DRINKING IN PREGNANCY

[mumzyof2]

i was just wondering how much ,if any, people drink alcohol. i know your not meant to drink any, but i have to admit that i love my wine, and have half a glass of wine, mixed with half a glass of lemonade,maybe every other night. Is this too much? Do all other mums stop completely?
Im also struggling with the caffiene thing, i had my son three yrs ago, and i was told not to drink it to excess, but now we have a limit. I love coffee, but just had to buy de-caff!

I've been drinking about a half glass of wine or beer every 2 or 3 weeks. For me, that's enough to make me feel like I'm not shut out completely. Honestly, though, it's been easy, because shortly before getting pregnant I fell in with a lot of people who really don't drink much, and my DP doesn't drink at all. I don't know how I would do if I were still in a more drinking social circle, though.

As for caffeine, about a liter of tea a day, which might be on the high side. I also drink gallons and gallons of water.

when i was pg i had a glass of wine a week. i think that's reasonable.

I don't drink anything when pregnant my choice though, whats the point of one glass of wine and it gave me heartburn.

on caffeine, the limit is actually quite high - 3 cups of filter coffee or 6 cups of tea a day IIRC (of course a little less if you also have Coke or chocolate). I've been keeping a little under that - maybe 2 cups of coffee and/or tea a day. I've had a couple of phases in this pg where I've completely gone off coffee for several weeks on end - I think that was my body steering me away from it.

yeah i read up to 6 cans of coke a day. who could drink that much coke?!!!

yeah i read up to 8 cans of coke a day. who could drink that much coke?!!!

oops i meant 8

i've not had any cravings up until now, and i'm craving pear cider, already had a wine glass of it, and am trying really hard to not have any more! its just so yummy. although, i do feel slightly tipsy from it!

i really like half a pint of fruli when i was pg. it's strawberry beer.

I have a small glass of wine twice a week based on the previous recommended limit of 1-2 units once or twice a week that was recently changed. The new guidelines were not brought in because of any new evidence about the effect of drinking in pregnancy and there is no evidence that low - moderate alchol consumption during pregnancy has any impact. Furthermore the Royal College of Obs and Gynae has refused to change their official guidelines.

My obstetrician in fact told me and publishes on his web site that 5-8 units a week should be fine.

Obviously drinking in pregnancy is a personal choice and alcohol can cause damage at high enough levels but you are not drinking enough from what you describe to be putting your baby at any risk based on the information and research that has been done to date.

This article is an interesting read.

society.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,,2090058,00.html

This statement from the RCOG is very informative.

www.rcog.org.uk/resources/Public/pdf/alcohol_pregnancy_rcog_statement5a.pdf

somebody tell me i'm allowed another glass please

I haven't drunk regularly during pregnancy. I had nothing until after 15th week (I was on a skiing holiday and finally cracked over a cold beer one lunch time!) but that was after my first scan had confirmed things were ok (as far as we could tell). Since then I've had the odd glass now and then, usually on special occasions, weddings, parties etc, I've allowed myself one or two glasses of champagne/wine. I reckon I've had no more than 20 units since finding out I'm pg (currently at 37+3). On the caffeine front I don't drink coffee so that's not an issue, but I am a bit of a tea drinker. Funnily enough, until recently I've not really fancied tea... had maybe one or two cups a day (I used to drink nearer six a day) but I've started wanting it more and more, I still restrict myself to three cups a day though. On the smoking front, I gave up three years ago so I'm fairly militant about it, won't let anyone smoke near my baby, dh doesn't smoke, pretty much everyone in my family doesn't smoke, so I really want to keep my baby's lovely pink lungs that way!

Gosh, having said all that and being so sanctimonious, I'm really craving a cuppa and some chocolate now What's the caffeine content of a jaffa cake? hahahahahhaha!

I am not a big drinker anyway but I had the odd glass of wine or beer when having a meal or out with friends. Not during the first three months as my body cannot even contemplate it but sure will do once past week 12.

I never felt bad about it TBH. moderation is the key.

I didn't drink whilst pregnant but we hardly drink anyway so it wasn't like I gave it up.
Oh mind you with ds1 we went out for my dads birthday, i put a teeny bit of my mums red wine in my glass and as I raised it to my lips my dad said loudly 'you shouldn't be drinking that' que other diners looking round, all they could see was pregant woman drinking and I got some right looks.

I don't think it's true that women drank less in the past.

Before water pumps in every street, clean drinking water was hard to get hold of in the west and the default drink of everyone was ale. OK it was very low alcohol, but everyone drank it.

I've never quite understood how that worked really and have vague pictures of all the adults in the western world being permanently pissed. It would exlain the Tudors anyway.