Feeling guilty about drinking while pregnant

[wrinkleddwarf]

I'm 24 weeks pregnant and went out with some friends last night. I had two (small) glasses of white wine and have woken up with possibly the worst hangover I have ever had.

I feel so guilty. If I feel this bad what kind of damage has it done to the baby???

Has anyone else ever experienced this after drinking such a small amount during pregnancy??

I have never drank alcohol during my pregnancies, mainly because I'm not that fussed by it, but I know plenty of people who have had the odd glass and have produced beautiful healthy babies.
Your body just isn't used to it which is why you are feeling rough. It's done now, I wouldn't beat yourself up about it too much, you hardly went on an all night bender.

Problems due to alcohol are caused when the drinking is regular throughout pregnancy. A one off night of 2 glasses shouldn't have harmed your baby. Just drink lots of water today, rest up, and take paracetamol if needed.

WHAt little said.

I think it’s unlikely that drinking 2 small glasses of wine as a one off thing will have harmed your baby.

But having said that, I wouldn’t be doing it again.

No amount of alcohol is safe during pregnancy. Drinking the two glasses of wine was irresponsible but it's done now. Just don't do it again.

I don't think it's fair to call me irresponsible I think most women would drink that much

I do feel guilty but not irresponsible, it's not like I drank a bottle of vodka ffs

Bellamuerte what an unkind and unnecessarily inflammatory thing to say. Whatever you may believe, what's done is done, so there is nothing to be achieved by chastising the OP when she is so clearly very anxious.

OP, I'm sure your baby is absolutely fine. Perhaps if it makes you feel so rough and causes a lot of anxiety, it's better to avoid alcohol in future.

It isn't irresponsible at all. God good most of us were children of the 1980's. I'm 6 foot tall with two degrees so the glass of wine a week my mum had REALLY affected me obviously 😂

Don't worry OP. It won't have affected baby. If you hate the way you feel now just don't have a second glass or go easy going forwards and ignore people lecturing you. A pint of bloody Guineas used to be recommended here and in France women were told wine in moderation was fine and I don't see great swaths of the British or French population walking around a bit wrong 😂

(Obviously not blood Guineas. Ewwww...)

At 35 weeks with DD1 I had a half of Guinness as a treat (I love Guinness). No exaggeration, I had a three day hangover. Was appalling. DD was totally fine though, I just think even a small amount of booze has a weird way of making you feel ill during pregnancy.

I’m 18 weeks and haven’t had anything alcoholic to drink, have gone for non alcoholic versions this Christmas. I never normally just enjoy a glass, I’m more of a bottle girl haha so I decided to leave it all together. One of my friends regularly had a glass of wine while pregnant and has 2 healthy children. You’ll be fine but sounds like the hangover may have put you off.
I work with someone expecting a baby Early next year who is still smoking, I was mortified as they have to have extra scans due to concerns over the growth because of it. My colleague said oh well they used to always do it...there will always be divided views on things.

@Bellamuerte Get a grip and get off your high horse!

I am friends with a consultant obstetrician and we recently went out for dinner and I said "would you judge me if I drunk a glass of wine?" She then said "absolutely not" then we had a chat about drinking during pregnancy and she said the following:

1. in over 10 years she's only come across two foetal alcohol syndrome cases (she's delivered thousands of babies) and those mothers were drinking bottles of spirits everyday throughout their pregnancies. Like a litre of vodka every day or 3-4 bottles of wine everyday.
2. she doesn't know any female obstetrician who hasn't had a drink during pregnancy
3. when she is pregnant she plans on drinking at least one glass of wine every week.
4. most women drink "something" during pregnancy either purposely or when they've not realised they're pregnant.

Anecdotally my friend had a few glasses of wine each week through pregnancy and produced a very healthy boy.

I collapsed at work a few weeks ago (which turned out to be a simple blood pressure issue) and the obstetrician in the hospital asked me what my alcohol intake was throughout pregnancy and I said "I've had roughly 5 glasses of wine throughout pregnancy" (I was 31 weeks at the time). She shrugged her shoulders and said "oh god, that's nothing". She didn't even write it down.

Pretty much 75% of my NCT class have the odd wine / lager / cider.

Two of my good friends drank during pregnancy and both have very happy healthy children. One of them drank quite often!! I personally couldn’t because it would set my anxiety off (and I don’t drink anyway tbh) but not because of any logical reason at all, I’m just easily anxiety-triggered! Lol. I say enjoy it as long as you aren’t going on benders

Sorry you're feeling anxious OP. I'm sure everything will be fine, you're just more susceptible to feeling ill in pregnancy so it's hit you hard. That being said I strongly disagree that most women have a drink in pregnancy, I've had babies, most of our friends and family have and I've known lots of pregnant women and out of all of them I have only ever come across one who had a couple of drinks. I don't think you need to be concerned as a one off but let's not normalise something that we just don't actually know the full consequences of (even if people do want to start the 'didn't do me any harm' tripe which just isn't that helpful)

@Getoffthetableplease I think you hit the nail on the head with 'we don't know'.

Look...recent study came out that militantly said 'don't drink at all'. The author of Expecting Better looked at a lot of previous studies and concluded 'the odd glass of wine with food won't hurt at all'. I also have a cousin who is an obstetric gynae who had the odd glass of wine through her pregnancies and also said 'the odd one is ok'. We all do what is comfortable for US and let's be realistic, the lass didn't exactly go out on the raz with the tequila did she. Plus....her body, her baby, her choice. Let's all take a step back from that! She was just worrying and it's opened up an interesting but also important debate.

Generally most advice from the NHS is aimed at the (excuse the term) lowest common denominator during pregnancy. It's MUCH easier and safer to say 'do not drink at all' than assume people are sensible and mature enough to work out their own metrics and actually I think that is a pretty practical assumption! I do however find it distinctly patronising that the government trusts drivers to have the correct amount of booze and then Drive but insists on advising pregnant women not to drink at all as if we have less control over our drinking actions than the 50% male drivers out there-however that is a different complaint.

But like listeria from soft cheese etc the risks are minimal and honestly I'm with @Bellamuerte that people need to get off their high horses and stop judging people on their personal choices during pregnancy. God knows Mumsnet is judgmental enough! Honestly let's face it-there are two camps ('lips that touch liqueur shall not touch ours' and 'I have the odd one') but none of us are knocking back the vodka are we??

I’m impressed you’re feeling well enough to want a drink! It’s done now OP so don’t stress. Enjoy Christmas (without the hangover!).

Op, try not to worry! When pregnant with DC1 I drank 3 non-alcoholic lagers at a wedding and STILL woke up with what felt like the worst hangover ever! I put it down to not drinking enough over the course of the day/evening and was just really dehydrated. Felt like absolute shite though! Just keep your fluids up and hopefully you’ll feel much better soon x

My consultant says the NHS advice was changed to 'none at all' simply because most people don't know what a unit is do they couldn't rely on women to judge their intake accurately and actually the old advice - one to two units once or twice a week - is perfectly safe.

Well regardless it's too late to do anything about it now. Consider it a lesson learned and don't drink again until after you have given birth.

@RestingGrinchFace Merry Christmas but Nat off! She isn't a child and she hasn't 'learned a lesson'. Read the bloody thread!

I bet it's not a hangover and you'll discover you have a cold starting or sinusitis or something.

You're fine OP. Real life is not as hysterical as mumsnet.

I have had the odd drink in both my pregnancies (maybe 3-4 glasses of wine in 9 months and ds2 was growing when I had 3 weddings of close friends so that was very frustrating and I had a wine or toast at each wedding).

Not sure why you'd have two in one night.you feel guilty there's likely no reason to be but I wouldn't do it again.