Controversial did anyone drink in pregnancy??

[Lmj25]

Not saying I would was just wondering did anyone?

I had a small glass of champagne on my wedding day, 28 weeks pregnant.

was once told that a friend was advised to continue smoking throughout her pregnancy than stop, because in her circumstances it'd cause more harm to quit (because of the stress hormones or something).

Hmm. Can’t say I’d ever expect that to occur. I’ve heard a few people use it as an excuse though. General stress doesn’t harm a foetus - the ‘cortisol!’ Shit that gets trotted out is not based on good research.
Smoking, even one or two a week, is massively damaging and the effect is vastly more damaging than stress,

She was either given very poor advice or she has willingly misinterpreted it to allow herself to justify smoking. Which in the end, is her choice and her right.

Research might mention safer levels but zero is the SAFEST level.

... and then ...

I think that the point is that if I could avoid it, I did.

So basically, your risk assessment was completely arbitrary, and what was convenient for you at the time.

OK.

I know this thread is about alcohol but Im interested about the paracetamol thing. Can I take advantage and ask the scientists here? I’ve had terrible headaches/migraines in early pg so I have taken more than I ordinarily would, maybe once to twice a week? More like once. I’ve been feeling really guilty as I know there’s research to suggest that it could cause harm. But is it an avoidable risk if I’m going out of my mind with pain trying to look after a toddler? Is it enough of a risk that you should try to push through if possible?

I've took 2 paracetomol while being pregnant as had cramps and the midwife at the hospital told me to do so if I needed to

Think she did say no more than 8 in 24 hour

The research isn't really at a point where it’s enough to make a recommendation. Paracetamol is definitely the safer option (ibuprofen and aspirin are an absolute nono.)
There’s some research saying it can be possibly be linked to male reproductive damage if taken in pregnancy. However the following should be noted:

The study was the equivalent of daily dosing
No effects were seen at the equivalent of the human recommended dose daily
Effects were seen at 3x the recommended human dose, daily, through pregnancy
It’s in mice. Mice are a good starting model but we never expect things to happen in humans exactly like they do in mice.

If you’re taking paracetamol sporadically then I wouldn’t worry. It’s a risk balance - if that headache is so bad you can’t drive safely or function for example, take the paracetamol.
I took a few doses both pregnancies when I had a fever - again high fever is a known and bigger risk than a dose of paracetamol. Child 2 is still brewing, child 1 appears vigorously healthy so far (judging by my exhaustion levels keeping up with him.)

I went out drinking before I knew I was pregnant. And then had one or two at special occasions. I still don't believe that an occasional sip does any harm at all to the baby.

Tbh, I couldn't face alcohol in first few months , smell and taste was just yuk
However by time I was 7-8 months I would have occasional glass of wine with a meal
This was in the 1990's though- all 3 dcs are fine
In fact with dc1 I fell badly on some black ice when I was about 30 weeks and went to pregnancy assessment unit as I was concerned I'd hurt baby....consultant advised me to go home and drink red wine ( alcohol used to be used to slow contractions I believe!)

I've had a glass of wine here and there, by which I mean one glass with food every couple of weeks. am 28 weeks preg. I'm pretty confident the risk of FAS or FAE is non existent. I was stricter in first 14 weeks. Most people don't understand what one standard drink/unit of alcohol is or how alcohol is absorbed so I understand why the guidelines err on the side of caution - one person's sensible/moderate drinking is another person's half a bottle of vodka...

Thank you so much for that summary Anatidae. That makes me a lot less worried, as I’ve been taking it sporadically and no where near the recommended max daily dose. Luckily now I’m in 2nd trimester they seem to be easing off.

I’m only a few weeks pregnant with my first so haven’t yet (except one regretfully heavy night before I knew) and probably won’t.

I’m getting married in July though, and I’m having my honeymoon straight after so slightly selfishly sad that I won’t be able to have a few drinks. Oh well! Being pregnant is a nice reason to not drink.

After 12 weeks I had a small glass of wine every 1 to 2 weeks. I researched it heavily and was happy with my decision.
I did not however drink outside the house as I couldn't bear any judgemental looks

To be fair I'm enjoying the not drinking and the no hangovers but think I still feel rubbish every morning due to the pregnancy tiredness lol

The bottom of a shampagne glass on new year's eve and three sips of cider in February . Turned to 0.0 beer instead.

I had mine in the 70s. We were given no advice on drinking at all, or for that matter anything about what we could and couldn't eat. The generation of women before were often told to drink Guinness or Stout to keep their iron levels up. As long as you are sensible and perhaps only have 1-2 drinks a week I wouldn't worry, I'm not talking about drinking solidly through their pregnancies, use your common sense. Generations of women have eaten and drunk within limits and had perfectly healthy babies.

r common sense. Generations of women have eaten and drunk within limits and had perfectly healthy babies

Except those who didn't of course.

To equate driving in a car to work for example (unavoidable for most people) with drinking alcohol (entirely avoidable for everyone) is nonsense

Oh I easily managed to avoid getting in a car. I walked a lot. You just weren’t trying hard enough.

How about exercise? Were you getting the recommended amount each week? If not why not? It’s for the good of your unborn child.

I also suspect that some kind of meat, cheese, sandwiches or salad passed your lips at some point. What were you eating for lunch? Dry bread? But then you wouldn’t be meeting the nutritional recommendations would you?

There’s alcohol in fruit juice too, and the previously discussed caffeine in tea and coffee (even the decaf versions), so I hope you stuck to filtered water.

The advice was different when Ivwas pregnant for the first time. I was told one glass of wine a week. That was more than If normally drink (half a glass very occasionally) so I did have a little fm tim to time. It was probably only about once a month though and not even approaching a full unit.

So hilarious that some PPs are so desperate to justify their decisions.

Walking to work is definitely not an option when you live as rurally as we do. Oh and I'm a vegetarian so definitely no meat passed my lips but keep on trying.

Do you really think its hilarious? Bit of s strange one, aren’t you?

Expecting Better always comes up on these threads. It's very reassuring if you drank small amounts of alcohol while pregnant. Not so much if you ate steak which had not been charred to a crisp!

I do actually yes. It's a desperation to justify poor choices. A clutching at ridiculous straws.

When I had my first booking appointment with midwives both times one of the first questions was "do you smoke" followed by "do you drink". At not point did they say do you drive to work or eat cheese - and by the way, no I didn't eat the cheeses that are not recommended or eat shellfish or too much tuna etc etc because it is not hard to do your best for the baby who is 100% dependent on you and your body to survive. I am clearly "strange". Ho hum. I'll live with that to be honest.

I didn't drink anything until after 20 weeks, then I had sips of wine or beer here and there, not my own glass though. Had champagne at a couple of weddings but never managed more than about half the glass. Once I was really overdue (and in a bad mood to say the least) I made up a Buck's Fizz in a restaurant. Only had one though, I thought if I went in to labour the hospital staff might know and I would be in trouble! At that point I thought well I might go in to labour soon and take lots of strong drugs for the pain so surely some prosecco won't matter?!

Not entirely sure what's hilarious about it. Bit of a childish response really when most people have been explaining the (perfectly valid) reasons why they have made particular choices one way or another.

Like others I can't work out why some people who choose to abstain from alcohol entirely feel such a need to harangue those who have made different choices to themselves. Why do you care so much about what other people do when it has absolutely no impact on you personally?

People who have actually looked into it and made an informed decision are the people least likely to be persuaded by a fervent keyboard basher who refuses to believe that actually the evidence doesn't really bear out what they are saying on a population level. So why bother?