Ask Your Bartender: Drinking While Pregnant, It’s Cool, Right?
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007
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Hey Bartender
My girlfriend and I are currently trying to get pregnant. My question for you is, is it okay for her to drink in the first trimester? I have heard that this is the safe period when you can have a drink (not too much of course!) and wanted to get your take on it.
Thanks!
HD
Hey Bartender
I’m expecting a child in the next few weeks. My doctor told me that it would be fine to have a glass of red wine on occasion. I’d like to know if there are any other lower-alcohol drinks you’d recommend for someone who is expecting. Many thanks!
Steph
Hey HD and Steph
There are more myths out there surrounding alcohol and pregnancy than you’ll find regarding alcohol and just about anything else. But the truth of the matter is this: Drinking any alcohol at all during pregnancy is really, really dangerous.
In 1973, doctors at the University of Washington named a pattern of physical and mental birth defects belonging to children whose mothers were alcoholics Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Their groundbreaking research (prior to this, it was pretty much believed that such birth nomalies were purely hereditary) opened the doors to worldwide studies concerning the connection between birth defects and alcohol consumption during pregnancy. It was at this time that FAS was named as the leading cause of mental retardation.
On average, FAS children are 30 IQ points below normal expectations.
So, what other harm to the baby can be caused by drinking while pregnant? Well, how about…
- Deformed bones, head and face
- Stunted growth
- Learning disabilities and lower IQ
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Behavioral and psychological problems
- Poor physical coordination
- Heart defects
- Lower birth weight
- Small head size
- Miscarriage
…to name a few.
Scary, huh? Not as scary as the plethora of misinformation out there - and a lot of it is coming from actual physicians not yet familiar with the latest research.
“So are some drinks safer than others? My doctor said I should stick to red wine.” Not at all. A 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, or a 1.5-ounce shot of tequila, they all contain about the same amount of ethyl alcohol. The rest is mainly water and flavoring, kids. Red wine carries a lot of health mystiques these days, but don’t be fooled: red wine is still just booze.
“Are certain times safer than others? My doctor said that it’s okay to drink during the [whatever] trimester.” No, alcohol places a baby at risk throughout the entire pregnancy:
- Many physical deformities occur primarily in the first trimester.
- Drinking during the second trimester has been listed as a cause of miscarriage.
- Small size and poor physical coordination are both results of drinking in the third trimester.
- And alcohol can interfere with brain development during all three trimesters.
“My friend drank occasionally when she was pregnant and her child looks fine.”Drinking any alcohol during pregnancy is like playing Russian Roulette with the lifelong welfare of the child. Risk for alcohol-related damage increases with each pregnancy, and can occur any time a woman drinks while pregnant.
“But I’m not an alcoholic, I just want to have an occasional drink.” FAS is the most severe result of drinking during pregnancy, but represents only a small fraction of Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE) which are much more widespread. FAS is usually apparent in infancy but the problems of other FAE children often do not appear until later in life:
- FAE kids in pre-school can have abnormal facial features, small stature, experience slow development, hyperactivity, and poor physical coordination
- School-age children with FAE can experience learning problems, distractibility, poor attention, poor memory, and impulsiveness
- Teenagers show an inability to adapt and learn from experience, social immaturity, lack friendships, and tend to be early school drop-outs
- Adults with FAE experience joblessness, sexual and other criminal offenses, alcohol and drug problems, poor judgment, mental health problems, and premature death.
So what can you do to avoid these problems? Don’t drink! I know it’s much harder than it sounds, but with support from friends and family, and - most importantly - your partner (I’m looking at you, HD, I always encourage the partner to abstain as well) it can go much more smoothly.
And what’s a non-drinking couple supposed to do for fun? Well, I’m glad you asked. My good friend Natalie over at The Liquid Muse has been developing a whole line of what she’s calling Preggatinis, which are brilliant non-alcoholic concoctions specially designed for pregnant couples taking a break from alcohol.
Good luck, HD and Steph!
14 Aug 2007 at 11:36 am 1. Jacob Grier
While the dangers of FAS are certainly real, my understanding is that the studies that have been done have only found significant effects for binge or sustained drinking. I’m not aware of known risks for consuming very moderate amounts of alcohol, especially in the later terms of a pregnancy. This is not something I’ve really researched, so please correct me if I’m wrong.
Of course I’d never advise a mother who was worried about drinking to do so anyway, but it seems to be stretching the evidence to so strongly advise against an occasional drink for mothers who are comfortable with it.
14 Aug 2007 at 12:22 pm 2. Jeffrey
Jacob
There is no proven safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
Because mother and baby share the same blood supply, when a pregnant woman drinks, so does her baby - which has millions of rapidly developing cells that can be destroyed by alcohol.
14 Aug 2007 at 12:48 pm 3. Jacob Grier
Jeffrey,
That’s exactly my point. There has been much less research on the effects of small amounts of alcohol than there has been on the effects of heavy drinking. The studies that I have seen don’t show significant risks. This isn’t terribly surprising — lots of chemicals that are toxic at high dosages are non-toxic or even beneficial in low doses. So sure, there’s no proven safe level of alcohol for a pregnant woman. But I’m also not aware of any evidence that an occasional drink is dangerous. I think your post would be more accurate if it included a reasonable look at known risks along with the worst-case scenarios and let women make up their own minds.
14 Aug 2007 at 2:14 pm 4. Marleigh
I’m so glad there’s a man around with a superior intellect to stand up for we stupid women who can’t read a blog post advocating not drinking during pregnancy without being brainwashed by it!
Phew. To think, being an adult means I could actually read someone’s opinion AND think about it AND make up my own mind. The world is so advanced for we girls these days…
14 Aug 2007 at 2:22 pm 5. Audrey
Mom of two here.
Mom and baby do not share a blood supply. They each have their own. They exchange nutrition and gas but are separate. Take it from a woman who had two RhoGAM shots per child.
I think this is a reflection of the insanity around pregnancy and child-rearing these days. Yes, we can go nuts, never eating tuna for fear of mercury, never using vanilla for the alcohol content, never drinking decaf coffee for fear of the caffeine content or the chemicals involved in the decaffeination process, never eating peanuts for fear of allergies… You’d have to live in a bubble and never do anything. And pregnant women will find themselves doing that if they do everything they’re “supposed” to do.
By the time I was 2 weeks late, my OB’s opinion was, “Honey, you’re so stressed out and miserable, that’s having more of an impact on the baby than 2 oz of beer to help you relax.” By the time you’ve stopped drinking for 6 or 7 or 8 months 2 oz is plenty anyway.
A sip here or there isn’t going to hurt anyone, IMO. It will do much less harm than embracing “pregnancy insanity” and being nervous, miserable and frightened for 9 (10) months!
14 Aug 2007 at 2:26 pm 6. Jeffrey
Sorry, everyone. I don’t want to come off as trying to take a moral high-ground. I’m a bartender, after all, and my livelihood depends on, well, basically selling people poison (albeit poison that, in moderation, can be part of an active and healthy lifestyle)
My point is that there are a lot of people out there who don’t know the potential dangers of alcohol, so I just wanted to take a minute away from writing about the joys of orange bitters and freshly-squeezed juices and drop some other information on ya.
Jeff
14 Aug 2007 at 2:38 pm 7. Jacob Grier
Hey, no worries. There’s some good info here, and fwiw I think you’ve still got one of the highest “hit to waste of time ratios” of just about any blogger I read.
14 Aug 2007 at 2:41 pm 8. Jeffrey
LOL - Thanks, Jacob. I’ll try not to let it go to my head!
14 Aug 2007 at 2:56 pm 9. Marleigh
Jeffrey,
I liked your post. I’d much rather read you advocating abstinence during pregnancy than telling everyone that “moderation” (it being a vague, mutable term) is totally fine.
15 Aug 2007 at 2:20 am 10. Daf
Well said Jeffrey, I think the main point here is that “there is no proven safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy” and I’ll stick to that. For the past 5 months that I’m pregnant I’ve quit alcohol and it’s not that I don’t miss it. After all it’s a good detox for me since I’ve been a real ‘party animal’ before my pregnancy. I’ll check out for sure those preggatinis..
15 Aug 2007 at 8:28 am 11. Matt Scherer
I am not sure what some of your respondents are reading, but I know that the Air Force has done some significant studies on the impact of alcohol and impending motherhood.
15 Aug 2007 at 10:10 pm 12. McAuliflower
:sigh:
this is such a mine-field.
While I regard you to be an expert in respect to alcohol, a bartender does not a medical doctor make. Heck, even most medical doctors are not studied enough to prepare women for childbirth.
Your advice is sound for heavy to regular drinkers during pregnancy, however it has not been shown that all levels of alcohol introduced during pregnancy are detrimental.
16 Aug 2007 at 6:11 am 13. Charles
My two cents on the matter.
1. As a psychologist — who worked for 5 years with children in residential treatment centers. FAS sucks, big time. We had kids with early onset schizophrenia, kids whos parents used crack, kids from abusive homes, and by far the most difficult to control were the kids with FAS. Hands down. No drink or period of relaxation is worth that toss of the dice. Want to relax? Get a massage.
2. As a parent — Parenting is sacrifice, learn it now and learn it well. 9 - 12 months with no beer, what a pitty. I haven’t gone to the bathroom or taken a shower with the door closed for 4 years. I pay more than $600 a month for part-time child care. I have *never* finished an entire bowl of ice cream by my self. And, now that both my kids are out of the womb, after they go to bed, the wife and I can share a beer while ruminating about the real sacrifices of parenting.
16 Aug 2007 at 8:02 am 14. Jeffrey
While a bartender does not a medical doctor make, I did have the good fortune to work for four years as a research assistant at Oregon Research Institute, in cooperation with the University of New Mexico, on a project dealing with FAS and public knowledge.
While I wasn’t in direct contact with the folks down in the trenches doing the medical research, the scientists I worked for were constantly making sure they had the most up-to-date information on the subject.
During my time working there, I learned that while it has not been shown that all levels of alcohol introduced during pregnancy are detrimental, it has been proven that alcohol is what’s called a teratogen (a chemical, disease or element known to detrimentally affect a fetus), so there’s no way it can be considered 100% safe.
Mercury is a teratogen. So is cocaine. And German measles. The thing is, nobody is suggesting that low-levels of these things might be okay because they’re not socially acceptable in the way alcohol is.
I know it’s a mine-field, but:
Cheers.
16 Aug 2007 at 8:10 am 15. Michael Dietsch
The food blogger Meg Hourihan published a thoughtful and extensive post a couple of weeks ago about what she ate while pregnant.
http://www.megnut.com/2007/07/how-i-ate-while-pregnant
The comments on that post are very thoughtful and enlightening, and I think her post provides a good complement to yours, Jeffrey.
She doesn’t specifically discuss alcohol in the post, but she does mention it in a comment. She mostly talks about some of the other things that an expectant mother “shouldn’t” risk, such as soft cheeses, deli meats, shellfish, and tuna.
It is sad, however, how many women report getting hassled by strangers for having had a glass of wine in a restaurant while pregnant. Then there’s the woman who was buying a six pack of beer FOR HER HUSBAND and got scolded by the clerk. As if that clerk has never sold beer to someone who then drove drunk.
16 Aug 2007 at 9:07 am 16. canary
charles said it w/his #2.
and, come on, you ask a bartender for approval to drink while pregnant? I would HOPE s/he would respond like jeffrey has.
16 Aug 2007 at 11:25 am 17. Michele
Is it really that hard to NOT drink for nine months regardless of what may or may not happen to the unborn?
I mean really? Are these women that dependent on alcohol that they can’t wait?
If you really need your fix of some froofroo drink any good bartender can hook you up with something non-alcoholic.
If that won’t do it for you and you must have that alcohol, find a GOOD doctor and park your a$$ in rehab until the urge passes or that baby is born.
There is always going to be some study that will say that another study is bogus. Go LOOK at those babies that were born to mothers that drank during pregnancy (the only abnormal thing they did) and see for yourself.
As always, this is MY OPINION. And yes, I have two children. I never took a drink of alcohol with either one. My mother drank with my older brother and he is a blithering idiot.. see???
16 Aug 2007 at 12:27 pm 18. Jeffrey
I swear the above commenter is not my younger sister.
Jeff
16 Aug 2007 at 4:26 pm 19. Michele
Well of course I’m not your younger sister.. because I am older.. if only by a months
26 Aug 2007 at 10:12 am 20. Mata
Great article and very informative. Ok so some of it was a bit strong but who cares - you shouldn’t drink while pregnant! It’s only 9 months!!! Save the drinking for AFTER and believe me if you’re a drinker you’ll drink AFTER many times! You know there’s so much to worry and think about while pregnant that one has NO control over so feel good and control the few things you know will help your pregnancy and baby: watch what you eat, exercise, be good to yourself and DO NOT DRINK! Easy!
30 Aug 2007 at 12:09 pm 21. Anonymous
I’m curious if you have ever had an incident where you were asked to serve alcohol to a pregnant woman. Is it your place to refuse to serve her?
28 Sep 2007 at 1:44 pm 22. Jake
I can’t even tell you all how quickly I would fire a doctor if they told me or my fiance that she could drink during pregnancy. Despite a general lack of research into exactly how much alcohol a person can drink before a significant threat is posed, what kind of person would even be willing to take that kind of chance? The effects of FES are irreversible, crippling, and varied.
The most cliched tenet of the medical profession is “do no harm”, but there’s an extremely good reason it’s repeated so often. To tell a parent they can inbibe alcohol, even if it’s in minute amounts, is to create the potential for harm, and thus is reprehensible and irresponsible.
15 Oct 2007 at 4:37 pm 23. Christina
This post is great overall (especially laying out what the risks are in each trimester) but, like Jacob and McAuliflower, I object to your saying having even the occasional drink is like playing Russian Roulette.
“Mercury is a teratogen. … The thing is, nobody is suggesting that low-levels of these things might be okay because they’re not socially acceptable in the way alcohol is.”
That would be a great point to support your argument except that, in the case of mercury in fish, the food guidelines for pregnancy do suggest what very low levels of mercury are okay because the benefit of protein and DHA and other good fatty acids in fish outweigh the risk. And as with alcohol there’s controversy over what level of fish consumption is safe: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007395.html
I agree that drinking during pregnancy is risky but it’s impossible to eliminate risk and I’m not convinced by the scientific evidence that total abstinence is necessary. If I really wanted to reduce risk to my unborn child I’d be avoiding driving in cars rather than abstaining from a weekly glass of wine. But the two or three tiny sips of wine I’ve had while pregnant made it evident my taste buds aren’t into it right now so I’m teetotaling despite not thinking it’s necessary.
In the spring the UK released new guidelines advocating total abstinence from alcohol, but a recent news report (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7039249.stm) said they’re likely to go back to a safe in moderation approach:
“Pregnant women can safely drink a small glass of wine a day, official advice is set to say.”
Anyone who wants to bang on about how reprehensible and irresponsible it is to adopt a (measurably) moderate but non-abstinent approach to alcohol during pregnancy should read this article on how much of the advice to pregnant women is unscientific:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2089968,00.html
05 Dec 2007 at 5:14 am 24. ND
Hmm… I stand totally under correction here, but as far as I’m aware, mother and baby have totally separate blood systems (and can—and often do—even have totally different blood types). In any case, any woman who’s not willing to forgo drinking for the health of her child must be suffering from FAS, eh?