whats the current advice on drinking in pregnancy??

[SparklyGothKat]

not for me!! for misdee

Yep and I was prescribed some seriously heavy duty painkillers by my obstetrician whilst pg last time and I have to take gtn spray for angina.
In fact (as I've discussed with my obstetrician - who approves) having a regular glass of red wine means I take fewer painkillers and have less angina.

I've been prescribed antidepressants whilst both pregnant and breastfeeding.

As my consultant pointed out - and another wise MNer consultant as well - untreated depression can lead to low birth weight, not good for baby.

DD2 is healthy, strong and sharp as a tack.

whoops caused an argument!

I think that was an intelligent debate rather than an argument
Agree about the govt starlight.

Why do bottles of wine have "don't drink in pregnancy symbols" on the label, where as cans of beer don't?

just to chuck in my two penntheth... I was at dinner recently and an acquaintance who's a GP was talking about this and said that in most cases only serious alcohol abuse will damage the baby.

However, now they think that a miniscule percentage of women/pregnancies are actually sensitive to damage from small amounts of alcohol (he didn't define small). Hence the blanket advice to cut out drinking altogether, to cover this tiny number of very sensitive women.

I am still secretly pregnant, so I didn't want to arouse suspicion by asking too many questions, but it sounded fairly plausible to me.

They were talking about alcohol on breakfast news this morning. They were saying that yes, alcohol is good for you in small amounts except in pregnant women. I instantly thought of this thread!

I personally think the government has said no to any alcohol during pregnancy to cover their own backs. One day soon some more research may surface saying even small amounts can harm some babys and so the govenment can't get any stick for saying drink during pregnancy because they have advised against it. This is of coarse my own opinion but i seriously do think the government are just saving their own skin just in case.

It says when you drink alchol, it quickly goes through your bloodstream and across the placenta. That makes me feel ill.

It seems the majority of advice is not to drink any alcohol during pregnancy. I guess the majority don't want to take the risk, no matter how small, just in case.

Surely just because there is no distinctive evidence now, that's not to say there won't be. Personally i am not willing to take the gamble. Although i do suspect that with some people who drink during pregnancy, you could throw loads of new evidence in their faces and they would still argue. I guess if people want to drink while pregnant, they will do so anyway regardless.

Your implication does seem to be that if other women make the decision to drink alcohol whilst pg, they aren't caring for their unborn child. I'm finding that pretty judgemental. You've made your decision, good for you, I have no criticism of it - why can't you make it and then stop judging anyone else who comes to a different (and informed) conclusion?

Just out of interest .. the advice was 2 units once or twice a week (IIRC from my old pg book given to me by mw last pg) ..so if 2 units are okay - what is wrong with 2 units a day ...given that alcohol does not accumulate over that amount of time i.e a unit is metabolised in around an hour?
I genuinely don't understand this one - can anyone offer me a scientific (rather than a moralistic) answer?

just re read that and my Q isn't clear ..it should read...so if 2 units are okay - what is wrong with 2 units every day

I am very surprised that this is the advice that you get over there, it probabily depends on which country you live then. In Italy, where women don't drink so much, we are advised , or better told, not to drink during pregnancy , same goes for smoking. I never heard of 2 units a day or a week, actually deinking really seems to to no big favours to the unborn baby and I think that for the sake of our babies we could and should avoid it all together.

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Yes Chequers...and necking 2 units in a minute will raise your blood alcohol level substantialy whereas sipping 2 units over say 4 hours will not.
Does anybody have an explanation to my question (above)?

Not sure what current advice is but it seems to change all the time so probably best to avoid. Because even if it is ok to have a bit it will probably change again, then she may feel bad

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The trouble is if we avoided everything we were 'not sure about' we would have to live in a bubble.

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you could do both simultaneously if the baby was 3 days early

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when are you due?