Alcohol in pregnancy

[imiss]

I know the NHS advice is zero, and if this is in any way harmful to the baby I wouldn't contemplate - but from what I understand a little alcohol in pregnancy isn't harmful as long as it's very occasional and nothing excessive.. if anyone can confirm this!? I have just found out that Gordon's do a very low alcohol g&t drink and I'm very tempted for a couple of weddings/hen do's that I have coming up. I'm really missing a drink this pregnancy, and so far haven't touched a drop but it would be lovely if I could have one (or two!) of these..

Apparently to work out units it's percentage times volume divided by a thousand.. so 0.5 * 250 / 1000 = 0.125 units per drink.. surely this is so low that it's harmless? For reference you'd need to drink about 25 of these to be the equivalent of a 5.2% pint. Any advice?

It's absolutely fine. The NHS guidance is such because they think women are too stupid to be able to moderate their drinking. There's no evidence that the occasional drink does any harm whatsoever. I have the odd glass of wine if I feel like it as do the vast majority of pregnant women I know!

If it's 0.5% abv then you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Orange juice and ripe bananas contain the same percentage of alcohol.

After the 1st 16 weeks when the sickness wore off. I had the occasional glass of ordinary wine, as did most other women I know during their pregnancies. Towards the later stages I probably had one glass per week. The g&t thing sounds so low you might as well not bother, just have one normal g&t!

A doctor once said to me (off the record!) that having a very occasional drink might actually promote relaxation, therefore being maybe even good for you??! (Very tentatively saying this!) Obviously it's not going to be amazingly beneficial to the baby but if it makes you happy and it's low alcohol/ not being drunk every day I would say it's fine. I had a small glass of wine on sat and have had a beer previously. (33 weeks).

There Is no evidence that low levels of drinking of the type you’re talking about does any harm.
The NHS advice is for those who can’t work out what low level is

Honestly at 0.5% you can drink it any time you like.

My boss, who was a surgeon told me when i was pregnant with dc1 and had turned down a glass of champagne that the NHS rules on no alcohol in pregnancy are aimed at stupid people who would think nothing of drinking 2/3 bottles of wine a week. Having the odd glass of alcohol is absolutely fine!

I drank throughout my pregnancy. A lot less than normal and weaker drinks. But I wasn't not drinking for 9 months. I know other people who did as well.

Thank you ladies. I thought it would be fine but I'm almost feeling some strange internal guilt for contemplating it as I didn't drink anything during my first pregnancy.

Let me begin by saying that it’s absolutely your decision. But you did ask, so: i personally did not drink during pregnancy, because even small amounts of alcohol could potentially cause foetal alcohol syndrome. To me, if just was not worth the risk.

even small amounts of alcohol could potentially cause foetal alcohol syndrome

Not true.

OP, I recommend you read Emily Oster's excellent book Expecting Better, which looks at many pregnancy considerations, including alcohol consumption, on the basis of evidence. She was also interviewed on a recent episode of the Freakonomocs podcast. Interesting and informative.

Enjoy your low alcohol drink!

Considering that fetal alcohol syndrome (if drinking is started from the second trimester onwards) often presents as autism / ASD spectrum disorders there is also evidence to suggest it’s under-diagnosed. That is why the evidence for / against is unclear. Clearly for some women small amounts of alcohol do cause fetal alcohol syndrome. But whatever it’s your body and your baby - you need to make the decision you are most comfortable with.

If you can't go 9 months without a drunk are you ready to be a mum? You'll have many years ahead of sacrifice, way more than 9 months.

Ffs, there's always one 🙄

I'm sure op is very ready to be a mum, if not already a mum. She can have a 0.5% drink. Whenever she wants

@Surfingtheweb what a horrible post. Patronising at best and downright horrible. She already has a child and being a mum doesn't mean you need to martyr yourself. Jesus

Hello @1Wanda1

I like Emily Oster and I am sure she makes some excellent points (though she is an economist, is she not? Hence probably looking at the issue from a population level? Not sure.)

However, there is evidence that suggests that no amount of alcohol is safe. This does not mean that that glass of champagne at a wedding will definitely harm your baby, but since the factors involved are complex, there is no amount of alcohol that is guaranteed to be safe for an unborn baby.

Please see www.nofas.org/light-drinking/ for a round up of recent research in light alcohol use during pregnancy.

Another issue with FASD is that it is (in this country at least) widely underdiagnosed, as a study from Bristol Uni suggested las year. www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2018/november/first-uk-prevalence-estimate-fasd.html

Because, we are misdiagnosing some of the less obvious manifestations of FASD, it has been difficult to get a good understanding of how many people are really affected, meaning that the link to alcohol consumption during pregnancy is not often made.

Having said all this, it’s important to not fall back into old ‘blame the mother’ habits. Education and support are key.

@Teddybear45 Cross post, sorry!

@Surfingtheweb - clearly your mum must have been doing tequila shots when she was pregnant with you. What an ill-informed post.

@Teddybear45 if you do your research you'll see the damage drinking in pregnancy does & as a mum of a 20 & 18 year old & I can assure you 9 months is nothing 😘

@Whisky2014 it's not horrible. 9 months, that's all you have to go without alcohol for, unless you have a problem that really shouldn't be a issue. The uk is one of the only countries to not recommend 0 intake of alcohol & there is plenty of medical evidence to support not drinking.

Only because they cannot determine what level is ok but they just can't say "have some drinks it will be fine" because some doughbolalls will get pissed and keep going. If you have a glass of wine it's not going to do anything!

And it is a horrible post

I drank a bit during both pregnancies. Just one glass of prosecco on new year and one on my birthday.
Of course it can harm your baby but in the same way being near pollution or getting a bit stressed could harm your baby. Ie probably not at all... but still make some effort to not expose yourself to these things often.
I think it's best to avoid it on the whole but one can of 0.05% G&T in 9 months is not going to harm your baby. It's really not.

When I was close to my due date I felt very on edge- my midwife told me to relax in the bath with a glass of wine! Stress can delay labour apparently. I took her advice, and despite the subsequent acid reflux, I enjoyed it!

And yes I agree the NHS advice is based on worry about differing womens ideas of what constitutes 'moderation' and them not wanting to be responsible for women thinking it's fine to drink quite a large amount...
And also on there being no evidence to guarantee that it wont harm your baby because they cannot conduct proper testing on pregnant women... as opposed to there being actual evidence that small amounts ts of alcohol do effect the development of a fetus.

There is strong evidence to show large amounts of alcohol over a prolonged period can damage a fetus. There is strong evidence that large amounts of alcohol can cause miscarriage in the first trimester.

But theres not actually any evidence either way that small amounts of alcohol cause any harm...of course theres no evidence it's safe either... they just dont really know so they've gone on the side of caution with the advice.

Imo small amounts of alcohol dont pose any more of a risk than hundreds of other lifestyle factors we just dont question at all. I think theres only so much focus on the alcohol one because its viewed as just for a womans pleasure which feeds into all this 'womans responsibility stuff'