I never binge drank or got drunk, and I never drank liquor. Still, the waitress wasn't alone in her disdain. Relatives raised eyebrows. Family friends didn't put a wine glass by my place because they assumed I wouldn't be using it.
That's just it: I knew that drinking heavily during pregnancy would be a terrible thing and could cause Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, but I didn't — and still don't — think I was risking my baby's health by drinking small amounts on a sporadic basis.
If I thought I were putting her at risk, I would never have done it. It turns out I'm part of the group of American women who is most likely to have a ceremonial glass of wine during pregnancy. College-educated, employed women in their late 30s I am all of these except that I'm in my early 30s — 31 for most of my pregnancy last year are more likely to "non-binge" drink — a few drinks per week — during pregnancy than any other group. Fourteen percent of pregnant women ages 35 to 44 report drinking in moderation, compared to 7.
That study also found that drinking lightly during pregnancy is also more common among college graduates and employed women — 10 percent of both groups report doing it. The data suggests drinking while expecting is an "elite" thing. For more proof, consider that Patron Saint of Organic Mothers Gwyneth Paltrow sipped Guinness in while pregnant with Apple and got shit for it online.
These we? Because they're "older," they may be more accustomed to having a casual drink at lunch or with dinner, and less willing to give the habit up. Some women are bolstered by family history, recalling that their grandmothers and mothers drank and smoked — and here we all are.
But in my experience, these we? Several foreign studies have all but endorsed low to moderate amounts of alcohol during pregnancy. A much-cited study from the Danish National Birth Cohort , funded in part by the CDC, found having anywhere from 1 to 8 drinks per week at any point throughout the pregnancy had no negative neurological effect on children at age 5. Two prominent studies out of Australia and the U. Heavy drinking, again, revealed harmful cognitive and developmental effects, ranging from low attention span to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
Now the mom of a two-month-old son, she says, "I can go without alcohol for nine months — but absent any conclusive evidence that it's going to harm my baby, I just don't see a good reason to. Pregnant women who drink lightly in don't necessarily feel like rebels who are tempting fate. They simply believe that there is a secret code among them — that an occasional drink really is OK, but it's just too risky for many American doctors to share that with most of their patients.
What if something went wrong and a patient did go overboard? Medical malpractice is at an all-time high. This OB drank in moderation during her own pregnancy, and quietly told friends it was fine to do the same. Those friends are members of the pregnant-drinking demo. While researching her controversial book Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong and What You Really Need to Know , Oster said that many doctors seemed to agree that a random glass of wine on a weekly basis probably isn't harmful, based on anecdotal experience and perhaps the foreign research too.
But she also said she got the impression from doctors that they trust older, professional, more educated women with this inside information because doctors assume those women will actually keep pregnant drinking under wraps, whereas the general population might interpret the OK to have one glass of wine as a slippery slope to have more.
Unfair as that assumption may be, "the concern which was expressed to me over and over again by doctors ," Oster writes in Expecting Better , is "that if you tell people they can have a glass of wine, they'll have three or one giant bowl-o-wine. Better to say you can't have any, as that rule is easy to understand. This is the drumbeat of many pregnant drinkers admittedly, myself included — that they're privy to the inside info that doctors only tell their friends.
A doctor has an ethical duty to inform and advise a pregnant woman on the possible and serious side effects of drinking while pregnant, in a non-judgmental manner.
If necessary, as in the case of alcoholics who may need help to stop drinking, an appropriate intervention may be suggested. S are unintended, making it entirely possible that by the time a woman first learns about prenatal alcohol exposure and FASDs, she is already pregnant. At this point, abstaining from alcohol as early as possible increases the chances that her baby will be unharmed by its effects.
While there is currently no federal law that restricts women from drinking while pregnant, some states have regulations to the effect that substance abuse during pregnancy is child abuse.
Authoritative research has also shown that genetics does play a part in the development of FASDs. This means that some mothers and fetuses have a particular genetic predisposition to these negative effects. Unfortunately, this aspect is currently poorly understood by scientists, making it all the more imperative for complete abstinence.
However, perhaps even more important are factors involving the mother — her genetic background and nutritional status to name just two.
One such example, the L1 cell adhesion molecule, guides the migration of brain cells and the formation of connections between brain cells. Children with mutations in the L1 gene have developmental disabilities and brain malformations, and, importantly, the function of the L1 molecule is also disrupted by concentrations of alcohol that a woman would have in her blood after a single drink.
These kinds of experiments support the view that women who are pregnant or trying to conceive would be safer to abstain from alcohol than to engage in even occasional light drinking.
Absence of proof is not proof of absence. The absence of evidence for developmental abnormalities in women who drink small amounts occasionally during pregnancy does not prove that light drinking is safe. Clinical studies do not have the power to detect small effects of alcohol on brain development, and even significant effects might be missed if the wrong test is used or if testing is conducted at the wrong developmental period.
More practically, it is impossible to assure a mother who drinks lightly during pregnancy that her drinking did not result in a small drop in the IQ of her child. Light drinking is not essential to the health or well-being of a pregnant woman, so why take a chance? A great resource for keeping a baby safe from cradle to college is umbilical cord blood and tissue banking.
Stem cells collected and preserved from the umbilical cord can treat more than 80 conditions now and are being used in countless clinical trials as a treatment option for some of the most prominent conditions we know, such as diabetes and heart disease. At any time during pregnancy, drinking can cause problems such as low birth weight and behavioral issues.
The mom and baby advocacy group March of Dimes state that every pregnancy is different. Some women who drink red wine while pregnant have healthy babies. Others, even those who drink just a small amount of alcohol, have babies with serious health conditions.
The only way to be sure is to avoid alcohol while trying to get pregnant and throughout pregnancy. It can sometimes be difficult to stop drinking red wine during pregnancy. March of Dimes suggest avoiding alcohol by:. Women planning to become pregnant should start avoiding alcohol before attempting to conceive. Alcohol can affect fertility, and it can harm the fetus as soon as conception occurs.
It is best to develop the habit of avoiding alcohol early so that it becomes easier to avoid red wine during pregnancy. Anyone who needs help to stop drinking should speak to their doctor or join a local Alcoholics Anonymous support group. The — U. Dietary Guidelines for Americans note that scientists have linked drinking to motor vehicle crashes, violence, sexual risk behaviors, high blood pressure, and several cancers, including breast cancer. It can also damage the liver, leading to cirrhosis scarring of the liver and causing liver disease.
The guidelines advise that if people are going to drink, they do so in moderation. That means no more than one drink a day for females and a maximum of two drinks a day for males. They also note that pregnant women should not drink red wine or any other kind of alcohol.
Other people who should avoid alcohol altogether include:. People carrying out activities that require coordination or alertness, such as driving a car, should not drink alcohol at all. All alcohol acts in the same way in the body.
Therefore, any type of alcohol, whether it is red wine, beer, or liquor, can potentially harm an unborn baby if a woman consumes it during pregnancy. Women should avoid drinking red wine during pregnancy. There is no safe level of alcohol consumption at this time.
Although some women who drink when pregnant go on to have healthy babies, others who drink just a small amount may experience pregnancy complications that can affect the fetus. Damage can occur at any point during the pregnancy, and all types of alcohol present the same risk.
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