Daily drinking rather than binge drinking before finding out I'm pregnant

[rab101]

Hi, this is my second post about my concerns regarding drinking before I found out I was pregnant. I found out at 5 weeks that I was pregnant and stopped immediately of course.
Im wondering if heavy binge drinking is worse for a developing foetus or daily drinking? When I say daily, Iv been having a glass of wine or a vodka and coke most days and once a week it was two glasses of wine or two vodkas in one session. So not huge amounts but obviously most days - I'm so upset with myself as I wouldn't normally drink like this it's only because I thought oh it's December and my job was really stressful I needed a little relax time when I got in from work. Iv got appointment with midwife next week so I'll be asking her many questions! Thanks in advance if anyone has any stories of their own and things have worked out ok. This would be my first pregnancy but I'm considering a termination as I'm feeling very upset and quite distressed this has happened.

At 5 weeks there’s not a placenta yet so nothing is being passed on to your baby. But even if there was it wouldn’t have caused any damage. It’s more heavy drinking on a daily basis that causes issues.

Please stop beating yourself up.

Congenital problems are caused when pregnant women regularly drink to excess throughout their pregnancy, essentially alcoholics. You would be amazed at the amount of alcohol some people can put away and still function, your vodka and coke blends into insignificance!

I highly doubt your drinking will have had any impact, baby doesn't even start taking nutrients from you until week 5 or so.

I'm not sure if you meant you are considering termination generally, or specifically because of your concern re. Alcohol. Discussion with midwife sounds like a wise plan.

Forgot to mention that I was drinking and smoking quite a lot when I found out I was pregnant. (Lockdown and not much else to do 😂 had 2 bottles of wine the night before I found out) stopped everything straight away. Now 37 weeks and everything has been fine

@Oneandabean

Forgot to mention that I was drinking and smoking quite a lot when I found out I was pregnant. (Lockdown and not much else to do 😂 had 2 bottles of wine the night before I found out) stopped everything straight away. Now 37 weeks and everything has been fine

Thanks for your reassuring messages. How many weeks were you when you found out?

Oh you poor thing.

41% percent of women drink some alcohol during pregnant, almost half of pregnancies in the UK are unplanned so this makes sense in early pregnancy. You are not alone and this is common.

Foetal alcohol syndrome is much rarer, around 3-5% of births.

Discuss with your midwife but I think this situation you are in is really common, and most babies are absolutely fine.

Be kind on yourself.

I was 4 weeks when I found out and I had smoked 20 fags and had 8 beers and cocktails the night before. She is currently kicking away whilst I’m trying to get comfy in bed. Stop stressing OP 😊

@hamishpottery

Oh you poor thing.

41% percent of women drink some alcohol during pregnant, almost half of pregnancies in the UK are unplanned so this makes sense in early pregnancy. You are not alone and this is common.

Foetal alcohol syndrome is much rarer, around 3-5% of births.

Discuss with your midwife but I think this situation you are in is really common, and most babies are absolutely fine.

Be kind on yourself.

Is 3-5% a mistype?! That would be...interesting!

From a 2017 article I just found it’s about 0.006% of births, OP, compared to how many pregnant women you can imagine drink before and after finding out. I was on holiday so drinking heavily daily in the week before finding out I was pregnant (I was just less than 5 weeks when I tested) and continued to have a couple of drinks every so often throughout my pregnancy. You will be absolutely fine, promise!