Drinking alcohol whilst pregnant....

[MangoBrain]

Whats your thoughts?
I'm 9 weeks pregnant and haven't drunk since I've found out. Christmas is coming and a drink would be nice but I doubt I will have one. DP says it's fine to have one or two glasses, knowing me that one or two would turn into bottles!

So who drank/drinks whilst pregnant? Just out of curiosty?
:-)

There is no evidence of any increased risk to the baby from drinking small amounts of alcohol (1-2 units NOT 1-2 glasses of wine!) per week after the first trimester. But of course it can be hard to stick to such small amounts - which is why the guidelines not to drink at all were introduced. I had the odd small glass (maybe 1 per month) is the 2nd and 3rd trimesters and DD (now 11 months) seems fine.

So if you can be strict about keeping it small then feel free to drink without feeling guilty.

I've been buying those miniature bottles of wine, most of which say they are 2 units each (some are a smidge over ). Since that's all that's been in the cupboard, that's all I've had so I know I'm not going over my 'unit limit'... HTH

I didn't drink hardly at all in first tri because I barely stopped puking and feeling horrendous!! Im due today and for last couple months have relaxed a bit and couple of small glasses of wine per fortnight ish...it's hard to keep tack of because it's so sporadic...heartburn often puts a stop to alchohol as well! The first tri according to advice available is definitely the danger zone...if I were you I'd try to abstain completely before crimbo, by then youll be well into second tri and could have a couple. I don't think I could have abstained completely and the odd glass I have had I have really enjoyed! Eg, because I know I'll only have one, a few times I've had just one glass of really lovely champagne or wine!

Please dont drink during your pg .

I know some people think its ok , once your past a certain tri , but alcohol crosses the placenta .

If you wouldnt give it to a newborn , then dont drink it yourself.

Have seen a child with FAS , and its just not worth even the tiniest risk, for the sake of a drink.

I didn't drink anything for the first 12 weeks, well I stopped once I found out I was pregnant!

Since 12 weeks I have had one glass of wine per week.

Over Xmas I plan to have a glass on Xmas Day, Boxing Day and NYE.

x

I have known someone whose child had Fetal Alchohol Syndrome, but she was a woman with a SERIOUS habit, who was in the pub every night.

Normal, healthy women should not be made to feel guilty for having a small glass of wine every so often!

The senior obstetrician told me that there is NO harm in and that there is even a school of thought that the occasional SMALL glass of red wine could be beneficial to the placenta.

I had a glass of champagne in the second trimester and now measure a unit of wine one a week and top with soda (red wine spritzer weirdly nice)

Am completely comfortable with drinking one or two units a week but I am a little obsessed with measuring them correctly

I've not drank at all during pregnancy. I'm a bit of a glass half empty person and have been avoiding all the 'banned' food/activies just incase something goes wrong I can't blame myself for having one glass of wine waaay back when I was 21wks.
Due 22nd dec so hoping to have something to drink over X-mas! I shall have one on your behalf OP, if you decide not to drink.

I stopped while ttc, I might have a drink to celebrate my wedding tomorrow depending on how I feel. I think its a personal decision.

I just had this conversation with my MW (I'm 8 weeks). She said the recommendation, of course, is no alcohol. And that is because they do not know for sure the effects of small amounts on the baby. However, I said I was planning on a glass of champers at Christmas. She said that was absolutely fine, the odd small glass will be fine. If you are to drink, she said 1-2 units per week was allowable.

I haven't drunk at all, although I've been pretty relaxed in other ways (I don't really miss alcohol though....brie has been a much bigger loss). If you think you wouldn't be able to stop at a glass or two it mightn't be a good idea, unless you can put DP under orders to wrestle the bottle away from you .

FAS is associated with regular and heavy drinking.

The evidence on light/moderate drinking is not clear cut (and probably never will be, as everyone under-reports like crazy). But there is no evidence of harm from the occasional drink.

A "champagne only" rule is handy - ie important celebrations only and then only one or two glasses.

Best to avoid in first trimester (according to my doctor friend) but as she pointed out that's when people are most likely to because they don't know they are pregnant...

I have had a few drinks. I tend to ask DH for a glass (and he uses the tiny wee glasses that belonged to his mum that in other circumstances constitute are rather unsightly gulp but only one...) Some of the time I don't manage to finish it and pass it over to DH. Sometimes it goes down brilliantly but because I'm hardly drinking at all only one of these glasses is enough...

I honestly don't think you'd feel like having a 'bottle or two', but then I could be wrong - a friend of mine craved cigarettes and alcohol throughout her second pregnancy (and she's given up smoking 10 years previously!)

I think, as with most things, you need to exercise a bit of common sense. (Though we're not supposed to be able to think for ourselves these days!!) The very fact that over the years the current advice or "guidelines" have changed, almost as frequently as the weather, suggests to me that nobody truely knows and I believe that a lot of it's scaremongering! Common sense would tell me that to drink a bottle or two of wine or much over a few units isn't good for you, let alone a growing fetus! Though I really don't think that a couple of units occasionally whilst pregnant, (in a healthy and straightforward pregnancy,) is going to do any harm.
I'm about to burst with baby no.4 and have literally had just a small glass or two max on maybe a total of 5 or 6 occasions throughout all of my pregnancies. So far (and I don't want to tempt fate as preg atm,) all my other 3 are v healthy, intelligent and unaffected by my drinking the v odd glass whilst carrying them. I do think people can worry too much about what they eat too. (They never used to worry like that when our parents had us!)
My sister is quite different to me and did absolutely EVERYTHING by the book during her pregnancy with her son.. (at the time it was no tuna, nuts etc etc) and she didn't smoke or so much as sniff a glass of wine throughout! (she was totally paranoid about it!) oh, and she also looked into having the fillings in her teeth removed!! Her son v sadly is severely autistic with epilepsy, a heart murmur, cataracts.. (the list goes on..) he's 8 now and does talk just rocks, is v aggressive and hard to handle and I really don't know how she copes! She's a fab mum and there doesn't seem to be any justice really in the fact her son's the way he is and she was sooo careful through her pregnancy. Think this goes to illustrate my point though... a sensible level of concern applied is a good thing though you don't have to go silly as you just never know.
Sorry for the waffle!! Enjoy the rest of your pregnancy! :)

My MW advised that an occassional drink will do no harm (yay bring on a glass of champagne with christmas dinner and new years eve.)

Droves - I really don't see what that level of scaremongering achieves, except to make women who have stuck to a sensible very low level of alcohol feel bad.

I agree that FAS and FAE are serious concerns. But I don't get the 'tiniest risk' bit. So far as I am aware, no health professional has ever identified FAS/FAE in a child of a mother who had 1-2 units per week in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters. Not one.

There are lots of things that carry very small risks in pregnancy. Listeria is occasionally found in other foods rather than the 'high risk' things like pate we're told to avoid. You could be in a car crash and the stress on your body kickstart premature labour. You could fall down the stairs and cause harm to the unborn baby. I'm not about to avoid cars, stairs and nearly all food just in case.

Champagne gives my bump hiccups!

I didn't drink at all in the first 20 weeks or so, mostly because I couldn't bear the taste of it.

However I have had the occasional glass of wine since then.

Apparantly 1-2 units a week isn't excessive for a pregnant lady. My MW said she'd rather I had a glass of wine than blue cheese.

The RCOG and the RCM both say that 1-2 units, 1-2 times a week is okay and there is no evidence to show this is unsafe.

So that's a small glass of wine a couple of times a week, or a couple of pints of a 3.7-4% beer.

I've not given up this pregnancy and didn't with my son however I looked forward to a glass of decent wine once a week. I bought better quality stuff because I wasn't about to waste my one glass on a crap wine!

Most very low or zero alchol wines are pretty rubbish - I have tried to find decent ones, really I have! I'm not al lover of sweet drinks (sour cocktails for me!). The one no-alcohol wine I have found palatable is the Torres 0.5 white which Waitrose and other places stock. Here's some recs from the Telegraph on nice low alcohol wines to pad out between the real stuff this Christmas.

As for beers, Becks Blue is virtually indistinguishible from ordinary Becks and I'll drink it in preference now. And my sister swears by Bitburger Drive.

Opps, that Telegraph link was supposed to be to this article

Common sense and personal choice. My midwife said no alcohol then in one of the booklets she gave me said no mire than 1-2 units a week. I didn't drink in the 1st 12 weeks. Had a glass of wine on my bday (20wks) had the odd lager shandy (woo) and will have a glass one wine with me Xmas dinner. My choice

I agree with the common sense approach. Nothing will stop me having Champagne over Christmas!

When I was pregnant with my son three years ago a midwife told me she "couldn't get through the day without a glass of red wine to look forward to in the evening" I wouldn't go as far as to have a glass of wine a day but it doesn't bother me in the slightest to have one or two every couple of weeks. I find spritzers lovely and refreshing and they feel like a treat.

There was a radio 4 programme on over the summer that had an interesting discussion on drinking and smoking. According to the researcher they had found it was the alcohol being processed by the body that caused a heating up of the cells that did the damage. It wasn't so much the alcohol itself crossing the placenta or that alcohol is a poison. This was opposed to smoking which does effect the placenta. He said that as the placenta was hardly there in the first trimester it was better to smoke then but to avoid alcohol because of the damage that could be done on a cellular level therefore effecting the growing cells of the fetus. In later trimesters the placenta blocked some of the alcohol so a drink or two was fine but smoking then became more risky for the baby because it ruins the placenta and lowers oxygen.

Ha Broody1976, your MW does know that blue cheese (if you mean hard cheeses like stilton), are now allowed?!

I'm 24 weeks, and haven't drunk at all (other than the occasional sip of wine from DH's glass if he's trying a new bottle), but plan on my Christmas Day glass of champagne guilt free!

I had nothing in trimester 1, but drank wine in trimester 2 and 3 - a glass every few weeks, and 2 or 3 glasses of champagne once.

Was anaemic and mw told me 'a few years ago i'd have told you to have a Guinness a day. Of course I can't advise that now, but it would work'. I stuck to spatone

I am 18 weeks now, and have been having a small glass of wine about twice a week. That's what the official advice used to be before they decided to change it to no alcohol at all.

The reason they changed it, by the way, wasn't based on any new research or evidence, they just decided that with so much binge drinking going on, they should have a harder line. They think that we are incapable of working out what a unit actually is, so tell us to have none at all.

This seems incredibly patronising to me, my philosophy is just use your common sense. Of course don't go and get drunk, but a small glass with your dinner really isn't going to do you any harm!