Drinking beer while pregnant - Page 6

[sweetpea333]

i dont understand why that is reasonable, sure it may not do long term damage. but how do you think a baby feels in the womb, when exposed to alcohol, you may not feel the buzz but the baby does. the baby can't stop that alcohol from going into their bodies, it's not just about fas!! you have no idea what the baby feels like after they've had a beer!!

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by jstar

but you know educating the masses with the zero tolerance idea to make it socially unacceptable to drink in public during pregnancy probably has saved a ton of babies from fetal alcohol syndrome. and that's a good thing

I honestly doubt that it's made that big a difference. I could be wrong, but my experience with alcoholics and other problem drinkers (more of it than I'd like) leads me to suspect that most of them have continued their drinking without paying any attention to the risks of FAS and FAE. I know four kids with obvious FAS, all of whom were conceived and born after the publicity about drinking during pregnancy started.

Strangers feeling free to jump down some woman's throat because they see her in a bar having a drink when she's obviously pregnant does nothing to address pregnant women with drinking problems who are quite likely to be hiding their drinking in the first place. Plus, I think it's been fairly well documented that the worst effects of alcohol are during the first trimester, when it's perfectly socially acceptable to drink - because nobody knows a woman is pregnant if she doesn't choose to tell them.

[eightyferrettoes]

Originally Posted by sweetpea333

you have no idea what the baby feels like after they've had a beer!!

I also have no idea how an unborn kiddo feels like after I've had sex; and I really don't plan to quit doing that during a pregnancy, either.

[eightyferrettoes]

Oh, and ITA with Storm Bride.

I'm told that the great State of Alaska has the HIGHEST rate of FAS in the nation, and one of the highest in the world.

It's not for lack of communicating this "not even a drop" idea, either. Every third TV and radio commercial is from the FAS Task Force. As far as I know, it has thus far had zero impact on the alcohol damage rate.

All it really does is stigmatize pregnant women a little more. Alcoholics don't respond well to this kind of campaigning.

[MrsMoe]

Originally Posted by eightyferrettoes

I also have no idea how an unborn kiddo feels like after I've had sex; and I really don't plan to quit doing that during a pregnancy, either.

The baby is protected in the womb... sex would simply "rock the baby" so this is not logical reasoning.

[hottmama]

I've been following this thread and wanted to say that I agree with those who argue for a common sense approach to alcohol during pregnancy. I don't think that it's a good idea to drink a lot (more than 2 drinks) at a time, or to drink at all in the first trimester (I don't even take tylenol in the first trimester), but I do think that after 14 weeks, a drink or two on occasion is really nothing to worry about.
I like it when I'm buzzed; it feels good. I'm sure my fetus probably agrees, to the extent that a 17 week fetus can think. On what planet does a buzz hurt?! Not that I get drunk after 1 drink, but still.
I had my first drink since before TTC a week ago- a strawberry daquiri, light on the rum. It was delicious and I have no guilt. I'll probably drink a drink once every week or so during the rest of the pregnancy.
I think that zero tolerance messages are never any good- be them aimed at teenagers or pregnant women.

[MrsMoe]

Originally Posted by hottmama

I like it when I'm buzzed; it feels good. I'm sure my fetus probably agrees, to the extent that a 17 week fetus can think.

So is it OK to let your 3 year old have a drink? Not that I think there is phsyical harm to the fetus after a single drink... I think the above reasoning is... well... unusual.

[eightyferrettoes]

I see nothing wrong with letting a little kid have a couple of sips of whatever you're drinking. My Okie redneck family did it all the time. :LOL

Most of the time, the taste isn't even really appealing to them. But in the "pregnancy drinking" debate, there's no way to separate the grown woman from the kiddo. She cannot be expected to forfeit every adult privilege she has for months on end.

[MrsMoe]

Originally Posted by eightyferrettoes

She cannot be expected to forfeit every adult privilege she has for months on end.

Why? (Maybe she shouldnt' be expected to be straddled to breastfeeding for 12 months or more, either.)

[eightyferrettoes]

Originally Posted by MrsMoe

Why? (Maybe she shouldnt' be expected to be straddled to breastfeeding for 12 months or more, either.)

Nope, she sure doesn't have to. I'm the fattest BF supporter this side of the Al-Can border, but I don't think a mama HAS to do that, either.

[Britishmum]

about the first trimester being so bad for alcohol consumption.

I drank right through two of my 1st trimesters because I didn't think I was pregnant I'd tested negative both times. (One was the Millenium too - and boy, that champagne was good. ) Even my OB laughed at my concern about it when I found I was pregnant with dd#1. As for the m/w I used for my other prgnancies - she told me a couple of times to go home and have a glass of wine after an appt. This would be very normal in the UK.

As for IQ.........hmmm. I guess that there must be a much lower IQ level in the UK than in the USA. Does anyone have a scientific study to prove this? :LOL

None of my kids seem to be lacking in the IQ department, in spite of me drinking in the first trimester. If they did have 7 extra IQ points I'd worry about where they'd put them.

Sometimes we need to lighten up and appreciate that our 'truth' may not be someone else's truth.

[MrsMoe]

Originally Posted by eightyferrettoes

Nope, she sure doesn't have to. I'm the fattest BF supporter this side of the Al-Can border, but I don't think a mama HAS to do that, either.

Doesn't make it right. Spanking is also an easy fast way to correct a child... but that doesn't make spanking right either. The easiest way out isn't always what is best for the child.

[eightyferrettoes]

Originally Posted by MrsMoe

Doesn't make it right. Spanking is also an easy fast way to correct a child... but that doesn't make spanking right either. The easiest way out isn't always what is best for the child.

That's pretty much what I'm getting at; there are plenty of things in the world of childrearing that are far more damaging than having a nightcap during pregnancy, and they are fairly unstigmatized. Spanking, circumcision, formula feeding, et cetera. I'd add yelling, too.

People might say, "it's not for me" but few feel the need to get involved.

But the "drinking during pregnancy" thing isn't even really about damaged babies-- it's about heaping moral condemnation on pregnant women who don't really care for the teetoling orthodoxy. As someone else pointed out, the first trimester is the "worst" in terms of potential damage, but it's not till you start showing that random strangers glare at you in the liquor store.

It's interesting that our society has a real problem with acknowleging that pregnant women are more than a sum of their unborn babies' parts. They are still grown women, who need to receive accurate information, and then be left to make up their own minds.

[azyre]

Wow, this thread brough up a lot of memories for me. I was overseas when i was first pregnant, and on a big trip of a life time to Paris and London. So I drank plenty and ate plenty of listeria "danger" foods. At about 3 or 4 weeks pregnant I got an aversion to alcohol and diet coke that lasted my pregnancy but I had been really living large in the period before.

I spent a lot of time researching about what potential damage I had caused. I also spent a lot of time trying to find out WHY I couldn't use my spa. I'd read websites that said *one* drink can cause FAS!! The breadth of opinion was staggering. I also never found out why I shouldn't use the spa and what would happen if I was too hot for too long for her. I might be better at researching now.

Anyway, it wasn't until she was born and she looked perfect and I felt relief that I realised I was hanging on to a fear that she'd been damaged. I had a nagging feeling all pregnancy that I'd done something wrong.

Next pregnancy I will drink in moderation as I desire.

[sweetpea333]

quote hottmama: I like it when I'm buzzed; it feels good. I'm sure my fetus probably agrees, to the extent that a 17 week fetus can think. On what planet does a buzz hurt?! Not that I get drunk after 1 drink, but still.

and your in the same weight category as your baby??

[hottmama]

Sweetpea- it's been shown that the fetus has a lower BAC than the mom. I don't see what weight has to do with anything.

And to whoever asked if i would give my 3 yr. old a drink- yes, probably- a small one, of course. As a kid I was always so excited to have some champagne on New Year's Eve at midnight. I never got drunk or anything, we're talking a very small drink. I don't see any harm in that sort of thing. I think Prohibition ended a long time ago and people need to quit thinking alcohol is the drink of the devil.

My point about how I like to be buzzed seemed a pretty obvious response to the idea that we should worry about the comfort of the fetus, and that a buzz would make them uncomfortable. That seems outrageous to me.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Originally Posted by eightyferrettoes

I remember the champagne thread!

Yea, I do as well. If anyone can find it, I'd like to see it again just to compare the two threads.

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by hottmama

And to whoever asked if i would give my 3 yr. old a drink- yes, probably- a small one, of course. As a kid I was always so excited to have some champagne on New Year's Eve at midnight.

I don't think I'd deliberately give a 3-year-old a drink - but maybe, if we're talking something like a small sip of champagne on New Year's Eve.

I do know that my 2-year-old got an "empty" beer can off the table a couple of months ago, and had drained the drops before we got it back...maybe a 1/2 tsp. I wish she hadn't, but I'm really not worried about it. And, on those occasions in this pregnancy when I have had a drink (eg. the night I failed my road test), I haven't noticed any changes in the baby - no more or less active than normal or anything like that.

[sweetpea333]

a buzz is comfortable for you yes but you know what's goin on, . ive read that a baby in the womb would indefinitely feel dizzy and sick from a drink or two.

[beachcomber]

(edited)

I just realized that I'm comfortable with my perspective on this. I don't need to either argue it or justify it to anyone.