Help! Drinking alcohol whilst pregnant

[Didi234]

Help! I just found out I will be 16 weeks pregnant next week and can’t stop worrying about the amount of alcohol I have drunk. I only drink wine, not spirits, but a couple of weekends I have had at least a bottle and a half to myself and was quite drunk. Have I done irreversible damage?

Most likely not, but obviously now is the time to go cold turkey with alcohol and look at other parts of your diet too - it's a little late to be taking folic acid but no harm in starting on that and other vitamins. Reduce caffeine, check the NHS guidelines for what to be eating and what to avoid.

And most importantly, you need to contact your GP or Midwife team directly and get yourself booked in!!!

The thing is you won't know until your scans or the baby is born.

It's never too late to take folic acid. It's actually recommended you take it all the way up until birth along with other vitamins. Pregnacare is usually a good tablet to take as it contains all the vitamins and folic acid.

Well it's not ideal have you discussed it with your midwife?

There will be lots and lots of women who don't know they are pregnant and have drank way more than you have.
I'm sure you will be totally fine but just mention it to your midwife and obviously go cold turkey now.

Regarding the folic acid, I just meant that it's most beneficial and most important in the earlier weeks while the neural tube is being formed and to prevent spina bifida. Several sources say that one can stop taking it after 12 weeks, such is its impact during the first trimester.

Of course it's also useful generally after that. It helps with production of cells etc. So yep, why not carry on taking it throughout pregnancy 😃

So long as you haven’t been drinking large qualities daily it’s very unlikely you will have done any damage. Try not to worry, many people have drank during pregnancy without realising they were pregnant. Speak to your midwife / doctor they’ll be able to give you the fulls facts xx

How did you find out you're 16 weeks? If you've had a scan then that will be able to tell you a reasonable amount at 16 weeks (but not everything)

You may want to ask to be referred for consultant- led care and they will be able to counsel you based on your exact drinking patterns. If we are talking a couple of binges then the chances of damage are lower than if you've drunk a fair amount a few times a week throughout your pregnancy. Hope you are okay OP- it's so bloody unfair the worry this causes when it happens

Scans don't detect behavioural problems which are the most common outcome following alcohol exposure over a certain level in pregnancy

www.medicinesinpregnancy.org/bumps/monographs/USE-OF-ALCOHOL-IN-PREGNANCY/

This one is better for patients:

www.medicinesinpregnancy.org/Medicine--pregnancy/Alcohol/

Thank you - it would have been about four binges in total and not in the same week, so about one a month. I’m just so worried something will have affected my baby and feel so terrible.

Have you already seen a midwife/doctor?

Not yet, I have made an appointment with the midwife for two weeks time. I had a private scan at a window to the womb location and they said about 16 weeks. Everything looked fine on the scan, baby was moving a lot and heartbeat was strong.

This happened with dd2. In that time I'd been on holiday been drinking wine, using a boiling hot tub. She's now a bright, athletic 9 year old who has never so much as received a raised voice at school due to her great behaviour. Obviously it's not ideal but try not to worry and start right away being more healthy

4 binges in 4 months is very very unlikely to have caused any problems op, try not to worry but do speak to your doctor/ midwife for reassurance for yourself more than anything, they know better than we do. Hope you have a happy healthy pregnancy ☺️