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.

I had a handful of small drinks while pregnant, all in second trimester onwards. A glass of bubbly at a wedding, small glass of red at a family wake and a couple of glasses of Prosecco on holiday. So long as you drink slowly so that your liver has the best chance of breaking down the alcohol quickly, you’re fine. Wish I’d had a glass of something while in labour, might have taken the edge off!

If you say the occasional glass is fine then where do you draw the line?

This is why the guidelines say no alcohol at all. It’s easier to say none.

There is no evidence that very low levels of drinking cause harm.

I guess that means the NHS is a "harbinger of doom" aswell - bloody killjoys! lol The fact is- you can research the studies all day long but ultimately, NOONE can guarantee what a "safe" amount of alcohol is.

I would feel drunk after 4 standard glasses of wine so the idea that 4 drinks is "safe" is ludicrous to me- if I feel drunk after 4 drinks (and I'm 5'10") then how on earth would a tiny foetus not feel it? I'm not judging anyone- people can do whatever they want, but this idea that "x amount of drink is safe" is simply not true and no doctor on earth would sign their name to a document guaranteeing that you will experience no negative effects from it. The only guaranteed safe amount is none.

@PurpleDaisies

You are exactly hitting the point.
It’s impossible to define low levels of drinking.

Every (pregnant) body reacts different to alcohol.
Everyone has different standards of how much alcohol is low level. Body height/weight plays a role, type of alcohol, so many factors...

Therefor it’s impossible to objectively define low levels for every hence why you can’t say low levels of alcohol are fine.

Sorry.

@beautifulstranger101

Thank you. You worded it perfectly.

Who said about having four glasses of wine 🤔 the nhs changed guidelines to none at all because it doesn't trust people to make reasoned and logical judgements. Just like it says don't Co sleep as do hvs, but many people choose to.

Someone quoted earlier:

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

I would feel drunk after 4 drinks and I certainly wouldn't be fit to drive.....

No I didn't intentionally drink with either of my two accidentally I had a sip of alcohol with either of my pregnancies
The first was at my mates she thought it was squash in squash bottle it was in fact home made mulled wine thankfully I knew after a sip but still sent me into melt down mode 🤦🏻‍♀️
Second time was out celebrating friends baby shower when we both ordered mock tails for them to actually contain alcohol again had a sip but I said had another melt down I think it's fine for most but I truly didn't want to risk it even though it happened to me twice

Also nothing in the nhs says you'll get fas if you have an occasional drink so what you say is not logical. The thing is abstain all you want, but the don't do it cos you'll get fas is just unnecessary and no one makes comments on the abstainwers. You're depriving your babies of the antioxidants in red wine 😂

No one said it was a good idea to have four glasses of wine tho. All the posts I've read have said 1 small glass, you're taking it out of context

Nothing for the first 12 weeks then the odd glass of wine or bubbles. I’m happy that this is safe having looked at the studies but understand why the guidelines now say to drink nothing at all as people are crap at recognising what one ‘drink’ or unit is.

No, I'm quoting the same studies that other people have used to reassure themselves that its ok. Its none of my business what other people do and its not my job to police anyone- they can do whatever they want. All I'm saying is that no level is guaranteed to be "safe". Just like, you wouldn't advise someone to drive after 2 glasses "because studies have shown its safe".

All I'm saying is that no level is guaranteed to be "safe".

This needs to be followed by “but there is no evidence that an occasional glass of wine/other similarly low level of alcohol consumption causes harm.”

Also drinking one unit of alcohol once a week after the first trimester is absolutely safe. But telling women it’s safe to do that might not be safe as people may misinterpret and drink a large 4 unit glass of wine a couple of times a week.
The question isn’t really what’s safe - but what is it safe / defensible to advise women it’s safe to do knowing as we do that people are crap at following guidelines.
Lots of high quality studies show babies doing better if you have the odd drink so those antioxidants must be good for them (joke - presumably there are subtle confounding factors which haven’t been adjusted for)

After having three miscarriages and huge difficulties in conceiving there is absolutely no way in hell I'd risk it. I'm now 5+4 weeks (after a ridiculously long year of TTC) and am petrified of losing my baby again, so why would I risk having a drink that I most definitely do not need?
It's only 9 months of your life, but the lifetime of your baby's.

Thats not really comparable- if you have zero amount of something then it cannot affect you. Its a physical impossibility. If you want to guarantee that one glass is safe then you'd have to provide studies that show that- you'd then have to follow up those children years later and document their health issues, both physical and emotional and then compare them to mothers who didn't drink at all. Also- what is "occasional" and what is "low level consumption"- every single person you ask will have a different definition of that.

I've also had several losses... One tfmr at 13.5 weeks but I know it was out of my control and there was nothing I did that created the miscarriages. But of course I understand your thought process and why you would want to abstain

I didn't touch any alcohol as soon as I found out with mine. I just didn't feel like it anyway but having seen the documentary where it showed the effect if even a small amount of alcohol on a foetus I'm very glad. Personally I think it's far safer to totally avoid (still feel the guilt from surprise dd2 as had a family weekend away before I knew I was pregnant and there was wine involved)

@MrsD0147 I came on to say exactly the same thing, sadly I didn't discover it until I was 8 months but it's really nice! I tried some others but they were so sweet, this actually convinced me it was Prosecco!

There is no evidence that very low levels of drinking cause harm

No evidence of harm =/= evidence of no harm

Lots of high quality studies show babies doing better if you have the odd drink

Can you link to one of them?

@Rubyroost

Did you read my post?
As I mentioned in it, it’s impossible to say after how much alcohol the fetus might develop FAS.

If you can guarantee expectant mums that just a few glasses don’t cause FAS, then you know better then many scientists who did years of research on this topic. Because they can’t guarantee this.

Therefor I think it’s perfectly logical to say that you better stay away from even the occasional glass(es) during pregnancy to avoid the risk of FAS.

For anyone still in doubt if it’s safe to drink during pregnancy, please read this

www.nofas.org/light-drinking/

This is scaremongering now

No this is reality.
A rather uncomfortable reality for some who like to believe that drinking during pregnancy causes no harm to the baby, but a reality nonetheless.

If you want to drink during pregnancy that’s on you, but I don’t think it’s healthy and science agrees. Or are they also part of the conspiracy to scaremonger pregnant women, together with the NHS?

Disnt dare with my first child, I was turning a significant birthday when 8months with second pregnancy and had a glass of 5% bubbles but it was not enjoyed so my DH had most of the small bottle
I bought

However, with my second baby, he was quite young still and we went out for an early family meal, I'd decided to combi feed anyway and he's had a huge feed and was asleep - wasn't expecting him to wake and demand milk so I was half way through a glass of wine out in a restaurant with no formula either and he woke up and was hollering - that was interesting as I assumed the whole restaurant were thinking hhhmmm bf and drinking wine eh 😳