Drinking during Pregnancy Scare

[zombiebridepenny]

I'd really like to know how everybody feels about this. I saw on the news yesterday they are now saying you should not drink during pregnancy at all. I am 20wks and have recently begun to have the odd bottle of beer at friends on a weekend etc. I feel terrible since seeing the News feature children with FAS . I have decided to give up the booze but I really resent giving up my odd Guiness just because the media have found a new stick to beat Pregnant women with and cause a big hype about.
They actually have no proof low levels of alcohol are harmful, but they are blaming young mothers for 3 times as many as estimated children with FAS?
Am I right in thinking most women drink a little bit during pregnancy?

Yes most do... the French until recently certainly did but advise over there has also changed.
1 or 2 glasses a week are probably absolutely fine... a drink or more a day - or worst binge drinking is NOT ok.

I was advised to drink Guinness through PG, and BFing by my MW , but, I think not drinking at all is definatly best. No-one knows a safe limit.

Its up to you, if in doubt leave it out. I used to drink a glass of wine occassionally and so far there are no signs of FAS. I think if you are doing it regularly everyday like pupuce says then you might be harming your baby.

Yes I suppose so, but I hate the idea of having a warning label on every bottle of booze telling pregnant women not to drink and people not to drive or operate heavy machinery, its madness.

I'm sure it must be more of a problem if you regularly drink alot?

with my first, I didn't realise I was pregnant for quite a while and in that time, had loads of Xmas parties, lots of v drunken football away trips and a champagne party that I can only remember half of.

AFAIK there hasn't been any conclusive research to show that very light drinking in pregnancy causes Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, just heavy drinking. I didn't feel like drinking for most of my pregnancy but had the odd glass in the third trimester and when b/f.

as far as I am aware there is no evidence to link occasional drinking in PG with FAS

I drank, lighty, in both my pregnancies. Both my two are fine. and n of 1 so useless, but it was my experience

heavy sustained drinking and binge drinking are linked with FAS , not the odd glass of wine or beer with a meal .

i had drank very moderately in both pregnancies , after the first trimester...have had two healthy children....

I mean, yeah, I suppose not drinking at all will probably be the best, but I am sure the odd drink is not going to do any harm! I really think that you have to drink a fair bit on a regular basis to really cause harm....I know it's easy enough for me to say, but I wouldn't worry....I drank the odd glass in my pg's and well, my Kids are fine, with es I actually got really drunk in the first trimester, after the stupid OB told me I have had a miscarriage, so, I drowned my sorrows (and yes, I realise that isn't a grown up way to cope), well, few days later I found out that indeed I was still very much pg and es seems to be o.k. He is 10 now!

I drank a few glasses of wine a week throughout first pregnancy and have very healthy DD, I really think that if you are drinking a bottle of wine or over a day then there is a risk, but not for the odd glass a week or even day. I also read an article in the Sunday times which said that there is more of a risk of FAS when heavy drinking took place in the third trimester, not the first, which should come as some relief to those of us who drank a lot when we didn't know we were pregnant at the beginning!

great to hear that!