Controversial did anyone drink in pregnancy??

[Lmj25]

Not saying I would was just wondering did anyone?

@K0013 I was thinking the same that's why I posted I knew all the judgey ones would crawl out from under their rocks but that's what they do for fun I guess. I was the same enjoyed a glass of wine during stressful times or on a night but it is so stressful going through all this in pregnancy i agree

Up until 7 weeks I had something social on every weekend where I drank enough to be drunk - I had no idea I was pregnant I hasten to add!

Week 8 and newly enlightened by the growing life inside of me, I attended a wedding where I stuck to soft drinks and was called 'boring' for sitting with a hot chocolate on the night do by a fellow guest.

I had a couple of mulled wines over Christmas time at 22 and 23 weeks, tasted like heaven!

An actual SIP of prosecco on NYD which caused the family around the table to all stop talking momentarily - you'd think I'd sat smoking a joint for the reaction I got

Finally one glass of Buck's Fizz on Valentine's Day. And it was bloody lovely.

Now at 36 weeks, nothing to suggest the above has caused any issues although I'll report back if I've given my poor unborn child foetal alcohol syndrome.

Keep active, eat well, drink plenty of water, minimise stress and you're giving your baby the best possible start. Motherhood will no doubt be a time for endless guilt trips from hand wringers so make the most of now!

Didn't drink a drop!

I'm a member of school staff (both Primary and Secondary). I have worked with several children with FAS over the past few years, many of whom have the distinctive facial features of the more severe form of the condition.

I would say that in the cases of the more severely affected children, they are generally in looked-after situations rather than with their mothers. I imagine (not evidence-based!) that their mothers were drinking substantially more than a couple of glasses of wine a week and did indeed have massive alcohol issues - so severe that their children had to be taken into care.

And personally, I did drink after the first trimester - usually just a couple of measures of my favourite liquer over the course of a week.

I didn’t drink at all with my first three kids and two were born with autism- high functioning

So I decided - This pregnancy I have had two separate drinks so far at 8 weeks as I figured the stress I am under from a difficult relationship is worse for me than having a drink

I had no idea I was pregnant and drank like a fish for weeks...was shocked to discover I was expecting. Consultant assured me all would be well and it was!

I had the occasional small glass of wine, 1-2 a week max.

I had the very occasional drink, but that was considered OK when I was pregnant with mine.

I had half a lager when I was 5 months pregnant, it was our house warming party. I drank a few sips but didn't enjoy it so partner had the rest.

No, I'm an alcoholic and been sober 34 years

is there a difference between an alcoholic and a raging alcoholic??!!

I think it's a shame that if you say I wouldn't drink, you're getting accused of being judgey (although I fully agree telling people that they are alcoholics if they choose not to go without a drink is pretty provocative and a bit silly). I wouldn't drink in pregnancy because it crosses the placenta. This means that your baby is ingesting some alcohol into their tiny little system. I wouldn't dream of giving alcohol to a baby who is fully grown and born so it doesn't make sense to me that I would 'give' alcohol to a baby in utero who is still developing. Whilst there does not seem to be clear evidence of harm from low levels of drinking, it is a difficult subject to research and I am not aware of research that adequately proves that there is no risk of harm either. But you asked for opinions and I think everyone's should be welcome, it's ok for people to make their own choices and for us to disagree.

Im personally a lot more worried about pollution than I am about alcohol. When I was measured for carbon monoxide in my breath (which they do now at midwife appointments to check if you smoke) it was actually quite high and ive never smoked a single cigarette in my life. The midwife said that the result was consistent with living in the centre of the city, which I did at the time.....
Theres so many things which effect a fetus and we all make choices over which risks to take. I personally feel the risk over small amounts of alcohol is negligible. There are many other things that I would avoid as I feel the risk to be too high. Mould ripened cheese for example. Antihistimes and ibuprofen too.

It's not about people saying I wouldn't drink I've said the exact same 'I probably wouldnt' it's the people calling me an alcoholic behind their screens when I asked for experiences I don't know how many times I have stated that it's sad to see how many women drag each other down on here, it really is.

Whilst there does not seem to be clear evidence of harm from low levels of drinking, it is a difficult subject to research and I am not aware of research that adequately proves that there is no risk of harm either.

In a nutshell, this. We know alcohol is a teratogen, we cannot define a safe lower limit. We think that on a population level low levels don’t have measurable negative effects. But that’s not the same as being sure there are no negative effects at all on an individual level.

I don’t judge anyone having a drink a week, that’s up to them. At the same time, I did not want to drink anything at all.

I had one small glass at 20 weeks at a meal with friends, one small glass at a funeral wake at about 24 weeks and one at a birthday event at 28 weeks.
I didn’t see the harm- my baby was already full developed at that stage and it was such a tiny amount of my overall intake.
It was nothing to do with not being able to give it up for 9 months as I was a very light drinker before pregnancy anyway. It was more that I found pregnancy massively difficult and stressful, and it was nice just for a moment to do something that didn’t revolve around the baby and that was for myself.

I couldn't.
Instant heartburn plus it all tasted rank. I ended up at quite a few weddings when pregnant both times and couldn't even sip at the champagne because it tasted like vinegar.

If I could have stomachs it then I may be would have had the odd glass. It's what I drink when not pregnant.

I did, was pregnant in 1999 and 2001, and a few glasses of wine a week was not an issue for my midwife. I stopped drinking when the babies were born because we were told that you shouldn't co-sleep if you had had a drink, but no problem in pregnancy or even whilst breastfeeding. That said, if I was pregnant again (ha ha never) I would follow the current advice.

Prior to 2016 (I think) the guidelines were basically, ideally, pregnant women shouldn’t drink, if you do no more than one or two units twice per week.
When I was pregnant I had the odd drink maybe about three times. I actually opted for a single vodka and tonic as this would only be one unit and I knew that 25ml vodka would be one unit, as opposed to worrying about the different strengths in wine.
Now the guidelines are no alcohol. I probably won’t have a drink in this pregnancy.

IMHO I think they changed the guidelines, not because there is good evidence to, but because so many people can’t calculate what one unit of alcohol is. They don’t know what a small about of alcohol is. So for instance they may think it was bad I had a vodka as it’s ‘strong’ when in fact a 25ml measure with mixture is only one unit. Whereas someone could glug back one glass of wine, which is ‘weaker’ (than vodka), but if it’s 13% wine, a decent sized glass could have over 3 units in!!
Some people just really aren’t very bright, they probably aren’t aware of units at all. They might just read that a small amount is ok, but to some people a bottle of wine could be a small amount depending what they are used to/what those around them are drinking. So I think it’s changed to avoid confusion. You cant be confused with the rule ‘no alcohol at all’. I can’t prove this, obviously, it’s just my opinion.
All I can say is that ds is fine.
My mum had one glass of wine each week in pregnancy. I’m fine. But this isn’t proof it’s just my experience.
So it’s up to you to make a decision. In my opinion as long as you are confident you can calculate what a unit of alcohol is, you will probably be fine to have one small drink in your whole pregnancy no more than 1-2 units, as so many generations before have done. Don’t let anyone call you an alcoholic for it. How utterly ridiculous.

However I must say I disagree with the poster who said that her consultant told her she could drink one glass of wine each night!! I just don’t believe it, unless it was a very long time ago. I can’t imagine any doctor giving such advice, even on the old guidelines this would be 5-6 times more than the recommended amount.
I also disagree with posters saying they drank heavily/throughout their pregnancies, perhaps because they didn’t know, and therefore it must be fine to drink as their dc is ‘fine’. This is just luck on their part, not evidence that drinking heavily is ok/safe to do in pregnancy.

I had a small glass of prosecco on NYE (6 months pregnant) and a small baileys at christmas which watered down with milk.

@Shipshapeit

I totally agree with you on the blanket ban because people don't seem to understand units!!

Not in the first trimester, but the odd glass here and there after that in both pregnancies.

It's interesting that many, many people who make the decision to abstain altogether, love taking it as a personal affront when others don't make the same decision as them.

and a small baileys at christmas which watered down with milk.

What's the point of that?

It's still the same amount of Baileys with the same amount of alcohol in it. It just doesn't taste as nice, because it's got milk added.

Yes FAS is a fact