Do you drink alcohol while you're pregnant?

[Ninni]

If so, how much/often?

Just a bit of unscientific research...

Excess amounts of alcohol can cause brain/liver damage. As can excess amounts of water!

There are also studies that point out health benefits of moderate drinking too.

I didn't drink at all during first two pregnancies. Occasional drink with third. But I'm not a frequent drinker anyway.

GIRLSARELOUD, Sorry - am MNing very sporadically at the mo. Re the demented threads, I was particularly referring to one I saw AGES ago where an American woman was saying that those of us who do have a tipple during pregnancy where child abusers/should be locked up/would all have horribly deformed children etc etc. She just went on and on...
There have been some pretty hysterical posts on both sides of this debate and it never really seems to move on. So far this particular thread seems fairly calm. Still nothing new though.

Gone right off it, can't even stomach the smell of it. But even if I could, I wouldn't. Personal choice but if there's a chance it could damage the little one's liver cells, then I won't have it.

Im exaclty the same as mumbot

Cant stand the smell of it, cant stomach it, dont miss it tbh. Also its just one less "risk" to worry about, no matter how small.

Was never a big drinker so I hardly had to "cut it out"

I might just stop drinking altogether when I've had my little one, mainly because I can't handle my drink like I could when I was 18 (which wernt that long ago )

Yes - whenever I fancied (fancy) a glass. Not during the first trimester as it would taste like vinegar. I never get drunk and probably no more than a couple of (large) glasses of wine.

I also eat blue cheese, shell fish and anythign I else I fancy.

yep I do.If I fancy some I'll have it - usually one (big) glass a week. Sometimes its less as I'll only bother if DH has bought a bottle of red instead of buying beer.

This week I had more as I went out for an unexpected meal, so had two glasses over two nights, but thats unlikely to happen again before I give birth!

I really enjoy it, but one glass lasts me ages nowadays - no glugging it back like I used to!

the odd glass of wine or occasional small bottle of lager ,usually with a meal. When my best friend was pregnant ,she was really aneamic and her consultant told her to drink a bottle of guiness every day up till she had her DD,who was a whopper and exceptionally intelligent

1st pregnancy, I didn't drink at all in the 1st trimester and then had a total of about 5 glasses of wine/champagne in the next 2 trimesters. Now 11 weeks pg and haven't touched a drop since I found out. Don't actually feel like any, but I am not saying absolutely no alcohol for the rest of the pregnancy. I'll just see how it goes

Actually i would give alcohol to a newborn baby ,put a tiny bit of sherry in my sons bottle when he had really bad colic ,as reccommended by my GP and it worked wonders. We all know that in reality the odd glass of wine is not going to do any harm ,as alot of people who have drunk before discovering they are pregnant will testify, however there is a fraction of the population who have issues with alcohol and who in reality the new guidelines are aimed at ,who see a couple of units as carte blache to drink to excess. I have yet to meet a midwife or consultant who thinks you or your unborn will suffer long term damage as a result of a occasional glass of wine .

How old is your GP Bumpspoon?

I had an "I'll only drink champagne" rule during pg.

To be fair it was 15yrs ago !! however when i say tiny ,i mean no more than 2mls ,used one of those pippet things to measure it and only did it three or four times over a particularly bad two week period .Im not suggesting people give their children snakebite (blast from the past)or use alcohol as means to sedate their babies.

I'm guessing your GP would be in all sorts for that suggestion these days! I drank through my pregnancies (just a little) but would be horrified at that!

I suppose that's not logical though is it!?

At my brother's 40th party three weeks ago and at 30 weeks pg, I had a glass of champagne at about 2pm and then a small can of lager with supper at about 8pm.

We have a curry maybe every three weeks and I have a small lager then.

To some, that would probably seem a lot. To me, it's a piddling amount and I'm not worried. I am looking forward to having some lovely champagne when the baby's born though. Maybe even three glasses one after the other.

With my first ds I just couldn't drink as just the thought of it made me queasy. I had a sip of a friends vodka and redbull and have never been able to touch it since. Managed a couple of blue wickeds with my second ds but couldn't be bothered with it really. Returned to my alcoholic ways shortly after the were born!

Thing is, all the guidelines vary drastically, sometimes from month to month, and its very difficult, not to mention stressful, to try and keep up! Am just trying to be sensible about what I'm eating - limiting tuna, eating healthily, no soft cheeses and pate etc. But peanuts, for example: some things say you shouldn't eat any at all, others say only to avoid them if there is a history of nut allergies in the family.

So am limiting my drinking, but at the same time, if I fancy the odd small glass now and again with a meal then I'm going to try not to beat myself up over it too much, although I do tend to feel a little guilty.

And lets face it - as my midwife told me, about half of all children are concieved in drunken states!! I know that I for one was absolutely slaughtered each weekend for the first five weeks of my pregnancy - obviously not realising I was pregnant.

My GP recommended a stiff brandy before bedtime when I mentioned I couldn't sleep

really cant believe that most of the posts on here support drinking alcohol when pregnant! i like to drink alcohol when i'm not pregnant but just think its really not that hard to give it up for 9 months - why bother with something that might harm your unborn baby?

Because there's no evidence that drinking in small amounts harms your baby.

(Erika - no evidence either that even in people with peanut allergies in the family that eating them whilst pg can create allergy)

This is like saying, 'Eating chocolate has links to obesity'

So it's probably a good idea to give up chocolate, even if the risk is tiny. After all, you don't want to take ANY risk with your baby.

Or 'One theorist supposed (although no evidence shows) that eating peanuts in pregnancy might be linked to peanut allergy in later life'

Or 'Oh, well I know that eggs have salmonella and maybe there's a salmonella strain that is hard to kill with cooking so best to avoid them altogether'

Just saying something might be risky doesn't automatically create a risk that you have to avoid. That possibility has to be backed up with evidence. Where's the evidence that moderate drinking (not excess, because anything from paracetamol to water is dangerous in excess) is harmful?

There is actually some proven benefit to moderate drinking - reducing stress for example. And Mukamal's Havard study that moderate drinking reduces heart disease.

Where are the documented risks? Just saying 'It might be risky' isn't good enough. I could say that 'Eating chocolate might be risky' but that doesn't make it so.

Of course everyone who gave up alcohol also gave up drinking tea and coffee ? Caffeine increases foetal heart rate dont you know ,thus putting strain on those little growing heart cells ,you might surmise ,a risk too far

and yes a cup of tea contains about the same caffeine as a cup of instant coffee

By the way i am in no way suggesting people should drink in pregnancy ,just that with the available evidence ,should you choose to, the occasional glass of wine /small lager is going to do no harm .

Actually, I did give up coffee, tea, cola, things with artificial sweeteners in, things with nitrites in etc (as well as alcohol). I know lots of people don't - but because my pregnancies are high risk as it is I just don't want to take any more risks. There was a study quite recently which linked caffeine intake to a higher incidence of miscarriage. For some reason I am craving coffee this time as well - but am avoiding because as I said, I have enough risk factors by just being pregnant. I am probably not a good person to ask the question that the OP asked anyway, because of you had a problem with controlling blood sugars in pregnancy as I do, I am assuming you wouldn't drink anyway?