Alcohol in very early pregnancy

[FourOfFour]

Hello, I'm a newbie and have a quick question if you don't mind?

I'm well aware that alcohol should ideally be avoided in pregnancy, but what about the very, very early days? (i.e. during the 2WW?)

My understanding is that alcohol crosses the placenta, but given the fact that there is no placenta in the early days, can the developing embryo still be affected?

My DSis told me that until the placenta is formed and functioning, the embryo takes its nutrients from the yolk sac, rather than from the mother. If this is true, then how does the folic acid that we take get to the embryo?

I'm a bit concerned as am 6DPO but have drunk at least 3 units a day for quite a while (haven't been 'drunk' as such though).

Is there a chance that I've caused damage? I'm just having a little panic here, don't even know if I'm PG yet!

I don't plan to drink again until I have the LO in my arms, but just didn't really think of the consequences until today

Thank heavens for this thread cos I was worried about this too...I conceived just before Christmas and we had the MIL staying for a few days at Christmas so I needed to numb the pain I feel much better having read these posts.

I asked my very no-nonsense midwife the same thing when pg with DS1 - she just said briskly, there are far more babies conceived under the influence than not... she was very much of opinion that current don't touch a drop guidelines are based on nanny state's assumption that women are too stupid to be sensible! Don't be too hard on yourself. A glass of wine on a Friday night saved my sanity while pg

I didn't know I was pregnant for 2 months and during that time it was Christmas party season, I also went to a hen night, a weding and a NYE party and drank a fair bit of my favourite tipple (gin).

In my defence I had had a light period so had no idea I was pregnant. Baby is 14 weeks now and according to 2 early scans all is fine.

Read Revolutionary Road, the Kate Winslet character drank cocktails and smoked all the way through her pregnancy, as did most people in the 1950s.

Agrees with SoldGoldBrass that a lot of the advice on alcohol in pregnancy is just another stick to beat women up with. If you care enough to worry / question number of units; you are not going to drink enough to hurt your baby. Its people who drink heavily throughout pregnancy the advice is aimed at - but they dont heed it.

wedding rather.

Thanks for the replies, I'm trying to hold onto that thought skatergirrrl - my mum drank and smoked all through her pregnancies (swears blind that she didn't, but I don't believe a word of it). She produced 2 doctors, a lawyer and a teacher with no health problems at all, so it can't be that bad.

I'm wondering if part of the problem is that it must be impossible to get ethical approval for clinical trials of potential teratogens in pregnant women.

As a result, I suppose there can't be any clear evidence about safe levels of anything, hence the advice to avoid everything that might cause any harm at all.

On the plus side though (kind of) I managed to give myself the most horrendous food poisoning from eating a whole Epoisses a couple of weeks ago, so can no longer even look a cheese in the face...every cloud has a silver lining, eh?

...btw, that's really interesting that folic acid benefits the egg before conception even takes place - I had no idea, I thought it just prevented neural tube defects.

Oh well, live and learn - thanks for the info...!

I was at the Galway Oyster Fesitval when I fell pregnant with DS - that means drinking vast quantities of Guinness, eating a lot of oysters and I also smoked...

DS is 13 and fit, healthy and very brainy. I put the brainy bit down to the iron in the Guinness!

Don't fret - look after yourself. Babies need stress free environments!

As one doc told me when I said we were trying to have a baby and should I be concerned about having drinks over Christmas etc- "It's not as if you are the kind of woman who has gin on her cornflakes are you?" That cheered me up no end. And no, I don't have gin on my cornflakes....