Pregnancy and alcohol

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 6/28/2010 11:26:20 AM
Author: TravelingGal
My own personal feeling was this: If I can''t give up simple things for 9 months, I was going to have a hell of a time understanding sacrifice for 18 years. I figured it was practice.

Abso-freaking-lutely.

I had a sip of a friends mixed drink when I was in my second trimester and I felt like crap afterward for exposing my baby to it, even though he likely didn''t GET anything from such a tiny sip. It really isn''t that hard to give up things for your child!

 

[movie zombie]

Date: 6/28/2010 11:26:55 AM
Author: labellavita81

Date: 6/28/2010 12:58:37 AM
Author: swingirl
Why on earth would anyone not be willing to give up alcohol for 9 months? Why take the chance? You aren''t going to die without wine at dinner.

DITTO this!

+1000!!!!

why in the world would one put their child''s health and future at risk?

mz

 

[Mara]

re: drinking after conception until you know... the baby lives off a yolk sac which provides it with it's nutrients until i believe something like 8-10 weeks when your placenta is totally attached.

i imagine this is why the doctors always tell you to not worry when you find out you are preg and confess you were tipping the bottle a lot before that. i got a little crazy with the sangria pitcher one night at a friend's bbq and found out 1.5 weeks later i was preg, yikes....but dr was like'don't worry about it'...and i never really got WHY, until i read about the yolk sac. guess dr's can't really say 'feel free to get soused until 8-10 weeks' can they...???

re: not being ABLE to give up alcohol for 9-10 months...i agree. understanding the potential for risk and feeling educated and comfortable is one thing. but, if you feel like you absolutely cannot LIVE without alcohol for that period of time (or anything really)... that is addiction. i have a friend who drinks a lot, she is always freaking out about pregnancy...asking me if she really CAN'T have at least one glass of wine a night the entire preg.... uhhh...

 

[Laila619]

I had a beer at exactly 4 weeks pregnant, when I didn''t yet know I was knocked up. The guilt of knowing that I exposed the teeny tiny embryo to alcohol made me feel so awful.

So no, there is no way I would drink for the rest of the pregnancy.

 

[icekid]

Very well said, kama (as always!)

For me, I would not even consider drinking during pregnancy. We just do not know what effects even a small amount of alcohol have on the developing brain and we never will. It''s not worth the risk, IMO. Nor the potential guilt if the child ended up having problems!

Though smaller amounts of alcohol may not lead to full blown FAS, that does not mean that no damage is done. We DO know that alcohol is seriously detrimental to the developing teenage brain and it''s not a stretch to think that this would transfer to an unborn child.

Obviously, we all make our own decisions. We weigh the risks and benefits. I do a lot of things that are in the best interest of my fetus; I take vitamins that make me even more nauseous. Avoid deli meat. Work out when I am tired and feel like vomiting. etc, etc. I can certainly give up alcohol for 10 months, too.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I just marinated my steak in red wine and then ate it medium rare...Aidan says he likes it...a lot...

 

[LtlFirecracker]

I am not pregnant, but I love red wine and drink it about 2-3 times a week.

That being said, I plan to fully abstain from alcohol during pregnancy. Even if small amounts of alcohol don't lead an easily recognizable syndrome, it could potentially cause other subtle neurological abnormalities and there is just too much unknown about it to take the risk in my opinion. The brain develops very rapidly in utero, and that rapid development makes it very prone to insult. Many subtle neurological abnormalities cannot be appreciated until a child in middle childhood.

I remember taking a child psych class in college and it came time to discuss FAS. The professor warned us that in a few years we will have settled down and than one day go to a party/reunion and drink "like the old days" and he said that "one of us will be pregnant and not know it." He warned us to be careful, because if that is you, than "that is something you did" and you will be living with guilt for the rest of your life. Fast forward 8 years later, I know someone who that happened to.

As for the glass of wine at dinner later in the pregnancy, I know results are conflicting on that, and I would not look down on someone who makes their own decision based on the information that is available.

 

[doodle]

One of my friends started having severe contractions at only four and a half or five months along. They had her taking medicine for it for a while trying to stop it, but it kept getting worse and the medicine was causing problems with another medical condition she had. The doctor told her when it got really bad to drink a small glass of wine. Problem solved, and she carried the baby to term with no issues. I''m not saying this as an ad for drinking copiously when pregnant or anything, just to emphasize that some doctors aren''t nearly as conservative with it. I also know a lot of people who completely gave up this or that while pregnant, and fast forward 20 years and that kid is now allergic to that item, so for me personally, I don''t think I''d completely ban anything, just use some common sense and moderation. The caffeine argument has always amused me--it''s not like it''s the epitome of nutrition for ANYONE, so why only make a fuss over it when pregnant?

LOL at H_H! Oh, and I snagged your recipe for zucchini cakes off here, so thanks for getting my DH to eat zucchini! MMMMMMM!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Oh great! Were they the cakes or the stuffed zuchs, Doodle? I think I''ve posted both on PS. I haven''t made the cakes in awhile (like pancakes) but we had the stuffed zuchs a few weeks ago and they were yummy! Aidan likes those too...

 

[doodle]

Date: 6/28/2010 11:06:28 AM
Author: Mara

lulu i had to laugh when you said you came out hungry!! my friend''s husband''s mom DIETED while pregnant, eating mostly only salads and smoking the entire pregnancy. He''s incredibly smart and tall (sometimes people attribute smoking to stunted growth)...but he had horrible food allergies until he was almost 15. I personally attribute it to the fact he only got LETTUCE and smoke while in utero!!

My mom has three kids, and she smoked while pregnant with one of us, my brother. He was 12 pounds when he was born, natural child birth, might I add.

Any time someone mentions reduced birth weight due to smoking around my mom, she makes some remark in gratitude to her Benson and Hedges for preventing my brother from being 40 pounds at birth.

 

[wolftress]

It''s interesting that there is a subtle judgemental tone emerging in some of the responses. I don''t think I would judge a woman poorly if she was pregnant and having a drink, but I have to admit I feel utter digust when I see a pregnant woman lighting up.

I know I''ll miss having a drink while pregnant and would like to know I can have a little every now and then. I don''t drink heavily now. Half a glass is my limit and always with food, so I imagine it won''t be too hard to give it up cold turkey (for anyone who is assuming I''m an alco

). It will probably be more difficult giving up oysters and sashimi!

Out of curiousity, did any of your partners give up alcohol and certain foods as moral support? I have a close friend who used to drink and smoke before pregnancy and had to give up cold turkey when she found out she was pregnant. Her partner continued to drink and smoke copiously, which I found slightly insensitive.

 

[doodle]

H_H, it was the zucchini cakes, and they were tasty! I''ll have to hunt down your stuffed recipe, too!

 

[wolftress]

Speaking of things to abstain from, I always laugh when my mum tells me about how my dad forbade her from eating century eggs (duck eggs preserved in ammonia) while she was pregnant with me because he believed the dark colour of the preserved eggs would transfer onto me and I''d come out with a perma-tan.

She would run off and eat the duck eggs, and then feel guilty and wash it down with soy milk. I was born with abnormally fair skin, so I think she must have over-compensated with the soy milk!

 

[sunnyd]

Date: 6/28/2010 8:03:08 PM
Author: doodle

Date: 6/28/2010 11:06:28 AM

Author: Mara


lulu i had to laugh when you said you came out hungry!! my friend''s husband''s mom DIETED while pregnant, eating mostly only salads and smoking the entire pregnancy. He''s incredibly smart and tall (sometimes people attribute smoking to stunted growth)...but he had horrible food allergies until he was almost 15. I personally attribute it to the fact he only got LETTUCE and smoke while in utero!!

My mom has three kids, and she smoked while pregnant with one of us, my brother. He was 12 pounds when he was born, natural child birth, might I add.

Any time someone mentions reduced birth weight due to smoking around my mom, she makes some remark in gratitude to her Benson and Hedges for preventing my brother from being 40 pounds at birth.

LOL Doodle. My friend, who smoked throughout her pregnancy, had a 6 pounder. That''s not uber small for a first baby, but the lung problems he has now are DEFINITELY from their smoking...makes me want to kick her sometimes...

 

[Laila619]

Date: 6/28/2010 7:50:28 PM
Author: LtlFirecracker
I am not pregnant, but I love red wine and drink it about 2-3 times a week.

That being said, I plan to fully abstain from alcohol during pregnancy. Even if small amounts of alcohol don't lead an easily recognizable syndrome, it could potentially cause other subtle neurological abnormalities and there is just too much unknown about it to take the risk in my opinion. The brain develops very rapidly in utero, and that rapid development makes it very prone to insult. Many subtle neurological abnormalities cannot be appreciated until a child in middle childhood.

I remember taking a child psych class in college and it came time to discuss FAS. The professor warned us that in a few years we will have settled down and than one day go to a party/reunion and drink 'like the old days' and he said that 'one of us will be pregnant and not know it.' He warned us to be careful, because if that is you, than 'that is something you did' and you will be living with guilt for the rest of your life. Fast forward 8 years later, I know someone who that happened to.

As for the glass of wine at dinner later in the pregnancy, I know results are conflicting on that, and I would not look down on someone who makes their own decision based on the information that is available.

Huh? So the woman that this 'happened to'...was her baby harmed in any way? Most OBs will tell you not to worry if you drank before you found out you were pregnant because like Mara said, the placenta isn't fully formed yet.

 

[fieryred33143]

Wolftress-my FI did not stop drinking. I didn''t need him to. I had been the DD for the previous 6 years so there was really no difference. But I remember when we went to Vegas, we were there for 10 days and I think he had one drink-maybe 2. Very strange for him. When I asked him why he said he just felt bad being on vacation drinking and I was walking around with swollen feet and a lopsided belly (I was 34 weeks). After that he didn''t drink until DD arrived. Very strange.

Again I''m not a drinker but for some reason I craved a margarita towards the end like no one''s business. It was bad.

That and a tuna fish sandwich with cheese. I wanted tuna with a margarita

 

[Blenheim]

After talking with my midwife and doing some reading, I personally felt comfortable drinking small amounts (like half a glass of beer or wine) on occasion. This came out to maybe 3-4 times over the course of the pregnancy, all after 20 weeks. It''s not that I wasn''t willing to give up alcohol for 9 months, it''s that I really didn''t feel that I was putting my baby''s health at risk by that amount of drinking.

DH certainly did not give up drinking. I did get brownie points with "the boys" for being a built-in designated driver on occasion though...

 

[Pandora II]

Wolftress, there is no reason to give up sashimi at all, just a good idea to go for fish with lower levels of mercury etc so salmon for example.

Just wanted to add... my sister''s first child was born with a cleft palate, it''s 99.9% certain that it was just one of those things that happens but she has been beating herself up for the last 5 years that it was due to the couple of glasses of wine a week that she drank in the first 6 weeks before she even knew that she was pregnant.

Many of the things one is warned to avoid are because they might make ''YOU'' sick and so potentially cause a problem for the baby although highly unlikely in well-nourished women in western society - for example the sushi warning is because fish can carry tapeworm and if you got one you might get less nutirents from your food... certainly in the UK all sushi fish must be flash frozen for 24hrs to kill off any parasites.

Alcohol is one of those things that really could have a negative impact on the baby.

I don''t have a problem with people doing whatever they decide is best for them while pregnant, but I do raise the odd eyebrow when I have friends who are so risk averse that they won''t even wear nail polish while pregnant but happily down glasses of wine every week!

 

[cara]

Alcohol is a solvent and crosses the blood-brain barrier, there is no reason to think it is confined to the bloodstream and thus only affects fetuses after the placenta is fully attached and not embryos that are living off the yolk sac. It might take a little longer for the alcohol to diffuse to the embryo rather than traveling via blood supply and crossing over in the placenta, but it will get there eventually. Maybe that (the placenta-alcohol thing) is just something doctors say to make women feel better when there is really nothing they can do but worry and fret over those early-term drinks they had. What is done is done.

That said, I did drink prior to knowing I was pregnant but knowing pregnancy was a possibility. For me, it was about not stressing too much over the getting pregnant process, though I did not to go overboard just in case.

On the partner-drinking front, DH cut back at first but then when alcohol didn''t appeal to me I told him he was off the hook - no point in him abstaining too! He''s now enjoying having a build-in designated driver at every event. I tell him to enjoy it while it lasts!

LtlFirecracker, while I understand a bit of why your prof issued the warning he/she did, it just drives me bonkers at some level. There is so much guilt and judgment associated with pregnancy and parenting. We can''t be perfect people and eliminate all risks and possible harms from our lives and our children''s lives. I am all for education and reasonable scientific discussions and guidelines, even regarding small risks, but to be so risk-averse all the time just kind of sucks some of the joy out of life... (and one should really not drive/ride in cars rather than all these small beans things if one wants to make a real dent in one''s overall risk of death/serious injury!)

 

[Mara]

pandora ITA re: the non-nail polish wine drinkers. but i think that people have to just in general do what makes them feel comfortable. i also ate sashimi a handful of times, from a place we'd gone to for over 10 years and never had one illness from. OB said..calculated risk.

my OB has another OB friend who was preg and while she counseled all of her patients that 'it is totally fine to get highlights while you are pregnant!!!'...she herself decided NOT to while preg. she even told my OB (her friend) that she knew it was not rational but she just didn't want to take the chance. i thought that was interesting.

on the same note, my own OB who became preg while i was preg told me that she typically counseled all patients on how tiny the risks were for trisomy or other issues and personally thought that the risks were small enough that an amnio or CVS diagnostic test wasn't really 'necessary'. well once she was preg she frankly told me that while she rationally knew all the risks and just how small 1% was...but she just had to get a diagnostic. i thought it was interesting she used to think that knowing you were low risk was 'good enough', but when it was her baby she was like 'only a diagnostic is reassurance for me'. and she totally owned up to it being different once you were experiencing it.

cara...that's interesting re: the blood brain barrier, basically my OB told me not to worry because there was no 'connection' to the baby yet so early, that he got nothing from me just yet then. but yeah you may be right re: just wanting to reassure the new moms because there's nothing they could do.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

I am sorry if I came across the wrong way. I was always taught that alcohol can cause the most potential for harm during organogenesis which starts week 3 of gestation and that that 1st trimester was the most sensitive time for the fetus. I have never herd the theory that the fetus is protected from harmful substances because the placenta is not attached. I don''t want to get into details, but this was not in reference to having a small or moderate amount of alcohol, this was in regards going out and full on binge drinking and than finding out you are pregnant and at least 1/3 of the way through the first trimester.

But it has been a few years since I went to college and med school, this topic has motivated me to at least look at the literature and see if there have been any changes on the issue. I know some European countries have guidelines that advise against drinking in the 1st trimester, but than state it is ok to have a drink a day later in the pregnancy.

 

[Girlrocks]

I personally did not drink while pregnant, I was also one of those that the smell turned my stomach.

I am also very much of the belief "to each his own". Not my body, not my kid, not my choice.

HOWEVER, I have witnessed on 2 different occasions a very pregnant woman drinking, and I have to admit, I thought to myself both times "really, you couldn''t stop drinking for 9 months?". The first time was a friend of mine who was very pregnant at the same time I was very pregnant with my 3rd and we were at a Memorial Day BBQ, and I looked over and saw her with a beer can in her hand. On the second occasion, I was in a bar on a Friday night and a very pregnant woman was partying big time with a group of people-drinking, dancing, woo-hooing-the whole 9 yards.

Now, of couse these are very different than having a glass of wine while you are cooking dinner or relaxing on a Saturday night watching a movie.

 

[E B]

I didn't touch a drop during my pregnancy with Henry. With my preg. history, I wasn't taking any chances. I won't be drinking during any subsequent pregnancies, either.

And yes, my husband DID give up drinking the whole 9 (more like 8 for me) months, though I didn't ask him to. I even urged him on a few occasions to have a drink or two, but he wouldn't. Friends of ours did the same thing, and I think he liked the idea.

 

[blushingbride]

My OB told me that there are so many things which they just don't have enough info on to prove whether they have strong negative effects on the fetus (wine, caffine, hair coloring, etc.). Basically, she told me that for those instances to do what my gut tells me. If you feel like you are regret something you did, ate or drank, then don't do it. That simple. If you know you'll have no regrets, then do it. I've been living by that during my pregnancy so far, but I also had a miscarriage so, I'm really not taking anything to chance.

 

[NovemberBride]

I did not drink while pregnant and I will not drink during any subsequent pregnancies. The risk, however small, is just not worth it to me. I think Bliss said it beautifully, my goal is not for my baby to be ok, my goal is for her to be exceptional, and if not drinking, not eating deli meat or sushi and not coloring my hair increase those chances even my the smallest margin, that is a sacrifice I am more than willing to make. I know I will be making many more much more serious sacrifices throughout her life. But I don''t judge others who chose to accept these small risks (although I would judge someone who chose to drink heavily or smoke of course).

I am definitely enjoying my wine again now that she''s born though. My DH did not stop drinking, but he did cut way back, especially as it got closer to my due date. He knew he needed to be 100% sober in case I went into labor. Also, we weren''t really going out to bars a lot while I was pregnant so there weren''t as many opportunities to drink. We did attend something like 7 weddings while I was pregnant and our friends sure enjoyed having a DD.

 

[somethingshiny]

I actually found out I was pregnant after I couldn''t drink at an event for BOTH pregnancies. It just didn''t settle well and I ended up taking a test within a couple days. So, for me, not drinking was easy. It just wasn''t fun. That being said, I do miss my occasional glass of wine and DH IS bringing a bottle of bubbly to the hospital after I deliver this one! I''ll admit that the last few days have found me really wanting to open a bottle of wine and unwind, but I know I would feel terribly if I did. I actually think that stressing myself ABOUT drinking and if I had done something terrible to the fetus rather than the drinking itself would have a worse effect on the baby.

I''d rather see a pregnant woman having a drink than smoking for sure. I''m really not sure why. But, I know the most disgusted I''ve felt in my entire life was when my little sis was fully preggo and rolling her own cigarettes at my mom''s kitchen table.

btw-DH has also fully abstained from alcohol during my pregnancies without my asking or even mentioning it to him. He just figured of all the things I had to give up, he could give up one with me.

 

[blushingbride]

ETA: I also think it''s great for all the hubbies who gave up drinking during your pregnancies. My DH offered, but I told him not to. These babies are our first and thought at least one of us should be able enjoy every last minute before we can no longer be selfish.

 

[Puppmom]

BB, my DH hasn''t been drinking since I''ve been pregnant. I think it''s very thoughtful of him but not necessary and, I agree, take advantage while you can! Life''s about to get REALLY busy!

 

[sbde]

Just came across this on today''s BBC website..

Of course, the level of drinking we''ve been discussing here does not near what was tested in the study (pregnant women having more than 4 drinks a week), but I thought this was a timely article given our discussions here.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/10448273.stm

Pregnant drinking ''affects sperm''

Women who drink during pregnancy may be damaging the future fertility of their sons, research suggests.

 

[wolftress]

Date: 6/29/2010 10:52:30 AM
Author: Blushing_B
My OB told me that there are so many things which they just don''t have enough info on to prove whether they have strong negative effects on the fetus (wine, caffine, hair coloring, etc.). Basically, she told me that for those instances to do what my gut tells me. If you feel like you are regret something you did, ate or drank, then don''t do it. That simple. If you know you''ll have no regrets, then do it. I''ve been living by that during my pregnancy so far, but I also had a miscarriage so, I''m really not taking anything to chance.

Blushing, this would be a great barometer for pregnant women, except everyone has different ''gut feelings''. Some would think it''s perfectly fine to be completely inebriated during pregnancy while others will abstain completely from almost everything under the sun.

I''m so sorry to hear about your miscarriage.