Advertisement
Help Keep Boards Alive. Support us by going ad free today. See here: https://subscriptions.boards.ie/.
https://www.boards.ie/group/1878-subscribers-forum

Private Group for paid up members of Boards.ie. Join the club.
Hi all, please see this major site announcement: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058427594/boards-ie-2026

Drinking in pregnancy...

«134

Comments

  • #2
    suicide_circus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,801 ✭✭✭✭suicide_circus


    Right2Choose


  • #3
    Cee-Jay-Cee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,234 ✭✭✭✭Cee-Jay-Cee


    How is that shocking, it's been known for years but as usual 'Breaking News' super journalists are only hearing it now.

    Drinking alcohol during pregnancy has always been known to be bad for the child's health.


  • #4
    s4uv3
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 952 ✭✭✭s4uv3


    It's no secret tbh. The quantity and timescale isn't very well known, every body is different. There's no way of knowing when and how much alcohol will "push the button" and cause the damage unfortunately.

    But if you don't know that drinking while pregnant can cause damage, then you need to get yourself some schoolin!


  • #5
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    This has been known for decades. Hardly breaking news. The current consensus is that all alcohol should be avoided once a pregnancy is known and until breastfeeding is complete.

    How this strikes anybody as news just astounds me.


  • #6
    cherryghost
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 17,159 Mod ✭✭✭✭cherryghost


    Something something fermenting beer


  • Advertisement
  • #7
    s4uv3
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 952 ✭✭✭s4uv3


    Elias Lazy Skillet wrote: »
    until breastfeeding is complete.

    Nuh uh. Newer research shows that alcohol doesn't transfer into breastmilk nearly as much as previously thought, so it's actually deemed safe to have the odd one now while feeding.
    I'm sure next year there'll be different guidelines again! :)


  • #8
    Mars Bar
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 32,687 ✭✭✭✭Mars Bar


    A woman in the gym was telling us that she was out drinking on Paddy's Day, which was a Friday, with a friend and his girlfriend. They got absolutely hammered! The friend's girlfriend went in to hospital on Monday with pains and gave birth to a healthy baby boy! She didn't even know she was pregnant. She climbed Kilimanjaro in January and was drinking over Christmas at parties and at the wedding of the woman from the gym in September.


  • #9
    ScumLord
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,787 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    I think people in general knew it was bad to drink during pregnancy, but that a glass of wine once or twice wasn't going to make much of a difference. From what I've just heard just those one or two drinks could be enough to do damage, it's a complete gamble, 3 drinks could be fine for one pregnancy but damaging for others and pregnant women shouldn't drink at all.


  • #10
    Jack the Stripper
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,202 ✭✭✭Jack the Stripper


    It's when they are smoking and downing yokes at 2am on a Sunday morning I would be more concerned with.


  • #11
    murpho999
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,956 ✭✭✭✭murpho999


    Anybody who drinks any alcohol during pregnancy is stupid, selfish and ignorant.

    Alcohol goes straight into the bloodstream and therefore straight to the baby.

    It's very simple.

    Lived in Netherlands for years and never seen any expectant mother drink any alcohol ever, it's just not done.

    Why is it different here?


  • Advertisement
  • #12
    ceadaoin.
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,131 ✭✭✭ceadaoin.


    On all the studies done on alcohol consumption during pregnancy, FAS has never been observed in babies whose mothers drank moderately. In fact some studies have shown better outcomes in early childhood. It's caused by alcoholic levels of drinking or binge drinking and even then it's not a certainty. I don't see any need to demonise women who have one glass of wine a week or the equivalent when pregnant.


  • #13
    Raging_Ninja
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,717 ✭✭✭Raging_Ninja


    ceadaoin. wrote: »
    On all the studies done on alcohol consumption during pregnancy, FAS has never been observed in babies whose mothers drank moderately. It's caused by alcoholic levels of drinking or binge drinking and even then it's not a certainty.

    Define "alcoholic level" and "moderate".


  • #14
    infogiver
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,505 ✭✭✭infogiver


    murpho999 wrote: »
    Anybody who drinks any alcohol during pregnancy is stupid, selfish and ignorant.

    Alcohol goes straight into the bloodstream and therefore straight to the baby.

    It's very simple.

    Lived in Netherlands for years and never seen any expectant mother drink any alcohol ever, it's just not done.

    Why is it different here?

    Because the general rule of "don't be a d**k" has somehow bypassed a lot of Irish people


  • #15
    ceadaoin.
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,131 ✭✭✭ceadaoin.


    Raging_Ninja wrote: »
    Define "alcoholic level" and "moderate".

    Moderate = a single drink once or twice a week. Most women are smart enough to know what moderate means and adjust their intake accordingly. The ones who drink to excess on a regular basis are going to do that regardless


  • #16
    ScumLord
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,787 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    ceadaoin. wrote: »
    Moderate = a single drink once or twice a week. Most women are smart enough to know what moderate means and adjust their intake accordingly. The ones who drink to excess on a regular basis are going to do that regardless
    The advice they're giving now is any alcohol is seriously bad.


  • #17
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    s4uv3 wrote: »
    Nuh uh. Newer research shows that alcohol doesn't transfer into breastmilk nearly as much as previously thought, so it's actually deemed safe to have the odd one now while feeding.
    I'm sure next year there'll be different guidelines again! :)

    Newer than the expert giving a talk to the IMO this morning? Boy, things change quickly.


  • #18
    MonsterCookie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 959 ✭✭✭MonsterCookie


    The bit that surprised me is the number: 600. A quick google suggests this is a shade either side of 1% of all births in a year.


  • #19
    ceadaoin.
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,131 ✭✭✭ceadaoin.


    ScumLord wrote: »
    The advice they're giving now is any alcohol is seriously bad.

    That doesn't change the results of the many studies that show light to moderate drinking does no harm. Unfortunately some people will use that as an excuse to drink to excess so no alcohol is the only advice health authorities can safely give I suppose

    Either way, demonising women is not going to help. Babies will still be born with FAS, and pregnant women with alcohol issues will be more reluctant to seek help if they feel they will be attacked for it


  • #20
    longshanks
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,990 ✭✭✭longshanks


    Next week it'll be red meat, a week later nuts or gluten or whatever. Everything in moderation and you'll be a fine specimen, just like me.


  • #21
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 14,242 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    murpho999 wrote: »
    Anybody who drinks any alcohol during pregnancy is stupid, selfish and ignorant.
    There's a lot of scientific research which says that the occasional drink is perfectly fine.

    I must remind my mother and my sister next time i see them that they are "stupid, selfish and ignorant " for adhering to the advices of their doctors and published medical evidence during their pregnancies.

    Both successful women who took time out of their careers to raise children, but NO... They are:

    (i) stupid
    (ii) selfish
    (iii) ignorant

    lol


  • Advertisement
  • #22
    ceadaoin.
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,131 ✭✭✭ceadaoin.


    longshanks wrote: »
    Next week it'll be red meat, a week later nuts or gluten or whatever. Everything in moderation and you'll be a fine specimen, just like me.

    Well they used to advise no peanuts during pregnancy to prevent allergies. Then they found out that lack of exposure to nuts in utero actually caused allergies so they had to backtrack on that one.

    The human race seemed to do fine with reproduction for several thousand years without any official advice!


  • #23
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    ceadaoin. wrote: »
    Well they used to advise no peanuts during pregnancy to prevent allergies. Then they found out that lack of exposure to nuts in utero actually caused allergies so they had to backtrack on that one.

    The human race seemed to do fine with reproduction for several thousand years without any official advice!

    I assume you are being facetious but for those thousands of years we had huge instances of stillborn children, miscarriage, and many abnormalities at birth.


  • #24
    Mitch Connor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 49,518 ✭✭✭✭Mitch Connor


    I remember the master of one of the maternity hospitals on the radio last year giving out about the demonizing of women during pregnancy, be it foods with artificial additives or drinking. He wasn't saying you should go get hammered but that in sensible Moderation drinking wasnt an issue. Ie. If you want to have a glass of wine, have it.


  • #25
    The_Valeyard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,452 ✭✭✭✭The_Valeyard


    A glass isn't going to do any damage


    A binge night out possibly could.

    Moderation.

    Also breast feeding mothers can pump n dump, but most women seem to be against that with all the effort of pumping in the first place.


  • #26
    murpho999
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,956 ✭✭✭✭murpho999


    A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »
    There's a lot of scientific research which says that the occasional drink is perfectly fine.

    I must remind my mother and my sister next time i see them that they are "stupid, selfish and ignorant " for adhering to the advices of their doctors and published medical evidence during their pregnancies.

    Both successful women who took time out of their careers to raise children, but NO... They are:

    (i) stupid
    (ii) selfish
    (iii) ignorant

    lol

    I fail to see how being successful does not mean you can be ignorant about alcohol and pregnancy.

    The vast majority of medical advice would recommend not to drink alcohol whilst pregnant. Why would anybody think any differently?

    I would also argue that the vast majority of doctors would advise against it?

    Where you with them at the time of their pregnancies when they sought medical advice?

    Here's some evidence I found:

    HSE and Chief Medical Advisor advice


    NHS UK Advice

    More Info


  • #27
    Samsgirl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,217 ✭✭✭Samsgirl


    I think it's very selfish to drink alcohol during pregnancy. It's not forever. By the time the pregnancy is confirmed it's about 34 weeks to go without.
    So much can go wrong during pregnancy and I think that every baby deaerves the best start in life at being healthy.


  • #28
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    OP should have posted it here : http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056838009


  • #29
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 99,689 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    ScumLord wrote: »
    The advice they're giving now is any alcohol is seriously bad.
    Things like methanol , isopropanol alcohol, fusel oils are nasty.

    Actually as a general rule any alcohol is seriously bad, we just have a higher tolerance for ethanol


  • #30
    One eyed Jack
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,439 ✭✭✭✭One eyed Jack


    suicide_circus wrote: »
    Right2Choose


    Curiously enough, well this case is in the UK obviously, but it's an interesting one all the same -

    Child born with foetal alcohol syndrome loses UK compensation case

    CP's compensation application was initially rejected by the CICA in November 2009 on the grounds that she had not sustained an injury "directly attributable to a crime of violence", as required by the Offences Against the Person Act.

    A first-tier tribunal allowed her initial appeal but the Upper Tribunal of the Administrative Appeals Chamber ruled last December that the law required a crime to be committed against an individual "person" - and a child did not become a person until birth. The Upper Tribunal concluded: ''If (the girl) was not a person while her mother was engaging in the relevant actions then, as a matter of law, her mother could not have committed a criminal offence.''

    Asking the appeal judges to quash the Upper Tribunal decision, Mr Foy argued CP had been a person entitled to compensation while still a foetus and the crime committed against had similar ingredients to manslaughter. Alternatively, she became entitled to an award when she was born and was suffering the continuing consequences of her alcoholic mother's drinking. Mr Foy said CP was the young mother's second pregnancy and the woman was well aware of the risks. But she had recklessly "administered a noxious thing - a destructive thing" to her unborn daughter and inflicted grievous bodily harm for which the child should be compensated.

    Dismissing CP's appeal, Lord Justice Treacy said an "essential ingredient" for a crime to be committed "is the infliction of grievous bodily harm on a person - grievous bodily harm on a foetus will not suffice". The judge said CP was born with limited growth potential. He added: "All the suffering that CP has endured and will continue to endure during her life is the consequence of the harm that was inflicted on her when she was in her mother's womb." Any further harm she suffered after her birth was a result of what had occurred while she was still a foetus.

    The judge said Mr Foy's argument "breaks down" because Parliament had not expressly said a foetus was "a person" against whom a criminal offence could be committed. He said: "Parliament has identified certain circumstances where criminal liability arises if a mother causes injury to her foetus. "Thus the offence of a pregnant woman using poison, with intent to procure her own miscarriage (section 58 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861), specifically provides for circumstances in which a woman administers poison or a noxious thing to herself. "This offence does not apply to the circumstances of the present case because it requires intent (to harm). "Section 1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 provides that it is an offence to destroy the life of a child capable of being born alive before it is born.

    "Parliament could have legislated to criminalise the excessive drinking of a pregnant woman, but it has not done so outside these offences. "Since the relationship between a pregnant woman and her foetus is an area in which Parliament has made a (limited) intervention, I consider that the court should be slow to interpret general criminal legislation as applying to it." The judge added that, in English law, women did owe a duty of care to their unborn child. But "a competent woman cannot be forced to have a caesarean section or other medical treatment to prevent potential risk to the foetus during childbirth."

    If a third party inflicted harm on an unborn child, they could be liable for damages if the child was born with disabilities under the Congenital Disabilities (Civil Liability) Act 1976. But claims could not be brought against the child's mother unless the harm was caused by her when she was driving a motor vehicle. The judge said: "The law would be incoherent if a child were unable to claim compensation from her mother for breach of a duty of care owed during pregnancy, but the mother was criminally liable for causing the harm which gave rise to damage and a right to compensation under the 1995 Criminal Injuries Compensation Act." He added: "In my view, the role of the state in these circumstances should be to provide care and support for the child who has suffered harm to the extent that this is necessary. "It should not be to pay compensation on the basis that the child is the victim of a crime by her mother." Lawyers for CP expressed "disappointment" with the ruling and said they were now considering their options. The only legal avenue left open is to seek to go to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land.


  • Advertisement
  • #31
    Fr_Dougal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,167 ✭✭✭Fr_Dougal


    Sur what else are they going to do whilst waiting for their Forever Home


Advertisement
Advertisement