Drinking whilst pregnant

[manicmumdayss]

Not after a flaming, just generally interested, what are people's views on drinking whilst pregnant?

I received a promotion at work today, and my colleague said you can have a glass of bubbles to celebrate, I patted my bump and laughed it off. She said plenty do, Is this the case?

No judgement either way.

Nope.
Not worth the risk.
If you can't/ won't go without alcohol for 9 months then

I had a glass of fizz at the 3 weddings I attended throughout my pregnancies and a glass of Buck's Fizz at 9 months pregnant on Christmas Day during each of my pregnancies.

I would have one drink occasionally whilst pregnant. Glass of bubbly at Christmas, small glass of red after a stressful day of work. Breastfeeding now and will have the occasional g and t or a baileys in my hot chocolate. Any more than that and I will express, if only so I'm not pissed holding a baby and breast feeding. Only done this once in 6 months though as i didn't enjoy it

Again no judgement from me either but I chose to have none of legally labelled alcoholic drinks once I found out ( 3 weeks from conception )

I did enjoy the odd non alcoholic Budweiser and I had a can of shandy bass once ( which my husband didn’t like as it does have 0.05% Alcohol so good Job I didn’t drink anything stronger as we may have fallen out )

I had my hen do and got married in this time frame so some big sober celebrations

The hardest part when I wanted the Budweiser non alcoholic was summer time as hot weather and a cold beer go ... I was pretty happy with my substitutes bar the disapproving looks i got from dh

But same token I don’t judge if you want a glass of wine of beer ... I would be worried though if you wanted to get hammered

@Newmumma83 your husbands judgement of you is awful
What a knob
Hope you put him straight

@Honeybee85 FAS is rare and typically is something that would only occur in binge drinking or alcoholic mothers.

‘ Fetal alcohol syndrome usually occurs when a pregnant woman has more than four standard drinks per day.[37] ’

Best not put worry in pregnant mothers heads who have had the occasional glass on a celebration

I had half a Glühwein on Sunday and in my last two pregnancies drank a small glass of wine (10 cl) whenever we were eating out or at a special occasion (not often). I only drink at home on a Friday and will have 1 shot of aquavit, my absolute favourite (though not in pregnancy, obviously).
Saying that, I did taste some when buying my last bottle, but it wasn't even a shot. Ironically the lady who was selling said it was too strong for her 😂.

When I was pregnant and 9 days overdue with DS last year , I was so fed up I had a whole Glühwein. Midwife said that was probably what set off labour...

There was a German study about alcohol and breastfeeding, which concluded that the point where baby would get enough alcohol through the breastmilk to be affected, would be the point where the mother would be so drunk she would be in danger of dropping baby. So I think one glass or even two won't matter.

Had the odd little bit at weddings and on Christmas day.

And for the PP who mentioned breastfeeding that's totally different and you are fine to drink and feed

I love a drink but when pregnant with both my children I only have had toast drinks at weddings I didn't see the point other than that so didn't

@NemophilistRebel

Midwives and doctors in my country actually warn expectant mums who drink an occasional glass for the FAS risk and they say it’s a myth that it only happens to alcoholics....

Don’t want to upset anyone /put worries in their head but this was the education I got when I was pregnant.

I appreciate that advice might differ from country to country and that therefor the UK has a different policy (not familiar with those in the UK actually).

The government admits that there is no "safe" limit whilst pregnant because it depends on so many factors- eg. what you've eaten, what your physical build is like, how you personally metabolise alcohol etc
When not pregnant, there are times when I can drink rather a lot and not feel drunk at all and other times when I have one glass and feel tipsy.- I can't imagine how that would affect a foetus, when its much much smaller. It is so, so variable- which is why for me, I dont think it is worth the risk. Its 9 months out of your life- why risk it?

@slowrunningteacher Freixenet 0% is a really nice prosecco substitute, definitely the nicest i have tried. Especially the pink one it is lovely

Didn’t drink at all. Not enjoyable if you’re worried about harming your baby. Ditto smoking.

One glass of wine to celebrate a promotion, or Christmas isn’t going to be an issue. There’s no evidence that that level of drinking is harmful.

I read Expecting Better, which was really good. The author analysed a huge variety of studies and could find no concrete evidence that after the first trimester 1 alcoholic drink daily did any harm.

I read Expecting Better too, but came to a different conclusion. The research the author looked at was mostly looking at the number of FAS cases in the different groups. The research showed that one small drink a day didn't seem to result in more cases of FAS/obvious behavioural differences up to the age of 18 months. However, it doesn't look at every possible harm that may result from drinking alcohol.

Alcohol crosses the placenta, and it crosses the blood-brain barrier. Just because a baby is born without FAS, doesn't mean it has not been harmed at all. We know that in adults with fully formed brains, alcohol use exacerbates anxiety and depression. We simply don't know whether/what it may do to foetuses.

Good quality research on the effects of alcohol consumption before and during pregnancy on the foetus would be incredibly difficult to do. You would need to recruit tens of thousands of women, get them to accurately record alcohol consumption and then follow them and their children up with very detailed questionnaires over many, many years to be able to say that alcohol consumption during pregnancy is harmless. This kind of research would be fabulously expensive and no one is going to fund it. We just don't know what the effects are.

My own mother drank small amounts of alcohol regularly throughout her three pregnancies. She's fine, but all three of her adult children have had long standing difficulties with anxiety and depression requiring at various times medications and therapy and just generally being miserable. The aetiology of MH problems is rarely straightforward and it's likely that, if alcohol consumption does play a part, it is only one piece of the puzzle. However, it's not a risk I'm prepared to take for my own child.

@tableclothing well said! I would be very hesitant to base my drinking on what the limited studies of alcohol consumption in pregnancy have found because 1. Just because a child does not go on to develop FAS does NOT mean that the alcohol hasn't affected their brain in some way. We know that alcohol increases anxiety over time in adults who drink regularly so why wouldn't it do the same to a baby?!

1. Noone has followed the health or wellbeing of children whose mothers drank daily or regularly whilst pregnant and who haven't been diagnosed with FAS. We simply dont know how it might children in later life.
2. Studies on this topic are often highly flawed because they often rely on self reporting and many people dont report accurately on topics such as this because they feel they will be judged negatively so they adjust their answers according to what they think the investigators want to hear.

I also work in the NHS and I have asked doctors about this topic too and they have told me the complete opposite of "its fine to drink daily!". I was told "there is no safe limit". Its comparable to the point that you would not tell someone that they can have 2 alcoholic drinks and they are "perfectly safe to drive". Its impossible to judge that because alcohol affects people differently.

@NemophilistRebel... There's always one. I'm not concerned about FAS or the harbingers of doom on here... I've done all my research. Weird country that says this. If course it's not just alcoholics but one glass every now and then... I drank lager shandies with the last one throughout the summer. 1 part lager and about 5/6 parts lemonade. Was lovely and refreshing.

I didn't drink at all in either of my pregnancies but I'm not much for drinking anyway... last time I had a drink was nearly 6 months ago, so being teetotal for 9 months is easy for me to do. I had a non-alcoholic beer at a BBQ while pregnant, as the taste of beer is lovely on a hot day. I wouldn't judge one small drink to celebratecongrats on the promotion btw OP.

The thing I always find fascinating about these threads is how many people drink bubbly at Christmas. Is this really a typical thing?

misses the point

@Rubyroost

I see I should consult as my HCP you next time I’m pregnant since the well developed EU country where I come from is strange and the doctors and midwives are obviously wrong even though they are experts in this field 🤓

the doctors and midwives are obviously wrong even though they are experts in this field 🤓

Plenty of doctors and midwives agree that an occasional glass of something in pregnancy isn’t harmful.

I'm pregnant with my 3rd I've not drank anything in any of my pregnancys I just wouldn't I would rather wait and enjoy it when I have the baby.

The thing with FAS is that it differs from person to person after how much alcohol their unborn child might develop this syndrome. It’s impossible to say but yes, there IS a risk for women who keep drinking whilst pregnant even when they are not booze drinking every weekend or alcoholics.

If you say the occasional glass is fine then where do you draw the line? For me an occasional glass might mean just at Christmas. For someone else maybe it means every weekend, every birthday, every holiday etc. What I am trying to say that even people who don’t think they drink too much, might subconsciously cross the FAS risk line even if for them it’s just the occasional glass and someone else who drinks the same amount doesn’t get a baby affected by FAS. Just like one person gets more affected by alcohol then the other, the risks differs from pregnant woman to pregnant woman. Because it’s so hard to say how much alcohol is safe, I think it’s a good idea that HCP’s warn for FAS and I didn’t touch any alcohol during pregnancy.

Preventing foetal alcohol syndrome

Foetal alcohol syndrome is completely avoidable if you don't drink alcohol while you're pregnant.

The risk is higher the more you drink, although there's no proven "safe" level of alcohol in pregnancy. Not drinking at all is the safest approach.

^^ from the NHS website