Drinking while pregnant--- child abuse?

[nicolemomof4cuties]

No, I don't believe anyone has ever heard of that.

don't have better things to do, eh?

I kept it short and sweet the first time but I have my degree in Childhood Development. We do a large unit on this very subject and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. I did not realize that someone had already posted a little about it. I did not want to get started on it because I become very upset after seeing the side effect that alcohol has on children. I had a FAS child in my dacare and he had alot of problems. He will never be able to do what other children even near his age can do. His mother really wishes that she could reverse time but alas, time only goes one way. Doesn't it?

 

[alizesmom]

Someone please define moderation. It is different to everyone. The thing is no one knows. There is no clear answer and may never be. That said, I'm doing the cowardly thing and unsubscribing from this tread. This is no longer an attempt to understand or learn. People are bashing each other. Karen

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Hey you can be mad at me all you want. I just find this particular action disgusting. We all have our hot buttons and this one is one of mine. I am just arguing my point. Here is an article from the American Pregnacy Association.


When you consume alcohol, so does your baby. Alcohol freely passes through the placenta to your baby. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy increases the chance that a baby will be born who is affected by a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) are the full spectrum of birth defects that are caused by prenatal alcohol exposure. These effects are life-long and irreversible. The good thing is that they are 100% preventable.

Facts About Alcohol:
Alcohol is a teratogen. Teratogen is a substance known to be harmful to human development.

Alcohol crosses the placenta to your baby. When you drink alcohol, so does your baby. Therefore, alcohol can be harmful to your baby's development.

All drinks that contain alcohol can be harmful to your baby. There is no safe amount of alcohol to consume while you are pregnant. It is best to discuss any drinking patterns with your health care provider.

How does alcohol affect my baby's development?
Your baby is constantly growing and developing throughout these nine months. During the first four weeks of pregnancy your baby's heart, central nervous system, eyes, arms and legs are developing. Your baby's brain begins developing around the third week and continues to develop through the rest of your pregnancy. During the third trimester your baby is rapidly growing in size. If you consume an excessive amount of alcohol during these crucial times of development, you may cause problems for your baby.

Results of excessive amounts of drinking (drinking on a regular basis or binge drinking) can lead to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Fetal Alcohol Effects. These are lifetime, irreversible effects that can cause physical, mental and neurobehavioral birth defects.

What if I drank alcohol before I knew I was pregnant?
If you were not aware that you were pregnant and drank alcohol, the best thing you can do now is STOP drinking. The sooner you quit, the better. If you stop drinking now, the chances of damage are decreased.

Is there any safe amount of alcohol to drink?
There is no known amount of alcohol that is safe to consume during pregnancy, but the more you drink, the more you raise your baby's chances of having problems.



Like I said earler. Do what you want but I will never agree on this topic. You will not be able to sway me. For me a medical degree does not make you the second coming of Christ. Oh and for those who insist that alcohol stops labor I have heard just the opposite. If you want to go into labor relax with a nice glass of wine and you should be having contractions before you know it. That is what I have always heard. I have never done it so I don't know if it's true but my point is that while you might have been told it slows down labor myself and many others have been told it speeds it up. So who is right? Should we compare our doctor's degrees? So hey, if you want to drink a 5th of Scotch then cheers! I don't agree with it. I just can't. So let's just agree to disagree?

 

[bluefairy13]

It's funny but even though I agree you shouldn't be drinking while pregnant (my doctor told me I could have a glass of wine in the last month and I did, though) and think that education about this is important, something about the anti-drinking lobby just yanks my chain. I don't know why.

It just seems like there are those that won't rest until it is illegal for all of us.

 

[chobie]

Hey you can be mad at me all you want. I just find this particular action disgusting. We all have our hot buttons and this one is one of mine. I am just arguing my point.

Like I said earler. Do what you want but I will never agree on this topic. You will not be able to sway me. For me a medical degree does not make you the second coming of Christ. Oh and for those who insist that alcohol stops labor I have heard just the opposite. If you want to go into labor relax with a nice glass of wine and you should be having contractions before you know it. That is what I have always heard. I have never done it so I don't know if it's true but my point is that while you might have been told it slows down labor myself and many others have been told it speeds it up. So who is right? Should we compare our doctor's degrees? So hey, if you want to drink a 5th of Scotch then cheers! I don't agree with it. I just can't. So let's just agree to disagree?

First of all, no one is mad at you. They are merely pointing out that they will take their doctor's advice over some person with a strong opinion on the Disboard.

Being hyperbolic and comparing drinking a 5th of scotch with an occasional glass of wine after clearing it with one's doctor, does not help you argue your point.

 

[rie'smom]

It's funny but even though I agree you shouldn't be drinking while pregnant (my doctor told me I could have a glass of wine in the last month and I did, though) and think that education about this is important, something about the anti-drinking lobby just yanks my chain. I don't know why.

It just seems like there are those that won't rest until it is illegal for all of us.

First of all, no one is mad at you. They are merely pointing out that they will take their doctor's advice over some person with a strong opinion on the Disboard.

Being hyperbolic and comparing drinking a 5th of scotch with an occasional glass of wine after clearing it with one's doctor, does not help you argue your point.

Thank-you. It annoys the begeezus out of me when people try to impose their stringent beliefs. I say, whatever flips your switch. No one will change anyone else's mind on an online chat board.

 

[MomNeedsVacay]

It seems like more women than not have had a small amount of alcohol while preggers. It also seems to me that most of these women don't have a "drinking problem". I have never heard of any woman saying, "I just had ONE glass of wine a month my whole pregnancy, and somehow my child ended up with FAS." It doesn't happen in moderation. Does FAS exist? sure. Were the women who caused the FAS drinking one glass of wine a month? Heck no! They were drinking a lot more than that.
We don't know exactly how much is too much, nor will we ever because every woman's body type, weight, history, tolerance is different. I agree that it is better to be safe than sorry, but to call women who have one glass of wine/month during pregnancy abusive is absurd.

 

[jodifla]

Well, I've stayed away from this thread until now, but here goes:

Arguments like this one and many others on the board are one of the reasons I thought long and hard before becoming a parent.

You really can't win as a woman...there will always be someone judging you for whatever you do, and the list for pregnant women is becoming so long and so hysterical that I'm surprised when anyone can enjoy their pregnancy (No caffeine, no smoking, no soda, no deli meats, no seafood, no hot dogs, no peanut butter, no smoking, no alcohol, no rides at WDW, no hot tubs, no long baths, no snorkeling etc. etc. etc.)

And if it's not bad enough you have all that playing around in your head, then you have complete strangers thinking they have the right to tell you what to do. It's a dangerous, slippery slope to women losing control of their rights, all in the name of what's allegedly good for a fetus.

And it's a false argument to say it's only 9 months, or whatever. Because it's the time you are trying to get pregnant, (3 years for me) and the time you're breastfeeding as well (because you don't want to ABUSE your child by not breastfeeding, for heaven's sake.)

In my case, I didn't get pregnant until I stopped paying attention to the gazillion pregnancy rules, started drinking my cosmos and manhattans again, and in general started enjoying life a bit.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Thank-you. It annoys the begeezus out of me when people try to impose their stringent beliefs. I say, whatever flips your switch. No one will change anyone else's mind on an online chat board.

I'm not imposing my beliefs on you or anyone. I am giving my opinion. I don't care one way or another what you chose to do. Like I said earlier, it's not my place even if I don't agree.

 

[rie'smom]

I was making a statement and was not directing this post at you.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

First of all, no one is mad at you. They are merely pointing out that they will take their doctor's advice over some person with a strong opinion on the Disboard.

Being hyperbolic and comparing drinking a 5th of scotch with an occasional glass of wine after clearing it with one's doctor, does not help you argue your point.

Again- it is up to you to decide what is right for you. I gave my opinion. As far as mentioning a 5th a scotch, I was just making a generalization like saying of you want to eat a box of oreos everyday then knock yourself out. I wasn't suggesting it was the same thing, merely saying that it is your choice. I did want to point out that I did not give an opinion either way as to whether I think it is abuse. I can't say that I feel strong enough either way to call it abuse or not abuse. KWIM? I mean, I don't agree with it at all but I don't really know if you could categorize it as abuse. Abuse is such a strong word. I suppose each situation is different. I am not trying to offend anyone and I understand where people are coming from saying that their doctor said it was okay etc., but I just wish people wouldn't always think that what a doctor says is the end all be all. They get it wrong sometimes too. They are human. Anyway- I wish all of you the best in whatever choices you make as I really think we all just try to do the best that we know how.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I was making a statement and was not directing this post at you.

Sorry.

 

[Spidey7]

Not to make light of a serious subject, (and I do think that more than a glass of wine is not cool, and that's pushing it) did you see the show (I think it was punked) where this attractive girl was at a bar. She was getting trashed drunk and chain smoking while more or less trying to pick up this guy. The guy was biting and was interested until she stands up and out from the bar so he could see she was pregnant. He freaks becasue she was acting like such a train wreck of a drunken louse. I forget how it ended up but it was pretty funny (She wasn't really pregnant obviously, just a joke.)

 

[NMAmy]

It's the scare with listeria. Actually both are fine if heated completely (steaming). Some claim nitrates or something in hot dogs are bad for you, but I eat kosher only (taste preference) which have far fewer of those in there than regular hot dogs. Listeria is rare, but could kill a baby.

Thank you for clueing me in. Since my "baby" will be 17 next month, things have changed a lot since I was pregnant.

I also ate peanut butter every day AND an entire bag of Oreos in one sitting. My ex ratted me out on the Oreos to my OB and was a bit disappointed when my OB told him, "Leave her alone. She's underweight, doesn't drink or smoke, and gave up caffeine. If she wants a bag of Oreos, get the heck out of her way."

The "rules" for pregnancy change all the time.

 

[helenabear]

Thank you for clueing me in. Since my "baby" will be 17 next month, things have changed a lot since I was pregnant.

I also ate peanut butter every day AND an entire bag of Oreos in one sitting. My ex ratted me out on the Oreos to my OB and was a bit disappointed when my OB told him, "Leave her alone. She's underweight, doesn't drink or smoke, and gave up caffeine. If she wants a bag of Oreos, get the heck out of her way."

The "rules" for pregnancy change all the time.

Yes they do change all the time! The listeria is not one that some worry about. The chances of getting it are rare. I usually only like my sandwiches grilled so it isn't much of an issue for me (currently pregnant). To make you feel better, I have not been told one thing about PB though. Not sure why people keep mentioning that one.

One thing my doctor focused more on that I actually listened to is about artificial sweeteners. Talk about a chemical that we don't always know enough about.

I like your doctor though Mine sides with me like that as well

 

[MomNeedsVacay]

Yes they do change all the time! The listeria is not one that some worry about. The chances of getting it are rare. I usually only like my sandwiches grilled so it isn't much of an issue for me (currently pregnant). To make you feel better, I have not been told one thing about PB though. Not sure why people keep mentioning that one.

One thing my doctor focused more on that I actually listened to is about artificial sweeteners. Talk about a chemical that we don't always know enough about.

I like your doctor though Mine sides with me like that as well

Yeah...whats up with peanut butter????????????????????

 

[MomNeedsVacay]

ok....I just googled peanut butter and pregnancy.
There is a theory linking pregnant women contributing to their unborn's possible peanut allergies if consuming large amounts of peanut butter...Hm....news to me!

 

[helenabear]

ok....I just googled peanut butter and pregnancy.
There is a theory linking pregnant women contributing to their unborn's possible peanut allergies if consuming large amounts of peanut butter...Hm....news to me!

Oh, that's news to me! I did hear it for breastfeeding though. Of course I heard it for giving the babies PB at too young of an age as well. I'll stick with what my OB said though. PB can be a very good thing to eat in the 1st trimester if you are having trouble keeping food down

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

HEY, Don't make me turn this thread around!!

Can't we all just get along?

I see both sides now and I am more confused that when it started.

I think I need a drink! (ohh, wait, I didn't mean.. Noooooo...)

o.k. o.k.

I just have a turkey sandwich! WHAT?, nooooooooo.......

 

[3jsmommy]

I saw this TV special I think on discovery channel called "In The Womb" I was really touched by it. It shows a simulated fetus throughout pregnancy & in amazing detail describes the babies physical well being while in "the womb".

What I do not get about this discussion is the lack of conversation about the immediate effects of alcohol on that tiny baby. I am hearing a lot of long term effect statements, but what about the fact that your fetus could be drunk inside of you because of those 2 (moderate) glasses of wine?
Is that O.k. that your baby has a blood alcohol level?
Does it bother you that your baby could be on the verge of being wasted?
Just because you do not see the baby do you not acknowledge this?
Would it be o.k. if I gave my 1 week old a bottle of formula spiked w/ alcohol & propped him up & shut the door? I wouldn't have to see the effects then either.
I DO NOT think this is a case of "mommy wars"
I do think it can be abuse.
Just because we are talking about alcohol being given in utero people jump on the pregnant woman's rights band wagon, well if you need to have alcohol that bad that not having it is infringing on your rights then you have a problem.
The posters who have said they needed it because of different medical reasons I am not referring to you.
I do not think being stressed is a good reason though, like MouseHouse Mamma said there are other alternatives, Talk therapy, yoga, change of lifestyle, come on!
To the Mom(can't remember your screen name) who adopted the baby that was born an addict, God bless you & your little boy, you must be a very amazing person to take on what you did.

ETA- my OB told me that while I was trying to get preg. not to have ANY alcohol after I knew I ovulated...I guess all Dr.'s are different!