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Post by flutterby on Mar 11, 2014 9:49:59 GMT
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26512417So, far so good I thought reading the first few paragraphs. And then it suggested that there will be no adverse effects if you only had a couple of units per week. The reason they gave was that they studied 11000 5-year-olds and could not find anything amiss. Hm, I suppose development stops at 5 years of age, does not it. I think this is very sad, because people will now see this as endorsement that it is ok to drink, and hey if a couple of units are ok, the occasional one or two over won't count either? Heaven help us, listening to "expert advice". There is enough out there to prove the opposite.
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Post by lilka on Mar 11, 2014 19:27:11 GMT
There have been a lot of studies over the years...and there has never been any evidence that drinking small amounts of alcohol causes any long term issues. None whatsoever, it's very clear that it's not harmful to drink a very small amount. However there is obviously plenty of evidence that drinking large amounts of alcohol is damaging
It's only because humans (as a group, obviously it very much varies individually) have a big tendency to underestimate their alcohol consumption and fail to acurately judge when they've had too much, that the official recommendation is don't drink at all. The recommendation to drink nothing doesn't quite tally up with the scientific evidence, but it's safer to recommend that when you're dealing with the population as a whole. And while I wouldn't drink at all if I was pregnant because after parenting my DD2 I just couldn't, if a friend or my DD1 was havving a glass of wine at christmas to celebrate during pregnancy and that was it...well, I'm not going to critisise her, because it's not a problem and it's not going to cause any long lasting damage, and I think she has a right to do that if she wants to. Bingeing or drinking daily would make me feel very very differently, because that is harmful
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Post by flutterby on Mar 11, 2014 21:19:31 GMT
Well, I suppose that was what I was trying to get at, Lilka. People will only hear the "it's ok in moderation" and then go and put their own interpretation of what that means into practice. And that may well lead to problems.
I was not trying to critcise if someone had a one off small glass of wine.
But it did strike me as wrong to conclude that if they cannot find anything wrong with 5-year-olds, there might not be problems later on. I am sure problems often do not get spotted until children are over 5.
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Post by lilka on Mar 12, 2014 13:30:52 GMT
That's very true that 5 is too young to tell about more subtle difficulties, maybe it would have been better to wait until they were 10 years old or so. Although if a child does have more minor difficulties, it's pretty impossible to say whether or not alcohol is the cause. I remember when trying to work out whether alcohol was the cause of many of my DD2's problems, I used to wish (still do in many ways) that FASD has more symtoms that are unique to it, because her difficulties could have been signs of a different issue and trying to pick it apart was so difficult.
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Post by kstar on Mar 12, 2014 20:18:44 GMT
I know when I did research into Starlet's question mark over FASD, I found several studies suggesting small amounts of alcohol has no effect. The ones I read were based on Mediterranean cultures were it isn't unusual to drink in pregnancy. I know my cousin was also in meltdown when she found out at 21 weeks that she was pregnant - she was 20 and still a big social, even binge drinker. She was horrified, but when she spoke to her GP and he sought advice for her! they said even occasional binge drinking doesn't appear to damage a foetus because they seem to be able to "detox" when mum does. What does the damage is chronic alcohol intake, where baby's developing organs get no break from the onslaught :-(
It's a really interesting point though...
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Post by pluto on Mar 12, 2014 22:15:19 GMT
Oke and than the mother drinks a bit, how can you ever proove that the child's IQ is not affected, or other skills like motor, memory, processing etc. As long as those skills are functional it is classed as normal, but it might have been a lot better. Alcohol is a poison and when you are pregnant you should stay away from it, whatever studies say. If you do not drink you can be 100% sure if your child has problems they are not caused by you. If you have been drinking you can have caused the problems, and than I do not talk about full blown FAS. This is what alcohol can cause: www.faslink.org/ResultsPrenatalAlcohol.htmWould anyone want to risk those for the time it takes to drink a glass of wine? Children with fasd have poor outcomes and very hard lives. And it is all preventable. It is a hit and miss, even people who are not alcoholics but drink a bit can get children affected by alcohol, and sometimes the alcoholic gets a child what is not affected. I feel very strong about getting the 0% message across, why would anyone want to drink and be pregnant, or drink and drive a car. It is the same there is a big chance that you will hurt another human being irreversible. |
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Post by moo on Mar 13, 2014 8:25:01 GMT
I'm with Pluto...
stats are   
Xx. moo. Xx
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Post by kstar on Mar 13, 2014 20:14:27 GMT
Sorry guys, I didn't meant I suggest I approved! I was merely quoting the research I did.
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Post by wibbley on Mar 14, 2014 19:46:37 GMT
I went to a conference years ago where Dr Mukherjee spoke. He put up a video of an unborn baby's reaction to just a glass of wine, it had a heightened startle reflex in the womb. It was very sad to watch. No one would give their newborn baby a glass of wine, so why is it OK to feed it to an unborn? I didn't drink at all when pregnant with my BS, and that was years ago without me knowing any research or even having heard of FASD.
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Post by serrakunda on Mar 15, 2014 21:24:42 GMT
Seems to me though the impact can be quite random. My next door neighbour drank and smoked her way through two pregnancies. At the time of the first one I was a full time student and regularly saw her in the garden with friends knocking back a few cans. The boy is now 9 and very very bright. The second pregnancy produced twins who are also perfectly fine. She is a nurse.
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Post by wibbley on Mar 15, 2014 22:28:46 GMT
There are meant to be contributory factors, like age of BM, nutrition & stress of BM, number of previous pregnancies.
Also binge drinking & exact dates drunk/time of pregnancy make a huge difference too what damage is done where.
At the end of the day, the glass of wine goes through the unborns system, often at a time when the liver & kidneys aren't even fully formed to filter toxins. No one would dream of giving their newborn alcohol to drink, yet public opinion says it's ok whilst pregnant. I don't understand.
There is actually no way of knowing what damage at the milder end alcohol causes. Only something like 10% of children born to drinking mothers show facial features or growth retardation. The damage can be very subtle like impulsivity. Most kids have an average IQ.
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Post by abiee on Mar 15, 2014 23:10:52 GMT
I agree with Pluto
Regardless of what any studies say subtle differences, so long as within a 'normal' range will not show up, you will never know what the child would have been without the alcohol
I didn't touch a drop when I was pregnant with DS
Unless there is addiction I struggle to understand why any mother would drink, it is such a short time in a life
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