http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101006085242.htm
The study just epidemiological, so you can’t definitely draw cause/effect conclusions (it would be totally unethical to do a RCT on drinking and pregnancy, so this is probably the best we can do), but it does show that children of “light drinking” moms actually had less behavioral and intellectual development problems than moms who didn’t drink at all during pregnancy.

This is me (not the authors of the study) speculating now, but I think there’s a pretty good evolutionary reason for small amounts of alcohol not to be a problem. Humans all over the world have been making alcohol for at least 10,000 years (about as long as we’ve had things like farming and domestic animals), so it wouldn’t surprise me if we’ve evolved to tolerate or maybe even utilize certain amounts of alcohol during gestation. Now, I don’t know that this is true; I’m just saying it’s plausible.

Obviously, no one study ever proves anything in science or medicine. But it just goes to show that biological systems are messy and usually more complicated than they seem.

The reason I bring this up is because some women have gotten the “no alcohol” message so well, that when they have learned they were pregant which means they had unwittingly been drinking during early pregancy have considered getting an abortion because they are afraid that their child will have horrible birth defects!

Cheers!

“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

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.

Jeff

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???

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.

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:

• It’s better than not talking about it at all.
• I’ll be back to giving the liquor companies a big hand-job with my next post.

Cheers.

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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…