Does husband's drinking affect possibility of miscarriage or future baby?

BooksForMe23 · January 2016

Hello everyone! I am interested to hear if anyone's doctor has talked about this or if you have seen any good articles. My husband is a very regular drinker. I certainly wouldn't call him an alcoholic, but he drinks every single day. He told me he drinks 3-4 beers on work nights and maybe 6 on Saturdays. I recently had a miscarriage, and my husband is worried that his drinking may have played a role or even if it didn't, he could be hurting our future baby. He wants to cut back and hold off TTC until some "not drunk" sperm have a chance to grow (which I've read takes about three months). I don't want to wait any longer. I've tried to find articles about this. I have found some studies about rats showing that the male's drinking can have an effect, but they don't cite a specific amount of alcohol. Anyone in a similar situation, or do you have any thoughts? Unfortunately, I don't have a doctor's appointment coming up, or I would just ask her what she thinks.

PeggyOlsonFTW · January 2016

I don't really have an answer for that other than it's never a bad idea to cut back on drinking. Even if it doesn't greatly effect your chances of having a baby, it's good for his overall health.

RiverSong15 · January 2016

I agree that cutting back on drinking is never a bad idea, but I don't think it means you need to hold off TTC. I can't find any concrete literature either, and it's a pretty big leap from rats as a model organism to concluding that alcohol is detrimental to sperm in humans. If it were a problem, it should manifest as trouble getting pregnant, not staying pregnant.

As far as MCs go, the big thing they usually look for in men are genetic abnormalities that would predispose the fetus to chromosomal abnormalities. That's usually done as part of RPL testing, not after one loss.

It sounds to me like this is part of your husbands' grieving process, and he's looking for something to blame (and then fix), because it's easier to handle than feeling like you have no control. Could you call your OBs office and talk to the nurses about this issue? Or do you have an online patient portal where you could email your OB? Maybe that reassurance that his drinking, while not healthy for him, did not cause your MC would help your DH.

ETA: that genetic testing for RPL (karyotyping) is for inherited defects that are unaffected by lifestyle choices. So, your H's drinking would not have an effect there. Also, apologies if this post is a little incoherent... It's still early out here on the west coast!

BooksForMe23 · January 2016

@PeggyOlsonFTW I totally agree, so I feel like I'm giving him mixed messages. "Yes, honey, you need to cut back. No, honey, I don't want to hold off TTGP." I feel like I don't have my head on straight

@RiverSong15 That's a really good point about his grieving process that I didn't even think of. He has a tendency to blame himself for pretty much anything. I will try to call my doctor and see what they say. Thanks for the info about the genetic testing as well.

alanna3622 · January 2016

So much compassion for you and your DH.

There is a huge difference between lifestyle factors that promote fertility and thinking that lifestyle factors (esp for the father!) could somehow cause a miscarriage.

The other ladies'responses cover it all, just wanted to chime in and say that I hope you can get him to see it was not his fault. Poor guy.

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