Strollerderby : fetal alcohol syndrome

Pregnant Woman Booted from Local Pub

KeriF — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:35:00 GMT

It's hard out here for a pregnant lady.

When Caroline Williams, 26, went out to unwind with friends at her local pub in East Sussex, England, she didn't plan on making a scene. After her first pint of lager, she decided she'd allow herself another half-pint.

Unfortunately, the pub had other ideas.

When Caroline's friend went to order the half-pint, he was refused service because the drink was for Caroline, visibly pregnant at 5 months. When Caroline took a sip of a friend's drink, she and her friends were kicked to the curb.

"I never felt so singled out and humiliated in my life," said Caroline. "I've never been ordered out of anywhere before and I'm not one to cause a scene, so we just left."

The assistant manageress (really? I thought "manager" was gender neutral) confirmed to The Daily Mail that she had asked Caroline to leave, describing her as "a heavily pregnant lady who was drinking alcohol."

However, a spokesman for the company that owns the Sussex Cricketeers pub apologized. "While the team member may have believed she was acting with her own good intentions, she did not handle the situation in an appropriate manner."

What do you think? Was the pub out of line?

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Drinking While Pregnant: Is Any Amount Okay?

Kate Tuttle — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:01:00 GMT

As Miriam posted about earlier this week, a few new studies have come out that some are using to argue, again, that ANY amount of alcohol during pregnancy is dangerous for the unborn -- even though the studies themselves say no such thing. Now Amy Graff at SFGate's Mommy Files reports on the ongoing controversy, quoting doctors and mothers who differ with the most stringent "no drinking" line, and exploring what the studies really say.

My favorite quote quote is from the doctor who says:

"If you're at a dinner party and someone pours a 1978 Bordeaux, I say go ahead and try it. Most healthy pregnant women lose their taste for alcohol, especially in early pregnancy when alcohol is known to exert its greatest effects, so they're only going to be having a sip here and there anyway."

The problem, as so many have pointed out, is that the vast majority of the research data focus on women who drink heavily during pregnancy, or binge drink. It's no surprise that their babies are at high risk for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, nor is it really any surprise that the public health message -- aided by an often hysterical media -- compresses all alcohol use into this baby-damaging paradigm. But is there any science out there that tells us what really happens when a pregnant woman drinks very occasionally? And how do we square the dangers of FAS with the example of all those gorgeous French children whose mothers drank a moderate amount of (excellent) wine while gestating?

The SFGate piece links to three studies, all of which seem to provide some evidence of some effect -- whether on size or behavior -- of the children of women who drank lightly in pregnancy. Public health folks continue to deliver the message that there is no known safe amount, although most doctors will contradict that (mine advised me to have a glass or two of wine following the amnio, and then said, when I visited France in my six month, that he certainly hoped I would have some wine). With one woman in twelve reporting that she drank at least a little alcohol during pregnancy, the confusion will likely continue, leaving individual mothers to asses their own risk level.

So how about it? Did you lift a glass while pregnant? Did you feel guilty or worried, or do you think the health message is overstated?

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They [Didn't] Say: Not Even a Drop of Alcohol

Miriam Axel-Lute — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Oh the pull of the easy, dramatic headline.

Lauredhel, over at Hoyden About Town, has two interesting, detailed posts up recently about the, shall we say, divergance between what a scientific study and a set set of agency guidelines, respectively, actually say, and what's been been reported about them. It's all Aussie, but I know the same things happen here (and presumably booze and pregnancy aren't that different down under, physically).

In the first, she takes apart a study that finds an increased risk of pre-term birth for binge drinkers (shocking, I know) and, with very slim margins of confidence, women who drink heavily in the first trimester and then stop (but not, interesting, those who keep going. It would be interesting to come up with a mechanism for why that would be). It does not find an increased risk for light drinking. Also, much of its data appears to be pretty tentative.

But the coverage of it says the report states that "abstinence is still the safest option" (It might be. I did. But the report says no such thing) and also gets the data about the trimesters wrong. Laurdehel takes both the original study and the coverage apart in minute detail.

In the second, quite similarly, she notes some health guidelines that, based on no new evidence, reverse their previous stance that a light amount of drinking is OK while breastfeeding and start suggesting abstinence, though retaining a level-headed description of what would constitute a cautious approach to alcohol and lactation. The coverage (1) implied that there was some new evidence that it's more dangerous than previously believed and (2) never even mentioned the existence of the more nuanced guidelines.

It's easy to pick on journalists, sometimes too easy, but it's also necessary sometimes, because they have all the same cultural biases and habits (like infantilizing women and being alarmist about pregnancy) as everyone else.

Photo by timomcd.

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They Say: Alcohol Tastes Better If You Get It First in the Womb

Miriam Axel-Lute — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:30:00 GMT

Perhaps I can blame the fact that I can't take the bitterness of beer on my mother. It seems that on top of all the known hazards of drinking while pregnant, it also just might give your kid a taste for booze.

Emphasis on the might. This is one of those studies that should be taken with a grain of salt, as it was done on rats and the pregnant rat moms were basically kept drunk much of the time, not just allowed to sneak a glass of wine now and then. (While I'm all about not being alarmist, I hope there's no one out there who thinks a constant BAC of .15 during pregnancy is acceptable.)

With those caveats in mind, the results: baby rats born to alcohol-soaked mothers were distinctly more interested in licking alcohol-covered feeding tubes than the controls. Shocking, no? They were also more willing to lick a non-alcohol bitter substance, making the researchers figure the efect of fetal alcohol exposure on taste in particular is to reduce the resistance to bitter flavors.

I have to say, I think it's a stretch to go from here to surmising that this is why fetal alcohol exposure is linked to higher rates of alcohol abuse at 21. Is "it's an acquired taste" really that much of a barrier if the other conditions for abuse are in place? Wouldn't it just drive you to sugary, non-bitter drink and worse hangovers? (Or conversely, if other risk factors for abuse aren't present, is liking the taste enough to make you abuse it?)

Photo by Chris Owens.

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Breaking News: Drinking while Pregnant May Make Your Baby Smarter

Shannon LC Cate — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:15:00 GMT

According to the Guardian, a new study out from the University of London, found that not only did moderate drinking (defined as one to two units of alcohol per week) have no noticeable ill effects on three-year olds, but that:

"Boys born to mothers who drank lightly were 40% less likely to have conduct problems and 30% less likely to be hyperactive, even when the differences between social and economic circumstances were taken into account. They also scored more highly in vocabulary tests and were better able to identify shapes, colours, letters and numbers."

These results stuck even when corrected for social circumstances like having parents of a higher socio-economic class and better education. Better outcomes were also reported for girls born to the light drinkers, but these were not as clearly independent from other social factors in those families.

The study adds to the controversy about drinking during pregnancy, as the Guardian notes:

"Although it has always been clear that heavy drinking can seriously damage babies, scientists have not had good evidence either to prove or disprove that light drinking does any harm. Doctors and other health experts have swung uneasily between condoning a drink or two each week and urging women to abstain."

Everyone is clear that abstaining from all alcohol is best in the first trimester of a pregnancy. But whether or not to drink thereafter may best be left up to personal choice, as advice sways back and forth from The Powers That Be.

To drink or not to drink? What do you think? What did you/do you/will you do?

Image: photorepetto.com

Pregnant Binge Drinker Faces No Criminal Charges

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:45:00 GMT

If there’s anything sadder than domestic violence, it’s domestic violence involving a pregnant woman and an insane quantity of booze. Last week, New Zealand police, responding to a 4 a.m. domestic violence complaint, found a heavily intoxicated woman whose partner had hit her over the head with a bottle. She was nine months pregnant, and had been drinking with her partner for eight hours straight.

The man was imprisoned on assault charges, but police were uncertain about how to deal with the mother-to-be. They considered bringing charges against her for endangering her child by binge drinking, but ultimately decided to refer the case to Child, Youth, and Family—largely because maternal substance abuse is not explicitly outlawed. In some rare cases, pregnant drinkers have been charged with attempted fetal homicide, but New Zealand, like the United States, does not criminalize the simple act of drinking while pregnant.

This recent case has New Zealand police hoping to change that. Detectives involved in the case have called for legislation banning maternal substance abuse, believing that's the best way to stop addicted mothers-to-be from endangering their fetuses. But others feel that throwing pregnant women in jail is not the answer. Furthermore, legislating pregnant women's behavior could be a slippery slope. While many pregnant women feel comfortable having a daily drink, others would never consider consuming even a drop of wine.

What do you think? Should drinking while pregnant be against the law?

Photo: The Daily Mail

Baby Born Drunk

Cole Gamble — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:00:00 GMT

I, like anyone else, enjoy a drink now and then. But I usually wait until after 5p.m. or until, you know, after I've been born.

Clearly one infant girl couldn't wait to tie one on because she came into the world totally smashed. How drunk was this newborn? Try three times the legal limit (provided she came out of the womb driving an El Camino).

A Polish baby girl recently came in to the world with a .29 blood alcohol level. To put that in perspective, that level would be like you drinking 2 and 1/3 bottles of wine. As you can imagine, the mom of this little Dean Martin reincarnation showed up to the delivery room with a few belts in her. Or a dozen, but who is counting.

Suffice to say, the mother may be facing jail time. Luckily, doctors see no harmful effects on the child yet and are hopeful she will not exhibit any in the future. Remember pregnant ladies, you can have a glass of wine now and then, not 5.

Pregnancy and Booze: A Match Made in France

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Back pain and swollen feet bringing you down? That bloated feeling making you want to jump out of your skin? Make like the French, and have a vodka tonic, or even a couple of sérieux (roughly translated as, “one serious beer.”) According to a new study, 52 percent of French women consistently hit the bottle while pregnant. I knew I was a French major for a reason!

I know what you’re thinking: those French and their hedonistic ways. Well, in this case, the majority of tipsy pregnant mademoiselles simply didn’t know that drinking alcohol presents a health risk to their babies. And we’re not just talking an aperitif before dinner.

Here it gets a bit disturbing: Of the 837 pregnant women interviewed, 13.7 percent had at least one binge drinking episode, consuming five or more drinks, during their pregnancy. (Compare this to American women, of whom only 12 percent consume the medically approved daily drink while pregnant.) Tragically, two of the women in the study gave birth to babies with fetal alcohol syndrome. Let’s hope this study serves as a wakeup call to the French that at least one American dietary obsession just makes sense.

Photo: hoverdontsit.typepad.com

Babble Talk: Wine While Pregnant? Oui, Oui.

Jen Chaney — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:32:00 GMT

After reading Rachelle Atkins' Dispatches essay on France and its parenting practices, I so want to move there. While she admits that the daycare situation isn't as specatacular as it's cracked up to be (though still far more affordable than what most Americans pay for childcare), she raves about the kid-inclusive lifestyle.

But that's not the most important thing in the story. To me, the most significant point comes in paragraph five: "For plenty of French women, the notion of going without wine, cheese, cigarettes or caffeine for nine months is as crazy as saying a French man must go through forty years of marriage without taking a mistress."

That's right: Pregnant French women slurp wine and chew on soft cheeses with no shame or guilt! If I may borrow a phrase from the comic genius Yakov Smirnoff (who is not French, but just go with it): "What a country!"

One of the hardest things for me about being pregnant was abstaining from wine for nine months. Like Rachelle, I succumbed a few times and had a glass here or there, mainly because various friends told me they had done the same and their children turned out fine. As soon as I started to show, though, I never had a sip in public for fear that some Posse of Pregnant Women would emerge from the shadows, point their swollen, water-retaining fingers in my face and start shouting, "Bad Mother! Bad Mother!"

Obviously many studies have shown that drinking during pregnancy -- particularly on a regular basis or to excess -- can lead to fetal alcohol syndrome. But having a single glass occasionally during the pregnancy, generally speaking, doesn't seem to be a problem. A number of women, assuming they are in the company of friends with whom they feel "safe" admitting this, seem to agree. Some of my friends even said their doctors told them as much. But it seems like most OBs in the States are afraid to allow even a little latitude on the issue out of fear that some women will hear "It's okay occasionally," then go home and throw back a whole carafe of pinot noir.

While the French may be a bit more liberal than even I am comfortable with -- smoking with a baby bump still strikes me as gross -- it seems like they have a healthier, less judgmental attitude about all of this. Could we Americans benefit from modeling some of that behavior? I say, oui, oui.

Photo: Suraj Mathew on Babble.com

Wine OK While Pregnant in UK

Madeline Holler — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:29:00 GMT

Pregnant women, a toast! To the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and their reasonable guidelines that a small glass of wine everyday won't harm the fetus.

Of course, if you're getting out your scorecards to move booze from the “forbidden” category to the “in small amounts,” write it in pencil. Leaders at the British Department of Health are still pushing for total alcohol abstinence from conception to birth. The two agencies will duke it out and try to come up with definitive guidelines. So, who knows what they’ll say next week and the week after that.

Public health officials, doctors and midwives for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said there is no evidence of harm to a fetus from a small glass of wine or a pint of lager daily. These NICE (awwwww) officials said, though, that drinking possibly increases the risk of miscarriage (oh, is THAT all?).

This guideline contradicts the British Department of Health recommendation that women abstain completely from alcohol from conception to birth, saying there is evidence that even small amounts of alcohol could lead to varying degrees of fetal alcohol syndrome and other disorders.

Personally, I didn’t drink during either of my pregnancies. During the first one, I was just trying to be perfect. During the second one, well after I had abandoned perfection, I could barely stay awake as it was. Even a sip would have sent me to bed for yet another nap.

What do you think? Are they more realistic in Great Britain or just in denial? Did you drink much while pregnant? Did you want to drink but abstain out of fear? Evidence? Judgment from others?

Britain Joins U.S. (and France?) in Saying No Alcohol During Pregnancy

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:23:00 GMT

Ahhh the Brits. The nice people often accused of bad food, excellent architecture and poor taste in allies have finally ruled against moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Rachel Weisz
better watch where she quaffs that next brew. Unlike the Aussies, who lately have determined that drinking in moderation is still acceptable, the British government has decided to rule against even occasional consumption during pregnancy or when trying to conceive a child. Warning labels to this effect will be added to wine, beer, and spirits. Shockingly France, the poster country of wine with everything, is apparently also considering warning labels.

Not surprisingly, wine growers and others representing alcohol interests, argue that the pregnancy warnings are overkill and point out, rightly, the new warnings contradict existing Department of Health guidelines, which allow occasional usage as not damaging to the fetus.

Despite the terrible outcomes associated with drinking heavily while pregnant (fetal alcohol syndrome), most women admit to consuming alcohol at some point during pregnancy. So total abstinence may be the absolute safest course of action, but I'm with Rachel Weisz on this one. I think it's better to have an occasional glass of wine after the first trimester than try and follow a rigid regimen of total abstinence. And now apparently we'll both be "pilloried" in England and the States.