alcohol, I know it's been done to death but would like some advice...

[minxofmancunia]

Am 18 weeks pg with number 2, so far this pg have had 3x small glasses of wine and 1 half a lager (on 4 separate occassions!)

Had the half last night with a curry, friend is coming for dinner tonight and will fancy a small (125ml I measure them out) glass of wine. Socilising again on Fri so was wondering if another glass of wine then would be too much.

That will be it for a while though, maybe a couple of weeks.

What do people think? There are such conflicting views and opinions everywhere. All i know is I didn't find out I was pg with dd until 8 weeks in and had been driknig like a fish the whole time (xmas parties, new year etc.). Felt incredibly guilty and abstained for the rest of pg bar a couple of glasses when I went overdue, dd was a happy accident, this oneis planned so have been good! dd was quite little when born though (although not low birthweigt) and had early jaundice and was poorly. She's fine now but have never forgiven myself, may be why I'm seeking reassurance!

I think there is an awful lot of guff talked about risk in pregnancy. Once the baby is born almost everyone will be taking their babies on car journeys virtually every day and there is a risk of serious injury or death, but do we hear demands that women stop driving until the child is 16? No, we say do the safest thing you can, ie use a car seat and drive carefully. I think the same could be said for alcohol. There are no guarantees but make your own mind up.

So now we're going to feel bad about soft drinks and eating too much broccoli

I think provinciallady makes an important point - the world is also full of risks after the baby is born.

It would be so much better if rather than people being made to feel guilty they were encouraged to feel good about eating a healthy, balanced diet. Instead you read about people totally avoiding things like fish which is actually likely to be dangerous!

every time there is this debate on mn I post

this link

so I have again.

hope it's interesting/useful/stops a few people beating themselves up

xx

I have an ex-bf who used to work with a range of FAS kids and one of my friends sisters is adopted and has slight FAS. The ex said the kids he dealt with their mums drank hard liquor every day of the pregnancy (and way more than a glass a day). He said he had never met a kid diagnosed with FAS who's mom had only had 1 - 2 drinks a week. Most of them were regular, heavy drinkers. Granted that could just be the full blown cases and who's to say that it doesn't contribute to learning disabilites, etc but I think FAS is thrown around as a rediculous scare tactic too often.

FWIW In the 70's when my mum was pregnant with my sister and I she had a case of Guinness delivered every two weeks on the NHS because her iron was so low and she struggled with the tablets! And we're all high functioning members of society (albeit with a MN addiction!

NoLongerChunky - thanks for the link to that article it was very VERY interesting!

Why don't people focus more on the certain positive benefits of eating healthily?

thanks nolongerchunky I read that article ages ago and have been trying to find it ever since.

Excellent article NoLongerChunky. Just bookmarked it for future reference.