Non-alcoholic beer safe for pregnancy?

[Taedareth]

I'm sure there was an earlier thread on this forum where people were talking about craving alcohol and getting non-alcoholic beer/hard apple cider instead. But I picked up a can of non-alcoholic beer and it says there is still 0.5% alcohol by volume. Erm... am I giving my child fetal alcohol syndrome by drinking non-alcoholic beer??

[littleteapot]

Whie it's true it contains half a percent or less, chances of THAT damaging your baby through occassional use is really, really doubtful. If your non-alcoholic beer has .5%, then a regular beer has more then ten times the alcohol content - and many agree that one beer is okay. A glass of wine is often reccomended in early labour, or to hold off preterm labour.

(Not that I'm promoting the use of alcohol or anything)

I googled around, and found many sites promoting the use for alcohol "Cravings", including references to celebrities drinking non-alcoholic drinks while pregnant... but just to be aware that unless it says "alcohol free" it can contain trace amounts.

[amis2girls]

The n/a beer has about the same amt of alcohol as mouthwash. They can't get it all out. Regular beer is 3.2-7%. HTH.

[IncaMama]

fetal alcohol syndrome is not the result of occasional alcohol consumption. certainly not non-alcoholic drinks that have such small amounts. an occasional glass of wine or beer is not considered dangerous, according to the literature i've read...

[AmyC08]

I have had this question too! I even bought some dealcoholized wine that had .2% alcohol. I made the mistake of asking my doctor about it and she said I shouldn't have any! (I was expecting her to say, oh yeah, that's fine!). By my math, it would take over 65 glasses of the fake wine to equal the alcohol in ONE glass of wine. I figured if I eat ripe fruit it has to have a higher alcohol content than that. I actually have had the occasional glass of fake wine though. I think the medical profession is so overly concerned about lawsuits that they take extreme caution.

[selazenby]

There was a good thread about this on another due date group - can't remember which month. Lots of good information.

Anyway, my general feeling is that we are all victims of the obstetrical attempt to make pregnancy such a "delicate condition" that requires major medical care and lots and lots of overly cautious behavior (no soft cheeses, no alcohol, etc, etc, etc). I am NOT an advocate of "drinking while pregnant," but I think that an occasional glass of wine or beer with dinner is perfectly fine. And certainly I think that non-alcholic beer or wine is fine. If you look at other cultures and/or earlier times, you'll find that women were and are trusted to make good judgements about their babies and their bodies without the fear and guilt tactics employed here.

[Taedareth]

That's a good point about the soft cheese. I have heard that some women avoid brie and others for fear of getting some kind of bacteria (?) that is sometimes present in unpasturized cheese. BUT... I read on one of the MDC forums (might even have been this one, I forget) that in the States you can't even buy unpasturized cheese. All soft cheeses for sale in the US are made from pasturized milk.

But besides that, I wonder how dangerous could it really be? I mean, until just recently people used to drink milk straight from their own cow without pasturizing it. And yet the human race survived... Then again, I also think raising your own food on your own organic farm (or getting it from a friend's farm) is probably much safer than whatever they do to processed foods these days. It sounds like all the problems seem to originate in food processing factories.

[littleteapot]

Listeriosis is pretty rare, only about 2500 people in the US get it every year, but apparently 1/3 of all cases happen to pregnant women. Something about your hormones affecting your immune system.
If you get it while pregnant, it can pass through the placenta and affect the baby (from being sick, into things like miscarriage or stillbirth).

But the ACTUAL risk of it happening? Pretty slim. It's essentially food poisoning, so common sense plays a big part.