Drinking while pregnant

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

Oh give it a rest

I actually had a wonderful night of sleep and am well rested. I believe that a good nights sleep is an important part of a healthy life. But I do thank you for your concern!

I'm in total agreement..but I'm also not going to lie and preach as though I've never done it.

I was just unclear on how you stood. Now I know your position, in theory.

 

[Galahad]

OK so the waitress messed up and was "out of line". Does she deserve to lose her job over her transgression?

 

[KarenAylwood]

I think in reference to when alcholol could do the most damage perhaps in affecting fetal development.

Yes, that's what I meant. No need to jump down my throat Galahad.

 

[adamak]

I found that in general, people freaked out about things they have no ideas about. A glass of wine aint' going to kill baby. But if you're drinking a couple each day, that's a different story. People shouldn't look at you like you're an alcoholic just because you have 1 glass.
Now I raise my eyebrow when I see some pregnant women who ate extremely unhealthly. I mean, junk food, dozens of dougnuts, tubs of soda. That will have to be more harmful than a glass of wine in the long term, don't you think?

 

[Galahad]

Yes, that's what I meant. No need to jump down my throat Galahad.

I know. She corrected me and I said "ah...carry on". Never intended it to be jumping down anybody's throat. It wasn't clear to me from your post that you were limiting the statement about the first trimester to the alcohol question. Didn't want that to hang out there if it was meant to be more general. Sorry for the trouble.....

 

[chobie]

MIL drank and smoked through 4 pregnancies. She only produced one MD, one JD, and 3 PhDs. DM never smoked or drank, and I'm the only college educated one in the bunch; one brother does own his own business, but the rest of us always worked for someone else.

Yes, but maybe if your MIL hadn't of drank while pregnant, her children would have grown up to become models.

 

[froglady]

Yes, but maybe if your MIL hadn't of drank while pregnant, her children would have grown up to become models.

The twins were cheerleaders; does that count?

 

[Kahana-ri]

Wow-I would of been livid! My midwife said it was fine to have an occasional glass of wine while pregnant. Its even more ridiculous she said anything since as you said you asked for the glass to taste the wine - not guzzle the bottle.

 

[Galahad]

The twins were cheerleaders; does that count?

DW was a cheerleader AND is an MD (though she hated being a cheerleader - her mom made her). Though I don't think MIL smoked. Heck I don't think she even got dirty while she was pregnant.

 

[Marseeya]

Yes, but maybe if your MIL hadn't of drank while pregnant, her children would have grown up to become models.

A lofty goal, indeed!

 

[Davids-Coco]

OK so the waitress messed up and was "out of line". Does she deserve to lose her job over her transgression?

Just chiming in... the waitress was definately out of line, but she probably doesn't deserve to be fired. As long as the manager makes sure that she has been told her actions were inappropreate. If it is a continuing problem or if it continues and she has been warned, then that is a different matter. Continuing behavor issues after a warning are always grounds for termination.

Beyond that, I just have to reiterate that so much has changed over the years. My grandmother was given morphine and cocaine for pain during labor at the hospital; my mother was told to go home, drink alcohol, and take a hot bath to get labor going. Who knows what they will tell me!

 

[CamColt]

DH used to be a waiter and a bartender so I brought up this situation to him. He said he definitely would have brought 2 glasses to the table. It wouldnt be his job to judge or worry about someone elses baby, just to serve the customers what they wanted.

Personally I drank once with both my pregnancies, before I knew I was pregnant. With one I was having signs that I wasn't pregnant so I had a couple drinks with dinner. Those signs turned out to be wrong. I also drank diet coke in moderation, as ok'd by my OB. Everything else was making me nauseous so it's good that it was ok. My kids have turned out fine.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

With the high cost of medical malpractice insurance, I rather doubt that any oby/gyn is going to tell you that you can have a glass of wine without harming the fetus unless he/she is absolutely sure. Imagine the lawsuits if people felt that the oby/gyn's comments caused a miscarriage or a damaged child.

Actually there are many things that can affect a pregnancy that we do in everyday life.

Cigarrettes have been PROVEN to do harm--so to suggest otherwise would be irresponsible with docs.

The problem with Alchohol is that it cannot be proven how little is okay and how much is too much. No way to do a study on it. Miscarriages in general aren't easily diagnosed as to why they occurred unless there is a specific anomaly in mom (in regards to a preexisting condition) that caused is.

It is safest to say to not drink at all--but there will be very little evidence to support that drinking that one glass of wine specifically caused a problem with the baby resulting in death or physical defect or mental defect. The only known thing (I believe--please correct me if I am wrong) is FAS. That cannot happen unless alcholol was introduced. So if doc ok'd one drink a week...or blessed that champagne toast at a wedding or on NYE--and the baby developed FAS--that could be proven.

Same deal with changing kitty litter (with gloves and mask), your prenatal vitamins, antidepressants--etc etc.

Pregnancy is such a miracle...doctors know how to make the best environment possible...but something bad can happen even if you treat yourself as perfectly as possible while pregnant and something good can happen despite a bunch of things you shouldn't have done when you didn't know you were pregnant or before doc's recommended against it.

 

[mum4jenn]

Ok....I think the waitress should have handled it differently but I do not drink(well maybe a strawberry daq once every 9-10 years) so I did not drink alchohol with my pregnancy. I am pretty sure my Dr said not to but since I don't it did not bother me.


The hard part was the no caffeine. I did the best I could with that but you know what????Everytime I had felt my baby move for a few days and I went to the Dr and then when they did weekly non-stress tests they ALWAYS gave me a pepsi or mt.dew to get the baby to move!!! I always had to laugh at that!!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The big bummer--chocolate has caffeine . Now that is just evil!!!

')

 

[Principessa1284]

Well.. when my mother was pregnant with me, she was told to have a glass or two of wine or beer each week. (that was more than 20 years ago) *shrug* i came out just dandy with a 9 and 10 on the apgar. My sister was 5 months before she even knew she was pregnant! (when you're friend still comes to visit one week a month, who's going to question it?) She was quite the partier then and consumed a large quantity of alcohol. As soon as she found out what was causing all that puking, she stopped. Her little DD came out perfect and is one of the smartest 4 year olds I have ever met (perhaps TOO smart sometimes.)

Should the waitress lose her job? Perhaps, but if not she should have been SORELY reprimanded (sp?). What if she refused to serve a morbidly obese woman that double fudge mocha brownie sundae, saying she wasn't going to contribute to her death by heart attack? When you work in a customer service industry, you DON'T talk to people like that. At some jobs, it would be a mandatory termination or at least suspension. Leave comments like that to the kitchen and let the woman have her d*mn glass.

 

[tiggersmom2]

Well.. when my mother was pregnant with me, she was told to have a glass or two of wine or beer each week. (that was more than 20 years ago) *shrug* i came out just dandy with a 9 and 10 on the apgar. My sister was 5 months before she even knew she was pregnant! (when you're friend still comes to visit one week a month, who's going to question it?) She was quite the partier then and consumed a large quantity of alcohol. As soon as she found out what was causing all that puking, she stopped. Her little DD came out perfect and is one of the smartest 4 year olds I have ever met (perhaps TOO smart sometimes.)

Should the waitress lose her job? Perhaps, but if not she should have been SORELY reprimanded (sp?). What if she refused to serve a morbidly obese woman that double fudge mocha brownie sundae, saying she wasn't going to contribute to her death by heart attack? When you work in a customer service industry, you DON'T talk to people like that. At some jobs, it would be a mandatory termination or at least suspension. Leave comments like that to the kitchen and let the woman have her d*mn glass.

I agree. I'm sure there are much more health problems and deaths caused from bad eating habits than embryos hurt from Mom's occasional alcoholic drink.

 

[CamColt]

Cigarrettes have been PROVEN to do harm--so to suggest otherwise would be irresponsible with docs.

Actually I had a friend whose doctor told her to continue smoking, but just cut back and eventually taper off. She smoked so much before her pregnancy that if she were to quite cold turkey, the withdrawal would have been worse for the baby than a few cigarettes. For the discalimer, I'm not a doctor, and I have no medical evidence backing that up, but thats what her doctor told her.

 

[Mskanga]

I would have had a field day speaking to the manager.
Come to think of it I remember when I was visibly pregnant with my first one I went to the deli that we always used to go to get cigarettes for my husband. The lady went to me , you know ? you shouldn't be smoking. I looked at her and said , and how do you know they are for me? The manager heard that and got mad at her for such a remark , she told her that the cigarettes were for my husband ( she knew him ) and she shouldn't say things like that without knowing.

 

[Marseeya]

Actually I had a friend whose doctor told her to continue smoking, but just cut back and eventually taper off. She smoked so much before her pregnancy that if she were to quite cold turkey, the withdrawal would have been worse for the baby than a few cigarettes. For the discalimer, I'm not a doctor, and I have no medical evidence backing that up, but thats what her doctor told her.

My OB/GYN with my first son told me that as well, and this was in 1991. I went ahead and quit cold turkey, though, because I knew I would never be able to just taper off.