paranoid now about alcohol in pregnancy

[cowangirl]

i'm 32 weeks pregnant and worried that i have overdone it on the alcohol. i abstained from drinking until 12 weeks, but after then interpreted the Royal College of Obs and Gynae advice as 1 - 2 drinks once or twice a week, as 4 x 175ml glasses of wine a week. However, re-visiting their website, they say 1 - 2 units, not drinks, meaning that I have actually drunk 8 units a week, which is twice the RCOG maximum limit of 4 units a week.

Studies I have read about FAS say that it is diagnosed in women who routinely drank above 27 units a week, but I am still beating myself up stupid about it...

I know many women just think well, give up altogether then, but I have dealt with a redundancy and a bereavement during my pregnancy, and frankly, I needed to relax. But I coudl have easily managed just 4 units...

It's the middle paragraph you need to concentrate on. You've drunk 8 units a week - FAS is found in babies whose mothers have drunk typically more than three times that. And I'm assuming you didn't have those eight units all in one go, either.

There are people on Mumsnet who are very anti-alcohol in pregnancy, and who have said on previous threads that any alcohol can lead to FAS. But please don't listen to them. Consider - if that were really the case, then all of us born in the 70s would have it. Other countries have far more lenient guidelines - France for example.

I'd knock the alcohol on the head now for the most part (maybe half a glass a week?) because at 32 weeks your baby's brain synapses are doing their thing so now's a good time to stay off the sauce and make sure you get your recommended intake of oily fish.

But please try not to panic.

Message withdrawn

I might be wrong about this, but I did a little research into this, and I think possibly that the study that a lot of zero unit proponents refer to ( I think it is a Scandinavian one) did not take any account of the fact that many of its subjects were also smokers and coffee drinkers - both of which are believed to have significant detrimental effects to the fetus. The study itself makes this point, and so says that its results with regards to alcohol cannot be taken seriously without further study.

I wouldn't dwell on the past - I have not spoken to anyone who did not drink alcohol from my mother's generation, and yet none of their babies had problems, so this is seemingly not a significantly high risk issue.

Obviously you should avaoid alcohol if it is a big concern for you and watching your units is recommended, so if you stick to the guidelines, you should have a more relaxed pregnancy.

I frequently go over the 1 - 2 units once or twice a week rule, drinking a couple of glasses of wine at the weekend (I am 9.5 weeks) and to be honest, I would probably drink a bit more if I wasn't so knackered and did not anticipate social disapproval!