Drugs during pregnancy

[Lulla88]

I just found out I am 23 weeks pregnant. I had periods still and have been taking the pill still which makes them irregular anyway.

I am absolutely heart broken as I've been recreationallly drinking and taking cocaine on weekends when out. I am petrified I've damaged my baby. I've stopped now and will not be touching anything more. Scans are all OK but I cant stop panicking about the damage I've caused, possible fasd, I am going out of my mind I am never going to forgive myself if my baby isn't ok im devastated.

Is there anyone on here with experience in this area or knows someone who did similar when pregnant to the stage I am at ?

When I drink it will be 5 glasses of wine or so and cocain not even half a gram a time but still it's awful awful dangerous I know.

I only found out I was pregnant as I felt movements I feel so depressed. Please can anyone advise on similar situations.

As long as you stop now, it will likely be fine, ive got everything crossed for you.
What sort of amounts were you doing. You say recreationally, so, maybe a bit at weekends?
None of those things are safe in pregnancy but I would try not to panic. Do not admit cocaine use to midwives or doctors etc

I think that's very bad advice not to admit cocaine use to the midwives and doctors. OP, you need to be honest so any potential damage can be properly assessed.

That is terrible advice from a PP, you absolutely need to tell medical professionals so they can assess your baby accordingly. Why would you want to risk your baby’s health like that?!

I’d be honest, it’s not unusual to drink in early pregnancy and you stopped when you realised.
Tons of people will come along and reassure you hopefully, I drank in early pregnancy and all is well.
If the scans were good that’s a great start.
Actual alcoholic can have normal babies.

Hi sorry not been in this situation before but have you let your midwife/consultant know? They would be best to advise on this as they’ll have experience of other women. They might be able to offer further scans to check these things.

How often were you drinking/taking drugs? Just weekends? How many weekends? I know that they don’t recommend any alcohol in pregnancy but they say this as it’s hard to distinguish and advise on the safe amount especially with units and alcoholic drinks and also when people have had one drink they’re more likely to have another etc and where does it stop so they just say zero drinking in pregnancy is safest, however now and again in minimal amounts is extremely unlikely to cause any damage - I realise 5 glasses of wine is excessive but if only a couple of weekends then I’d imagine the risk of foetal alcohol syndrome wouldn’t be extremely high. I think those who drink daily the risk is high.

I am not aware of the risks of recreational cocaine use during pregnancy but again you hear of women who take drugs daily during pregnancy and the risk of those babies having issues is high compared to those who take recreationally. I believe drugs can cause babies to withdraw at birth and have behavioural issues however these are babies where their mothers take drugs throughout pregnancy and tend to be opioid dependent mothers.

Sorry I can’t be more help, I would suggest being open to your midwife/consultant and that it’s recreational and you have stopped now but are worried. It won’t be the first time they’ve heard it. Hope you are ok x

I would definitely be completely open and honest with your doctor/midwife so they can better assess the situation, and can have you in for more frequent scans or appointments if need be.

And yes, obviously no more of either, but you already mentioned that!

It was not even half a gram and at weekends when I'm out drinking etc but still I'm so far along I'm petrified I feel so sad

If you genuinely want to do the right thing from here you need to inform your doctor or midwife about this so that they are aware of what they are dealing with.

If you do choose to continue the pregnancy it’s the right thing to do.

It depends on the extent. I think that if OP is being honest here and it was just recreationally at weekends and can stop as soon as found out, then it would create social services involvement and wouldnt change any outcome.
Risks from cocaine to the foetus are worse in later pregnancy as can cause heart issues, but i think if OP is sensible now and changes things around and grows up, im giving the advice id give a friend. I was expecting my comment to get criticism but from my experience in this area, thats what id say.
If op was using it as an addict i would say differently, but im taking it at face value here, assuming OP isnt minimising a more serious usage

I went out and got totally blasted on cocaine, Mandy and alcohol (and cannabis) before I knew I was pregnant so maybe 3-4 weeks. I also smoked a few drags of a blunt at about 6 months and had a few small glasses of red wine towards the end (one at a time in a bath or with a meal sort of thing).

My boy is absolutely fine. A handful! But fine.

There is an issue with lack of research because obv its not ethical to do trials giving pregnant women cocaine and alcohol. The knowledge we have comes from people who abuse it or are addicts and that doesnt give much of an accurate picture because addicts etc are so often neurodiverse and traumatised

Yes I did tell midwife but where I live and the area I'm in the midwifes don't seem great tbh. They did check baby throughly and HE is growing fine hes not smaller there are no abnormalities. I even paid for a private scan to check again and again all was fine. However I am petrified I've damaged him mentally / development wise. Use was once at weekends and a small amount compared to some but still not good. I'd say 0.3 of a gram so not even half but again it's still drugs. Midwife said everything looks good and to of course stop now to give babt best chance.

I eat well and am healthy other than mentioned drink and drugs. I'm just so worried. I only found out on Monday they scanned me weds and I paid for the private which I had yesterday but I'm driving myself insane with worry.

Again I’ve no experience however I find it unlikely that they refer to social services for every woman who drinks and takes drugs recreationally before they knew they were pregnant. What OP does before pregnancy (and before she knew) and without children is up to her, obviously if she was addicted to either of these things and wasn’t willing to stop then things would be different and of course they would refer to social services. I would imagine social services would get a lot of unnecessary referrals if everyone got referred for recreational drug and alcohol use before being blessed with a child. Obviously pregnancy changes everyone perspectives as it has op and I would imagine she isn’t going to continue the recreational drug and alcohol use just as any other person does when they fall pregnant/ have a baby x

I just think its not something you would choose to go on your record. But as i said im aware that lots of people will disagree.
I used to take a lot of stimulant drugs when younger but im glad its not on my record as it affects the sort of things they can prescribe you later if necessary.

I didnt know I was pregnant please read the post correctly. I feel awful as it is. I've been on the pill throughout not knowing I'd fallen pregnant. No symptoms until last weekend I felt movements that's how I knew after confirming with a test. If I had of known I wouldn't of done any of this.

Have you now had your baby is he/she ok x

Hi thanks for asking. Yes baby is fine so far but obviously as he grows development wise he could have issues is my worry. But he was born healthy. I told them all about it so they monitored him more and didna brain scan to check for abnormalities but there was none. He had no abnormalities at all on checks all over and weighed 7 pounds 8 oz. I'm still so worried for any damage. Also social services are involved as I told midwifes everything. Social services are useless and just causing me more stress than good but in time they will close case I hope as they have no concerns about my parenting etc. The one good thing of being honest is the hospital did the brain scan and extra checks so I have that to help an bit with the worry x

Ohhh that’s great x