Anyone else today's 'Observer' headlines about alcohol in pregnancy?

[atalantis]

I'm 14 weeks, and for the last 4 weeks or so I've been allowing myself one glass of lovely red wine on a Saturday night. I look forward to it every week; should I really have to stop? I'd be interested to hear your opinions...

Thank you Caligula, that's what I was trying to articulate but I can't find the words today!

Fio - I'm glad the mw made it clear but 4 or 5 glasses in the same night would knock me out these days! I feel tipsy after a few sips.

"How else can a policy which says: "A minority of them are too stupid to make distinctions, therefore, let's treat all of all of them as if they're stupid and tell them all the same thing" be interpreted?"

I don't see how the policy says anything of the sort. It's fairly clear to me that the message is: there's no way of telling how risky alcohol consumption is in individual cases. So, if you want to avoid risk entirely, then don't drink it at all.

It's the same for runny cheese, raw eggs or pate - pregnant women have been advised to avoid these for years, and lots of women, like me, choose to do so anyway. We're no closer to a situation where you can be arrested for eating a chunk of brie though, are we?

can I point out that "giving up for the first twelve weeks" is only useful information if you actually knew you were pregnant!!

Good post Cali, but I think one of the primary, if not the main, goal is to consciously control women - certainly from the religious right that lobbies for these opinions to be made into policy. Once the government adopt it and it gets into the public consciousness, it acts like propaganda, unconsciously affecting the way many man look at women, so I agree, it's definitely dangerous!

FYI - I didnt and beat myself up about it on a daily basis.

And many people chose to remind me of how plasetered I was when I announced I was pregnant. very helpful.

That's terrible of them to guilt trip you like that Katie! Thankfully no one said that to me. It must happen to quite a lot of people who get pregnant over the Christmas party season, like I did.

LOL. Just you wait.

No you won't be arrested (yet) but a member of the pregnancy police will feel entitled to ask you "if you think you should be eating that?" (To which the legal answer ought to be a punch, but unfortunately isn't.)

The assumption in both cases is beginning to be that the reasonable response is to cut out all risk (yes there are people who would condemn you for eating the brie) and there is an agenda among anti-abortionists in particular, to make pregnancy a time where in terms of consumption, no risk may be taken at all. Which imo isn't reasonable.

Creating a climate where something is socially unacceptable, is often the first step in legislating. (Although it's sometimes the other way round.)

Oops, posts crossed MT

thanks katybird, I think some people just want a reaction - preferably a massive snot filled wailing guilt trip!

but baby is developing normally so fingers crossed x

I'd like to know what chocolatepenny found so funny about breastfeeding for 2 years

Caligula/monkeytrousers - that's exactly what's happening in the US, it's the anti-abortion lobbyists who are forcing through legislation so that the foetus is legally protected as a person, and a mother who drinks/smokes/takes drugs etc can be jailed for it. It's part of a much wider political aim. Not sure that's what's happening in this country, but we could head that way.

"there is an agenda among anti-abortionists in particular, to make pregnancy a time where in terms of consumption, no risk may be taken at all. Which imo isn't reasonable."

I agree entirely here, at least.

Oh, and Katie - my philosophy is there's no point in worrying about something that you had no knowledge of, what will be will be. Doesn't stop me worrying about the next scan though!

America catches cold and Britain sneezes...

And not just economically.

Message withdrawn

have just reread my post and can I clarify that I was not plastered at the exact moment I announced I was pregnant.

that would just be so wrong!

it was in fact at a party when I was two weeks pregnant and had no idea.

agree with caligula and pruni...

me too

Katybird, I just want to say that there is a huge difference b/w the US and the UK in regards to alcohol in general. There is not a culture of binge drinking in the USA as there is here in the UK. I'm an American and I have always been slightly shocked at the ammount of alcohol that the Brits drink. I'm not critcising, I really couldn't care less what people do with their bodies as long as it's not effecting me so that's not the point I'm trying to make. I'm just saying that you need to keep in mind that part of the difference in attitude between drinking in pregnancy between America and Britain is the overall difference in attitude towards drinking. And just to keep clear my political views, I am very much left wing and a registered Democrat so I'm not a Bible bashing Republican right-winger, but of course no offense to those that are!

i didnt drink at all in either pregnancies - but i dont drink anyway really,

my aunt had an IVF baby and was smoking and drinking (baccardi!) throughout

personally i wouldn't, but a glass of red wine every now and cant be too damaging (??)

I think it depends which part of society you're talking about GlitteringGoldie - I spent a year at college in Arizona and the students there were much bigger binge drinkers. I think it was to do with being away from home for the first time, and never having been around alcohol much before. In Az it's illegal to drink in front of anyone under 21 because you're corrupting a minor, so they have no experience of drinking at all until they get to college and get fake IDs. Getting alcohol poisoning on your 21st was almost a rite of pasage, and a lot of students would drink and drive, which doesn't happen so much over here. And they didn't understand the 'one quiet drink' routine that's common in the UK - if they drank they drank to oblivion.

I know that isn't true for everyone in the States, I'm just writing from experience, but then a lot of Brits don't drink to excess either.

True katybird, both our comments are slightly a generalisation. And you are right that there are college kids in the USA who go a bit wild once away from home and it is legal for them to drink - of course does depend on the college in question when talking about the numbers of kids like that. But I'm more referring to for lack of better description, "adults". In Britain there tends to be a culture, and clearly not everyone falls under this category before you all jump down my throat, of drinking more in general compared to American counterparts. For example, popping down to the local pub after work for a drink is very common for many in Britain. I'm just going on my experience of working in the city at a few different jobs and the comparable scene of career folks let's say in Manhatten, who don't go drinking to the same levels. It's definitely more common to find people who are more health conscious in their choice of the amount they drink in the USA. Again, all generalisations but clearly in general Europe is more relaxed in their attitude towards drinking and of course this overflows into drinking when pregnant.