Drinking and Pregnancy

LakeR2014 · October 2015

Has anyone seen this new article/study findings?

https://news.yahoo.com/pregnant-women-absolutely-no-drinking-docs-105543803.html

What are your thoughts on it? Were you planing on 'drinking until its Pink'? What is your current stance towards alcohol for when you get pregnant?

My thoughts: I was under the new school thought process that I've been told from several friends who had recent pregnancies. They informed me, that they're doctor noted one glass of wine a week was ok, but don't over indulge. Even my own OBGYN has informed me it's ok to 'Drink until Pink' as long as I'm binge drinking every night. However, after reading this article, I'm beginning to wonder, should I cut out all alcohol to be safe now that we're TTC. I mean yes, there's that two week time between period and ovulation that I could drink, but should I obstain for the other two weeks just to be sure? What are your thoughts?

Blonde1817 · October 2015

I would not drink early on, but I have a lot of friends who have had a glass of wine on special occasions during their third trimester. The problem with a lot of these rules about what pregnant women can and can't do, is that there is no way to know how much of something is having an impact, so just to be safe and cover their ass, of course the American Pediatric Association would say no alcohol is the only way. Because moderation can easily be misinterpreted.

The problem with all of these studies is that they are correlational, and you cannot prove cause and effect from this kind of research. But obviously it would be unethical to actually do an experiment to test how much alcohol it would take to cause FAS. So that article linked that claims tiny amounts of alcohol in pregnancy leads to lower IQ ... you can't really know for sure that alcohol caused the lower IQ. It could be that women who drink during pregnancy are less educated, or more stressed, or not getting adequate nutrition, etc. which leads to lower IQ in their children.

Also...those anecdotes you hear about women who only had one drink during pregnancy before they even knew about it and that caused FAS in their baby ... you have to take it with a grain of salt that these women's self-reporting is honest and accurate. It would be a tough thing to admit to if it wasn't the truth.

So it's probably safest to follow all of the guidelines, but personally I think it might be more harmful to be overly stressed about all of these rules.

Xstatic3333 · October 2015

I agree with PP; it sounds like scientists still have a ton of unknowns here. I also think that even if there WAS a safe threshold, the APA would still recommend you obstain because, simply put, people are too dumb to follow "safe threshold" rules.

For me, I will be stopping drinking entirely once pregnant. One occasional glass of wine just doesn't have a ton of appeal to me. Currently when I drink, it's a few beers while out with H, and that's clearly a no-no. I think I'll be fine without for nine months. I will, however, drink 'til it's pink. Baby and mom don't share a blood supply in the first few weeks of pregnancy, and if I test before a big night out of any sort I am 100% comfortable that drink til it's pink will be fine.

I do have concerns, from a cultural perspective, that there is a ton of guilt and fear mongering being thrown at pregnant and TTC women. Avoiding alcohol is a good idea with some science behind it, if conflicting, but some of the food restrictions (deli meat?) are ridiculous. Currently many women blame themselves if something goes wrong, and I fear a move towards a culture where women are blamed by others when something goes wrong is not far behind. Or maybe I'm just reading too many feminist blogs :P

EasterEggs · October 2015

I think this is a case where the need for official public guidelines doesn't exactly align with the science; as the previous posters said, these guidelines need to be strict because there are a ton of people out there who won't follow them. Also, it's become such a moralized issue that it's nearly impossible to have any kind of rational public debate on the topic; if the APA said that 1-2 glasses of alcohol per week were safe there'd be major backlash.

My doctor told me it's safe to drink low to moderate amounts of alcohol in the TWW. I also looked extensively into the primary literature on alcohol and pregnancy myself and found very little reason to believe that low to moderate alcohol consumption is unsafe--even during pregnancy. I have two friends who are doctors and they both drank small glasses of wine at certain times throughout their pregnancies because they were convinced by the recent research that shows the importance of confounding factors in the development of FASD--with low socioeconomic status being the major one. For the purposes of communicating with the public, it makes sense to treat FASD like a simple equation: alcohol goes in, FASD comes out. But the scientific literature clearly shows that it is not nearly that simple. As @blonde1817 said, it is nearly impossible to determine any kind of causal relationship in these studies.

So I've been drinking a glass of wine with dinner throughout this TWW. I don't know if I'll abstain entirely after I get pregnant.

Lysta85 · October 2015

I think if you were addicted to alcohol it's best to quit drinking and not to drink until it's pink (and after it's pink of course). Just to avoid getting old habits back. But for those who never been addicted and drink maybe a glass every night should do what they feel most comfortable with of quitting as soon as you start TTC, just drink until you ovulate or til it's pink. As OP said, these kinds of reports are also to give the most safe advice. Same as the date on food. They can guarantee it's safe to eat until that date, after it's your risk.

I also heard about a study that alcohol travels to all body fluid, so even if you don't have a blood connection yet the alcohol still can get at the unborn child.

In a dutch healthcare report (dated from 2004) it's said that alcohol can be of influence of getting pregnant and risk for an unborn child. More alcohol intake will make it harder to get pregnant and if you are already pregnant can be harmful in whatever way for an unborn child. Since it is impossible to really say how much alcohol you can maximum drink they advice people who want to get pregnant and already are not to drink any alcohol.

But although it is in a healthcare report, the overall opinion here is still that you can drink til it's pink.

Katm89 · October 2015

I think its safe to say "drink until its pink" and I certainly will drink if I feel like it. I rarely feel like it though and I'm 13 dpo on Halloween and I was planning on drinking that night... so I will be testing before then just to be safe.

patriciahomol · October 2015

I'm a believer of drink until it's pink. Whenever I do get to see the second line drinking stops for me.

pourmeanothermocktail · October 2015

I'm of the drink till it's pink, as there's no sharing blood supply early on. Though, to be safe, I mean I won't abstain entirely, but I don't normally have more than about half of a beer anyway, as DH and I share. I will probably go on to be comfortable with stealing a sip or two, or a half a beer (had slowly over 3 hours ish) once in a while (less than once a month) during pregnancy. Then again, maybe I won't feel comfortable with that at all, hard to say if you've never been there!

vampirina · October 2015

I was a believer of "drink till it's pink" until I actually conceived. And then I was totally stricken with guilt that the beer I had the day before would somehow harm my baby.

You guys all make excellent points - the science isn't totally accurate and never really prove cause. But for me that makes me want to be MORE cautious, not less. If we have a limited idea of how much alcohol will contribute to FAS or other adverse affects, why risk it? I don't see drinking alcohol as an essential part of my life or routine and I'm completely fine with cutting it out. So for me it's not a big deal to just turn it down.

I'm benched from TTC right now, so I am drinking. But I plan to stop as soon as I start TTC again, I don't even think I'll wait for pink this time. Just doesn't seem worth it.

RachelT1234 · October 2015

everyone pretty much covered it...but 'drink til it's pink' is not equivalent to drinking while pregnant.

igrokthat · October 2015

I think that, given the scientific grey area with a lot of this (as a result of correlation vs causation and what we can really ethically confirm, like PP said), it really is up to you to decide what you are comfortable with. Personally, I am already on the cautious side for myself when it comes to medically related things, so I plan to abstain from anything not recommended during pregnancy from the time we start TTC until I give birth.

This isn't a personal belief about what anyone else should be doing, but rather just a way for me to lower my stress level throughout the process. I know that I would worry about the unknown/unstudied and/or being the 1% more than an occasional drink is worth to me.

Schumerator · October 2015

PBorgstede91 said:

I'm a believer of drink until it's pink. Whenever I do get to see the second line drinking stops for me.

I second this ^^

I'm not personally concerned about drinking in the TWW but once I am pregnant there will be no more alcohol for me, and I love my wine, happy hour, drinks with friends etc. To me, when people say they want one drink on occasion or whatever the reason may be, it just seems like a drink or two would not be worth the risk. Maybe it will affect your baby, maybe it won't, but is one drink worth it? Not to me. I will forgo the drinking if/when I become pregnant.

But until then, cheers \:D/

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