A little help

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:12 pm

I'd advocate her staying away from alcohol and caffiene for the next 9 months or so.

cfrancis · Post by **cfrancis** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 4:42 pm

Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:
JeffPorter wrote: Well, there's a difference between advocating for it and being sensible about it. There are very few studies that show negative effects of very small quantities of alcohol and (at least to my knowledge) no substantial reviews of research. There's just simply not a lot of evidence.

Having said that - I'm inclined to agree with you that: it's only nine months.
Well according to the CDC the only safe amount is none.

http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/faqs.htm#drinkPreg

I love that we live in a society that seems to think nine months is too long of a time to sacrifice certain indulgences for the cause of good health in newborns. Hell, those nine months are the easy part of parenting. The whole parenting thing is nothing but sacrifice.

CDC is not going to promote drinking alcohol for mothers no matter how safe it is just because of the optics involved.

But beer will help breastfeeding. There are hospitals in the province that will offer a beer to a mother that is having problems with their milk coming in.

Myself, I brought a cooler of food and "beverages" into the room when our son was born. It was during the Olympics and I knew I was going to be watching at least the hockey semi's while in the hospital so I brought some beer with me. The nurse caught me having a beer late one of the nights and she didn't care, in fact she said that I should offer some to my wife to help her breast feed.

With anything, moderation is key. I would suggest nothing more than 500ml per day or every couple of days. The mother will know her body the best and realize if there are some adverse effects to the beer and probably stop the intake.

irishkyle21 · Post by **irishkyle21** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:08 pm

If something bad happens with the baby you can always throw it out and make a new one (for those who don't understand, that's a joke). It's a small amount of beer if she wants to that's her choice. It's not like she is hitting ye old crack pipe.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:39 pm

cfrancis wrote:CDC is not going to promote drinking alcohol for mothers no matter how safe it is just because of the optics involved...

And they would dodge liability rather than be completely honest.

But I'd love to see a clear study showing if a small amount of wine or beer might benefit the expecting mother. In small amounts alcohol is still an antioxidant. At least prove there isn't a net benefit!
Of course such a study would reflexively be labeled 'heinously barbaric, Mengeleian' and the resulting data would be hysterically thrown out as mad science.

"<LINK> There's a difference between warning caution and recklessly misinforming...."

See what our Social Programming does to us? In terms of overall health, I suppose a pregnant woman just having a small glass of pilsner could do far worse harm with stress, malnutrition, and self-neglect - common-sense stuff people overlook.

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:41 pm

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:14 pm

Regardless, I'm pretty sure I found my new sig line.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:15 pm

Let's get Blatzed!

hammy78 · Post by **hammy78** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:30 pm

Thanks everyone for your responses, a lot to think about here.

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:57 pm

Sorry Hammy,

I hope this didn't evolve too much into an back and forth argument amongst us...

For me, I think both routes are ok...In my opinion, very small amounts of low abv beer are fine, but if she's uncomfortable with it and worries about it, then the PC/Becks route might be the better way to go...

Also, I seem to remember Upper Canada's Point Nine wasn't too bad, but I don't know if they still make it or not...

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 7:07 pm

Belgian wrote:
"<LINK> There's a difference between warning caution and recklessly misinforming...."

Nice article with some good links.

I think the problem is that the general society lacks the knowledge to make their own informed decisions.

It doesn't help that policy-makers don't want people to actually think, they want them to follow rules (less chance of error?).

Now we're in the information age and anyone can 'google' whatever they want. BUT... that doesn't mean they're capable of making the "right" decision, so it's still better/easier to force rules (without context) across the board.

Now I'm not advocating a 'standard' drink-a-day (which probably wouldn't hurt, depending on other co-factors), but I certainly wouldn't chastise anyone either.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 7:31 pm

JeffPorter wrote:
Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:I find it astounding that so many people are advocating drinking alcohol during pregnancy.
Well, there's a difference between advocating for it and being sensible about it. There are very few studies that show negative effects of very small quantities of alcohol and (at least to my knowledge) no substantial reviews of research. There's just simply not a lot of evidence.

Having said that - I'm inclined to agree with you that: it's only nine months.

Pretty much. I think that the responses are in keeping with the tone of the question.

My own response was partly because I just don't get people who want a beer so badly that they are willing to drink the N/A stuff. I have never had one that rose above "well its not awful..."

If I was told tomorrow that for medical reasons I couldn't drink beer ever again, I would just stop (well, after one heck of a cellar clearing!). It would suck since beer is one of my bigger hobbies, but I'd learn to love wine more, or maybe just stop drinking but as much as I love beer if its a choice between your health and beer, its not a hard choice.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 9:37 pm

Having said that... there's probably zero benefit to the fetus (does anyone lack vitamins today? many people even take prenatal vitamins to ensure they're getting enough folic acid). So there is the argument that you may as well avoid ANY and ALL risk.

Personally (and I really do mean personally, everyone has their own opinion), I think avoiding all risk is crap. Perception of risk is often skewed. Maybe you shouldn't drive to work because you could get in an accident? Or what if you actually had to pump your own gas and get exposed to high levels of benzene?

Bobsy · Post by **Bobsy** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 10:41 pm

It's a personal choice, and your wife's to make without judgement. My wife had the odd sip of beer when she was pregnant, but never more than a third of a bottle. The thing is, regardless of what medical studies or other people say, if the baby has a defect you don't want to be wondering whether it's because of the time you had a couple beers. Logic or no logic, that's how the brain works.

And congratulations!

ritzkiss · Post by **ritzkiss** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 11:43 pm

Does no one else see the irony of a whole bunch of dudes on a beer message board arguing what a pregnant woman should do?

Ale's What Cures Ya · Wed Feb 08, 2012 11:46 pm

Belgian wrote:
"<LINK> There's a difference between warning caution and recklessly misinforming...."

I bet the womyn that wrote that article is a real joy at parties.

Bobsy is correct in that it's a personal choice, (although I disagree with the "without judgement" part) a personal choice that may or may not adversely affect the development of your child. So if you're comfortable rolling the dice on something like that then by all means have a drink. Might as well have a smoke too.

ritzkiss wrote:Does no one else see the irony of a whole bunch of dudes on a beer message board arguing what a pregnant woman should do?

No. Especially not when one of the members has a vested interest in the development of that child and asked the board its opinion.