Anyone else told by MW that the ruling is now no alcohol in pregnancy?

[incy]

At my booking in appointment my MW told me the guidelines on alcohol in pregnancy had changed (although still to be updated) and that no alcohol at all should be consumed. Didn't drink at all last time so not a huge concern but wondered if anyone else was told this ?

My doctor told me that no alcohol was unreasonable. Apparently doctors in America are so afraid of being sued that they give overly cautious advice.

He advised a max of 1 glass of beer or wine only per day, to be taken with a meal - not on an empty stomach.

I drank maybe 3 units a week - and DS is a very bright, calm and healthy toddler.

No one in France or Italy would have kids if they couldnt have a glass of wine and unpasturised cheese with their dinner!

Noofette,
Apologies for repeating myself, but this is a French myth, the official advice here is NO alcohol and NO unpasteurised cheese, just like the UK.

Interesting thread...

My midwife was positively vehement that I COULD have the occasional glass of wine (I think she'd had a lot of very upset mums-to-be asking her after the Trevor McDonald programme).

I think the thing that many women forget is that one unit of wine is actually very little - 100ml - less than any standard SMALL glass of wine in a pub. So we tend to think of the guidelines of "1-2 glasses once or twice a week", and some interpret that as the 250ml glasses, some as 175ml glasses etc...

I personally have had the occasional glass of wine with a meal - generally just the one, and shoot me for admitting it , but the reason I'm not drinking to the guidelines is that I like the feeling that a second decent sized glass of wine would give me and know I shouldn't really have one, so often don't have the first.

(...As I sit here with a crate of non-alcoholic wine next to me as I just want to have a few glasses of something not water, not juice and not bloody diet coke over Christmas )

I work with a lot of doctors - including a professor of gynae. She told me that one or two small glasses of wine a week MAXIMUM would not be harmful. She said it might help me relax BUT to spread it out over the week (not have it all in one night).
I did have a couple of glasses now and again on special occasions, drowned with soda. THEN I found out that Becks do an alcohol free lager that tastes exactly the same as the normal stuff and I didn't bother with the wine after that.

IMO a person's job title (e.g.consultant) shouldn't influence any of us about up-to-dateness of their knowledge in their area of expertise - how would they know more than the current research? And they often haven't read it (my sis is a GP and I have consultant friends, so I know it's not a representative sample) and have cultivated opinions over years based on their own opinions and what they have done/would do themselves.

I agree that our perfectly healthy babies/toddlers may suffer all sorts of ailments in later life due to our unwitting actions (pollution, passive smoking, pate eating, etc!) and babies whose parents abstain from everthing but properly washed and prepared organic meat, fruit and veg and filtered water can have chromosomal abnormalities and sn.

So we do our best not to worry, keep our fingers crossed and use our common sense.

Here's a thought - if a new well researched, large sample size study came out that told everyone to get on the vodka to ensure baby brilliance what would you do?

Oh dear! I remember three full glasses of champagne on Christmas Day 2001 when 4 months p/g with DS on the grounds that being p/g was rather insufferable. DS nearly 10lb, so if I retarded his growth by so doing, it is probably a blessing! I have noticed, though, that it tends to be the people who go in for binge-drinking when not p/g who then make a big deal about Not Drinking A Drop While Pregnant... Everything in moderation!

well my goodness. well thats xmas AND my 21st alchole free! (i wasnt planning on drinking but now i CANT i want too.. PMSL) ho ho ho and a bottle of ribina!

Apparently its down to new evidence that suggests that lower levels of alcohol consumption than previously thought in pregnancy can lead to problems in children. There was an article in New Scientist in June 06 (need to be a subscriber to read), which essentially suggests that it is now uncertain what a safe amount of alcohol is in pregnancy and hence countries are changing their recommendations. However if you think about it this is going to be very hard to prove conclusively - what constitutes a behavioural problem? are mothers going to be 100% accurate on their pregancy drinking habits? and you can't carry out a prospective study comparing amount of alcohol consumed as that's unethical.

My midwife was surprised that I was drinking the current recommendations of 1/2 units 1/2 times a week even though I'd read the article.

Apparently the UK are changing their guidance as no-one can be sure exactly what the risks are and hence they will have to follow a very cautious approach - ie no alcohol.

I'm still drink ~4 units a week and feel very comforatble about that in the light that the information available is inconclusive and in women who have consumed AT LEAST 7 units a week.

i read a piece of research done in france recently (no idea how good the research was) and they found mothers who drank an average of 1 glass of wine a day had children who at 10 years of age were (i think) 10 IQ points lower than mothers who hadnt drunk at all. Also their skull circumferences were significantly smaller. The obs told me that if the pregnant mother is a bit tiddly the baby has already passed out as alcohol passes through the placenta in the same concentration to the baby as to the mother. does this make any sense? having said all that i didnt know i was pregnant for the first 8 weeks and managed to get pissed every night and smoke a pack of fags ds seems ok........ooops.

Hmmm, jsut been thinking about that research and it is probably flawed like the research about breastfed babies IQs. So is a load of bollocks. Marvellous

this

I'm sorry but I have always thought It's only 9 months out of your whole entire life, if there is the tiniest of risk is it really so difficult to cut out altogether? It is such a horrible thought that my baby could be uncomfortable inside me let alone permanently damaged and that's enough to put me off completely....

I think we need to draw a line in the sand here. First brie, then peanuts, now booze... they'll be gunning for chocolate next.

I think we need to draw a line in the sand here. First brie, then peanuts, now booze... they'll be gunning for chocolate next.

I second that, Coco... since when do we need another piece of poorly conducted research to tell us there's a slight risk of something bad happening anyway? Just breathing involves a slight risk of something bad happening... time to gain some perspective here and remember the billions of glasses of wine drunk over the years and all the perfectly healthy babies born...

perspecive being it's OK to take a chance and drink and put your baby in possible danger or just cut it out completely for 9 months and be reassured that you haven't knowingly harmed them..

I just don't get this desire to keep drinking to make some kind of moral point that being PG isn't going to take away a woman's right to drink alcohol, surely it's about the health of the unborn child?

perpective being, understanding what constitutes 'danger to the baby' and knowing how, some others have said, to do things in moderation. too often it seems women are made to believe they are putting their baby in danger when in fact there is no real evidence that they will. Look hard at the proof offered that one drink a day really puts a baby in danger.

Point understood, no drinking means no danger from alcohol. If that's your view, fine. However the reverse is not necessarily true. A drink does not mean danger to the baby.

This is not about women's rights really, it's about pseudo fact and fear mongering...

"only 9 months" can seem a bugger of a long time when you're relaxing in your local with friends after a long day at work, everyone else is merrily getting pissed and you're nursing your fourth lime & soda of the evening.

Even so, I think I've had two glasses of wine in the last two months. If that makes me a morally deficient unfit mother who is knowingly poisoning my unborn child, as some of you seem to be implying, well: bite me. Personally, my view is that I've got a life to live beyond being a baby-incubator.

cocobear- please god not my choccy!

I'm sorry but I still can't understand the logic. One would not dream of putting alcohol into a born baby's bottle, why "feed" a baby alcohol through the placenta? As far as I'm aware there is no nutritional value to alcohol, as little as a glass can effect the brain of an adult, why would you want a delicate unborn baby to feel this way?
So we know that drinking large quantities whilst PG can lead to FAS, what makes people think that drinking "moderate" or "small" amounts is absolutely fine.

I know I wouldn't want to be the first case where they found out that drinking a single unit has effected the child negatively and I would be asking myself if that one glass of wine was really worth it, I would be devestated....not worth the chance for me.

As someone who doesn't drink (don't like the taste of alcohol) I don't understand the appeal, pregnant or not.

I'm American, and here it's no alcohol, women aren't happy about it, but some women do still drink while pregnant.
I think it's better to receive the advice, "There is no known safe amount of alcohol" and continue to drink at your own risk, than it would be to hear, "1/2 units 1/2 times a weeks". Well why is 3 units 3 times a week worse than two? It's not really that much more.

I would like to understand how and why the decision was made for the current recommendation in the UK, and why would they suddenly change it. If doctors were so sure that the current recommendations were safe, why would they change it?

I don't mean to offend anyone, I just want to understand. I'm fascinated by the differences between here and over there.

May it's just

whoa wait a minute now... you're tell me that in America the doctors prohibit you from drinking any alcohol at all?? {fshock]

OK, I hereby turn in my US citizenship. I've had it with my homeland. Things there have gone from bad, to worse, to just plain bonkers...I'm embarrassed to tell most people. This just makes it worse!!!

For those who wish to be purists, fine. Just don't tell me I have to be one, because I don't. One glass of wine every so often is no more dangerous than the E numbers, air pollution, or other substances we are exposed to in insignificant amounts...

Yup, no alcohol.
But I think it's good because it takes the doctors out of the equation. No one really knows how alcohol affects every individual. It's hard to come up with generalizations of quanitities that are safe for all. If doctors say no alcohol and the mother drinks anyway, the consequences are all on the mother.
Imagine how many women would sue the medical community if they followed a recommendation of 1-2 units and their child had FAS.

yeah you're right, sadly, about the suing thing. It's really that bad in the States. IMHO it's just very, very sad when the authorities feel they have to forbid something outright, because the consensus is that ordinary humans don't know how consume something responsibly. What comes next? Preventing us from walking, because we might put the wrong shoes on, or walk a bit too fast, and slip and fall? GAHHHHHHHHHH Whatever happened to reason!!???!???

Reminds me of a story I heard about a woman who pureed her big mac in order to feed her baby. I guess there really is a danger in allowing us to use our own brains...