Minor alcohol consumption before pregnancy: WORRIED

[Janee1234]

First time pregnant - I did not realize until 6 weeks because of implantation bleeding. I rarely drink.

However, at week 4, I had 1/2 a beer.
At 5.5 weeks for my husband’s birthday, I had 1/10 or a 1/12 (basically one sip) of a beer. All before finding out. Obviously havnt drank since.

I have since gone into an anxious spiral about the thought of causing the baby alcohol related birth defects. I know it is just my ocd mind playing games (I am working on it in therapy), but something about the “no safe amount” guidelines is really throwing my intrusive thoughts into a frenzy. I realize there are reasons they (governments) set a safe minimal threshold and I have essentially scientifically proven the amount of alcohol in grams and the bac this would have produced would be negligible but I still cannot shake it. I have spoken to my obygn and she has obviously agreed it happens all the time, but just figured ide post here and hopefully may get a few other medical experts opinions and confirmations that this sip of beer scientifically (100% without a doubt) could harm my baby at 5.5 weeks.

We're not medical experts here, but no, such s small amount isn't going to do a thing.

Hi OP, a lot of people I know, myself included, have stories of how they got extremely drunk prior to knowing they were pregnant. In fact it's almost like the pregnancy hormones caused an excessive level of drunk. I am almost certain that half a beer would have no effect. At 5/6 weeks your baby is cells, it is not yet hooked up to your placenta via the umbilical cord, so it's not yet feeding off your body in that way (I am no scientist as you can tell). I am also quite sure that if you mentioned this to any health professional they would suggest that half a beer will not pose any risk to your baby

I thought my child was a bad hangover. Relax!

The real advice is low alcohol, not no alcohol.

Also, one thread is enough, you're posting in the wee hours so obviously not so many people will see it!
Now go and enjoy your Sunday and stop obsessing over things that even your doctor has confirmed are fine.😉

Honestly OP you need to stop this over the top obsession. I know it’s not easy when you have an underlying anxiety issue but please try and look at it logically.. can you imagine just how many kids are conceived either intentionally or accidentally - where over indulgence of alcohol plays a major role ? Millions. Literally millions and over indulgence refers to a shed load more booze than you’ve consumed!

Honestly OP you need to stop this over the top obsession. I know it’s not easy when you have an underlying anxiety issue but please try and look at it logically.. can you imagine just how many kids are conceived either intentionally or accidentally - where over indulgence of alcohol plays a major role ? Millions. Literally millions and over indulgence refers to a shed load more booze than you’ve consumed!

Half a beer?
a sip of beer?

don’t be so silly.

Your placenta won’t have even been formed until 6 weeks OP.

I had a sip of beer the other day at 30 weeks pregnant because ordinarily I like drinking it and DH was drinking a particularly delicious fruity beer that he said I'd ordinarily enjoy, so I tried it. A sip won't even get alcohol into the bloodstream! Also the "no safe amount" rule is really fairly recent - in the UK, the NHS revised its guidance from "up to 2 units once or twice a week" to no alcohol in 2016. Please try to be more rational - at this early stage of pregnancy, if you're already feeling this anxious, it's going to be a long and challenging road ahead. You've been told by a medic that it's nothing to worry about; trust the professionals.

I can see how an anxiety disorder can make you think like this. But you are going to have so many worries during pregnancy (it's normal, we all do) so you will have to try your best to rationalise and not spiral over the slightest thing. This is literally a tiny amount of alcohol. Think of the hundreds of thousands of women who conceive while drinking in excess.

As others have said, it’s 100% fine.
And until relatively recently, the guidelines weren’t zero alcohol, but said very limited consumption in pregnancy was ok. Many pregnant women (including me) had the occasional small drink, and their kids were absolutely fine.

I was on holiday when I got pregnant the first time. Myself and my DH shared a bottle of wine almost every single night on that holiday sometimes we had additional beers and cocktails. I went to my parents house when I got home and we had dinner and a couple of bottles of wine to share. I then had a strange thought the next day that I hadn’t had a period in ages and did a test and it was positive. I was around 6 weeks. I completely freaked out about it but all my scans were normal. My son is 5 and he is perfect. There are millions of threads on this topic it’s so common due to unplanned pregnancies. Main thing is to stop drinking now.

They are miniscule amounts. You are worrying over nothing.

I class myself as having drank nothing through pregnancy, but if a friend orders a strange cocktail or my husband has a ipa if im offered a sip ill take it, and its nothing. It would be like 1/20th of a unit of alchol every month. Its nothing.

I found out I was pregnant after returning from an all inclusive holiday where I’d had Prosecco / wine each evening and few lunchtimes too! Haven’t drank since finding out of course and all good!