Study O.K.'s Light Drinking During Pregnancy.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Interesting article!

"A glass of wine or two a week — and not more than one large glass on any occasion — may be safe during pregnancy, according to a large study just published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The British research found no negative effects of such light drinking on 5-year-olds whose mothers had imbibed while pregnant with them. Indeed, these kindergartners were slightly less likely to have behavioral problems and performed somewhat better on cognitive tests than children whose mothers had abstained."

Read more:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...023984,00.html

[ein328]

I was pleased to see this article. After the first trimester, I'm not opposed to the occasional drink. In the third, my mw clears one drink per week- and sometimes I really look forward to those few sips!

[greenmulberry]

My OB told me that "depending on what european country I was in, it was OK to have one half to one whole glass of wine a day." He was kind of tongue in cheek saying that he cannot say it was OK because of the policy where he worked, but if I was somewhere else, the rules are different.

I had a occasional half glass of wine (carefully measured by ounces so I didn't fool myself about how much it was) a few times earlier in my pregnancy. I was having a very very hard time emotionally adjusting to pregnancy, and it really helped me just calm down.

I have gotten past my troubles, and don't feel the need or desire to have any wine now, but Iam glad to see studies verifying that a little bit occasionally doesn't seem to be harmful.

[finnegansmom]

I'll have wine every now and again. I have some family from the "old country" and know my mom was served wine with dinner when she was younger. It seems like some Americans have issues with moderation in general. There are some ads running locally now about a local beer and the message is that the beer isn't a "sipping beer, it's for when you need to pound a few" or something. You would never hear that in France, they would think you were insane...

I think that doctors and MWs can't really say "a little is OK" because my little half glass might be someone else's 2 liter bottle. You know?

[katroshka]

I read a paper about alcohol and pregnancy a while back that looked at a large number of studies. I think it may have been specifically comparing U.S. to Europe... anyway, it said that the single biggest factor for whether a child would have fetal alcohol syndrome was socio-economic status, it was a bigger factor than the number of drinks the mother had had. It's kind of strange, except that basically every health problem follows the same pattern. It's not really anything you can use to decide whether/ how much you can drink while pregnant, but it's definitely interesting to think about.

[Blanca78]

Originally Posted by katroshka

I read a paper about alcohol and pregnancy a while back that looked at a large number of studies. I think it may have been specifically comparing U.S. to Europe... anyway, it said that the single biggest factor for whether a child would have fetal alcohol syndrome was socio-economic status, it was a bigger factor than the number of drinks the mother had had. It's kind of strange, except that basically every health problem follows the same pattern. It's not really anything you can use to decide whether/ how much you can drink while pregnant, but it's definitely interesting to think about.

I"m currently reading an academic history of FAS (Message in a Bottle--it's really interesting), and a big part of this is lack of prenatal care.

I'm relieved this study came out. To me, it's only sensible that there IS an in-between zone between inappropriately policing women's bodies and decisions (and all the guilt tripping/judgment that goes along with that) and abjectly endangering the fetus. In the book I'm reading, the women in many of the early FAS studies, when the diagnosis was first being developed, averaged SIXTEEN DRINKS A DAY.

It does interest me that Europe is so commonly invoked, though. I was just there on vacation and both Spanish and French friends told me women in those countries now mostly hew to the idea that drinking is verboten. I believe the only country in the EU that actually officially sanctions drinking in pregnancy is the UK, where the official line is 2 units per week after the first trimester. Everywhere else, they say avoid completely. Although I believe this is a fairly recent change, and perhaps has not trickled down to everyday culture?

That said, I had probably 1.5 drinks total over 2 weeks (sips of beer here, splash of wine there). I'm not worried.

[MaerynPearl]

Originally Posted by Blanca78

In the book I'm reading, the women in many of the early FAS studies, when the diagnosis was first being developed, averaged SIXTEEN DRINKS A DAY.

I dont think I have ever drank that much in a day...

myself, with DD I had 6 drinks total.

2 glasses of wine at 7dpo
A glass of champagne at my wedding at 27 weeks
A glass of wine for my 28th birthday (38 weeks)
and two glasses of wine between 40 weeks and 41w6d when she was finally born. Trying EVERYTHING to induce labor.

I would have felt fine having more, but didn't really NEED to have more than that.

[slylives]

Thanks for the study. I am British and yes, we do have a slightly different attitude to alcohol in pregnancy. I celebrated finding out about my first pregnancy with a glass of champagne!

And now I am itching for champagne - I just found out I passed the Bar exam! But I am 4 weeks pregnant in a high-risk pregnancy (due to my history) and won't have even a sip. I just can't add it to the list of things I am worrying about, however irrational.

[Blanca78]

Originally Posted by slylives

Thanks for the study. I am British and yes, we do have a slightly different attitude to alcohol in pregnancy. I celebrated finding out about my first pregnancy with a glass of champagne!

And now I am itching for champagne - I just found out I passed the Bar exam! But I am 4 weeks pregnant in a high-risk pregnancy (due to my history) and won't have even a sip. I just can't add it to the list of things I am worrying about, however irrational.

Congrats, SlyLives! Perhaps some sparkling grapejuice is in order? (Yeah, it's just not the same.)

[SumnerRain]

Alright, who wants to come help me drink this bottle of Moscato Di'Asti?? I don't want to open a bottle because it is sparkling and will go to waste if not used up, but if I can have a glass I will need a few friends to share it with. Before I was showing I had a glass at Olive Garden and it was heavenly, but now that I am in my 3rd tri, I think I would feel bad drinking in public...?

[EdnaMarie]

I'm not surprised. (Or pregnant, sorry for crashing, LOL!) I had a glass every trimester and another in labor (well, I tried to anyway). I think there were several older studies that could not find any difference between moderate drinkers (glass a day to glass a week) and abstainers, but IIRC, the samples were too different in other respects to say for sure.

"I was just there on vacation and both Spanish and French friends told me women in those countries now mostly hew to the idea that drinking is verboten."

I have been pregnant in let me count... six different countries, had care in three. And in every single country, even an occasional drink was considered very lassez-faire. Including France. I'm in Germany now and I understand that German women would have a very little bit of beer on a holiday, but most educated women don't drink much nowadays. Their attitude seems to be, yes, our moms drank, but we don't know how much smarter we'd have been if they didn't, and science says this, so we'll do the best for our babies.

I'm sure they're rejoicing en Francais about this study!

[nova22]

Personally, I avoid alcohol during pregnancy for the most part. I get a little more lax in the 3rd trimester but still, I can count on one hand the glasses of wine I've had during all of my pregnancies.

What really annoys me is when people act like it is not legal to drink while you're pregnant. I was at a wine festival once when I was about 7 months along. A lot of people go to wine festivals to get drunk in public for a little $10 entrance fee. My husband and I actually enjoy tasting the wine. When I'm pregnant, I will sometimes take a little sip here and there if DH finds a wine that he likes and wants to know if we should buy some. I was standing near him at one booth and the woman pouring asked for my glass and I said "no thanks, I'm not having any." Then she looked at my obviously pregnant torso and said in a really nasty tone of voice, "GOOD, because if you had asked for some, I would have kicked you out of here!" Okay, lady, but I just said I didn't want any of your wine so that comment was totally unnecessary. And we will not be purchasing from your vineyard thankyouverymuch.

I have read that red wine can help stimulate contractions towards the end, does anyone know anything about that?

[EdnaMarie]

One sip of white wine (all we had on hand) and a hot bath did it for me. I didn't even get to relax and all of a sudden I wanted to push.

(My mom drank the rest of the wine LOL she said she needed it, as she's an RN and it was a homebirth.)

[EdnaMarie]

There are some ads running locally now about a local beer and the message is that the beer isn't a "sipping beer, it's for when you need to pound a few" or something. You would never hear that in France, they would think you were insane...

To be fair, England and Russia have their own problems with this. It's not uniquely American.

[Blanca78]

Originally Posted by nova22

I was standing near him at one booth and the woman pouring asked for my glass and I said "no thanks, I'm not having any." Then she looked at my obviously pregnant torso and said in a really nasty tone of voice, "GOOD, because if you had asked for some, I would have kicked you out of here!" Okay, lady, but I just said I didn't want any of your wine so that comment was totally unnecessary. And we will not be purchasing from your vineyard thankyouverymuch.

This makes me want to puke (and not just because I'm pregnant). I've really struggled with this--my fury at strangers' presumption that it is their right to chastise or control what a pregnant woman puts in her body. Just because I am pregnant does not mean I am not an adult who will make my own informed decisions. The FAS book I'm reading cited a case in Seattle a few years back where two servers were fired for refusing to serve a visibly pregnant woman a drink. I'm glad they were fired. The woman in question, who had tried to order a daiquiri, "Claimed...that she had been made to feel 'like a child abuser' when she had, in fact, abstained from drinking until that night, late in her final weeks of pregnancy" (Golden 96). She of course went on to have a healthy child.

The reason I've struggled is I feel like half of my desire to drink occasionally in pregnancy is as a rebellion against the idea that people think it is their place to tell me what's right for my body and my baby. (Plus, okay, beer and wine are sooo good sometimes.) It has to do with maintaining a sense of my own autonomy and control over my body in the face of the overwhelming shift in identity that I fear childbirth will bring (this is my first).

p.s. I also had a turkey sandwich the other day.

[WifeofAnt]

As of midnight... I'm legally old enough to drink. Now I'm wondering if DH will buy me any (I don't want to get funny looks buying it myself).

[daisychain]

Originally Posted by Blanca78

I believe the only country in the EU that actually officially sanctions drinking in pregnancy is the UK, where the official line is 2 units per week after the first trimester.

I was pregnant in the UK in 2005 and was advised by my midwife that government guidelines had changed and she could no longer recommend any safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy. The reasoning from the government at the time, I believe, was that women would abuse the "safe" amount - so, if 2 units a week is safe, then 3 is probably fine, and 4 surely won't hurt anything, etc.

[tzs]

Originally Posted by Blanca78

p.s. I also had a turkey sandwich the other day.

so did i...but i didn't know i was being rebellious? what's the deal with turkey???

anywho....a glass of wine every so often (um...a few times a week) was the only thing that helped me sleep at the very end with dd.

[luckiest]

Very glad to see this study. It stands to reason that there's a middle ground between total abstinence and binge drinking that would be safe. I don't know if I've had the equivalent of even an entire "unit" at one time, mostly because it doesn't really sound all that great, but once or twice a week I have a few sips of whatever DH is drinking. He loves trying new beers, so when he says, "try this, it's delicious" I'm not going to turn him down.

I definitely wouldn't, however, order anything in public just because of the stigma. About two months ago, definitely obviously pregnant, I got bumped to first class on a flight and the flight attendant asked if I wanted red or white wine with dinner. I was shocked! I seem to remember an acquaintance of mine telling me she was in Ireland while she was pregnant and bartenders at the pub didn't bat an eye when she waddled up to the bar and ordered a pint.

Anyway, let's enjoy that occasional drink!

[MrsBone]

I had a half a glass of wine about twice a week in the first trimester with my first babe..mainly becuase it helped tremendously with the nausea. I was desperate. Then after that I had a glass every now and then, but didn't feel like I needed it after the first tri. Then, in early labor my MW suggested I have a glass of wine to help me sleep. I did that then threw it up an hour later. This pregnancy, I've had a few sips here and there..that's about all I can handle anyway. I don't see a problem with it.