Alcohol During Pregnancy: Is It OK or Dangerous?

ok if you want your kid to be retarded go ahead and drink!

Key word....moderately. Going on binges is NOT moderate. One glass of wine a week is not going to hurt.

How do you back that up?

In order for the fetus to be affected then there has to be ethanol in the blood. If you drink one glass of wine the BAC level is very low. Also, the recent studies have shown no negative effects. Oddly, there were positive effects, most likely due to less stress (?). Also, there is a lethal/harmful dose for most drugs, until that dose is reached, the drug is not harmful, this is called the therapeutic index.

It's spelt "Affected"
Although, "effect" and "affect" are both real words, so I can understand the mix-up.

Yes, I did actually know that, but sometimes it slips through the internet editing process, I will go fix that now. Thank you.

Edit: FYI, I try to write correctly, but I am a science nerd, not a grammar nazi. ;)

You're welcome..
It just gets to me when people misspell stuff.
I have little or no tolerance for it...
Unless they have a reading or writing disability. Like dyslexia.

I am actually horrible at spelling (and I hate when something autocorrect wrong). I try to pay attention to spell checks of my common words so I can learn. But effected and affected are more misuse than spelling errors. Like your and you're (this bugs me to no end).

LOL so funny!

Hm, that's valid.

How do YOU back up that a single drink causes FAS? And what of smokers who continue to puff 1 or more packs of cigarettes per day?

If you want to drink and do drugs, have a tubal ligation.

I'm going with dangerous because too many woman may drink in excess. They don't stop at one glass of healthy red wine. They keep going and before they know it, it's too much. It's really not safe to drink period in life. You ALWAYS have to watch it, but the more you drink the more your inhibitions go and you just do whatever.

A single glass (maybe even two!) isn't going to deal permanent damage.

Having hangover for three days because you had no blood in your alcohol system, however...anyone not pregnant should be shot if they survived, and if you are, then intensive care and nothing with alcohol for a year.

I was told by my obstetrician that even one glass, consumed at the wrong time, may do irreparable damage, particularly in the earliest stages of pregnancy. This was over 25 years ago.

I was told the same thing, and the most recent was born a little over two years ago. :)

As my doctor told me: We know it's harmful, particularly in the early stages. We don't know how much would be safe, so why take a chance?

Nothing has changed in these last 25 years, they still don't know how much alcohol is safe. You are right, why take a chance of a lifetime of learning disabilities or worse?
I had my kids back to back, betw birth and nursing, I didn't taste a drink for 4 years. It taught me a lot, my friends aren't as funny as I thought they were, and there are more stupid women out there than I could have imagined.

Don't drink alcohol while pregnant to reduce stress, try yoga instead!

I taught Head Start for years before I went back to being a librarian. I saw a lot of drug and alcohol affected kids. If you want to party and aren't ready to give that part of your life up, make sure you do NOT get pregnant!

I agree, but honestly who is stopping them? No one, the breakdown of the family unit is disastrous on our youth.
I'm sure you see how much a child can do with parental involvement and what happens to those without it.
I considered being a librarian, but my first degree in computer programming showed me the future job prospects would be reduced, just like the paper/ print industry, machinists, mechanics and so much more.
I just keep my own library growing :)

My MS is in computers, as the librarian's job keeps expanding to include technology, as well as helping kids understand that just because they see it on the internet, doesn't mean it's true. I don't think that print books are going to disappear soon, as there are far too many still out there which aren't not available in any ebook format. Children's books, too, don't translate as well into ebook, though Nook and Kindle are trying. Their attempts are less than successful, especially considering what kids can do to a 20 dollar book. I teach at a technology-poor rural school. We can barely afford a computer in every class plus a lab of computers. Almost all the computers we do have are used ones which have been replaced elsewhere. That isn't going to fly with ebooks for a long, long time.

Oddly, though, I've begun to put my own library in e format. I love the idea of traveling with my library. There are some books I still prefer in paper format, but I am slowly putting my paperback collection into Nook books.

I'm addicted to old smelly books, lol.
My public school had a high tech computer lab, donated privately (a business), since I made almost all of my lesson plans in college heavy on technology, I tried to use the computer lab for a biology assignment.
Oh no, the principal decreed that the lab was only for use by the mentally gifted students. I went to the school board on behalf of my students. I wasn't very well liked by my principal, but for 3 months they used that computer lab.
My punishment? She took my fully stocked lab away, put me into English grammer classes and gave the reading teacher an empty science lab.
It's good to know librarians are still in demand and adapting. WTG!

What a total horse's netherend. It's always difficult when you get a new principal or superintendent, as you wonder whether the devil you already know might not be better than the devil you don't know. We lucked out, though, after having one who started out good, but just burned out about 5 years before she finally retired, we got one the old superintendent thought she could control the best. Old supe was wrong which is to our benefit. She goes to bat for us and is really good. Then, we got a new superintendent who is really great. Morale hasn't been higher in years. Things haven't changed all that much, but we know that his number 1 priority is the students, which means we, the staff our high on his priorities because he says we can't serve the students to the best of our abilities, if he doesn't support us. It's great!

Lucky you, Philly's last Super Arlene Ackerman left in high scandal, all over the news.
Although the school district is DROWNING in red, she got paid her full contract ($905K) yet was forcefully resigned amidst scandals in bonuses, payroll, unsafe schools, race riots, and sytemic test fraud.
Then she filed for unemployment! What a mess

My personal feeling is that if superintendents and principals were paid on the same scale as teachers, we'd have less of that. Pay them extra for schooling, just like you do teachers. Pay them extra for extended year contracts, just like you do teachers, and to heck with the rest of it. You'd get people who were more likely to be in it because of a love for education than a love of money.

I agree, how many vice principals does one school need?

Yes, indeed, especially if one expects the principal to actually have direct contact with students and parents.

Is this even a question...

I wouldn't risk it.

It might be ok to have one glass of wine occasionally...but binges?!?!

It might be ok if you are moderately pregnant, but if you are 100% pregnant It's probably a bad idea!

"one binge – downing four"

Since when does four drinks constitute a binge? I wouldn't even feel tipsy after four drinks. Light weights.

thank you. it was getting all judgmental around here...

I also thought the word "binge" was more of a bender and not a specific quantity of drinks...

Yes,it's really bad for the babies. I mean it's like 10 months for a healthy baby...

Two of my friends have had babies recently and their OBGyns have said a glass of red wine twice a month is fine when you're prego - no more than that though.

perhaps in the last few months, it's totally harmful in the development stages. I would never did it nor would do it myself.

Sodahead did something similar to this a while ago. "OK in moderation"

I'm sorry - but if you choose to bring a new life into the world - don't drink! If you want to be pregnant think about your kid first!!!