeks in lockdown), he has compassion, depth and maturity - he’s shit at maths but that’s inherited. FAS is literally only applied to mothers who drink very very heavily during pregnancy (think jade goody). I wasted nine months worrying, don’t do the same xx

Thank you for the reassurance :) happy your babies were healthy!