Drinking during pregnancy

This post originally began as a list of drinks that I had/have enjoyed in pregnancy as an alternative to wine and Pimms. In both pregnancies I’ve been shocked at how much I have wanted alcohol. I haven’t been a big drinker in years, I rarely drink at home and in the last 5 years I can probably count on two hands the amount of heavy nights out I have had. However when I’m pregnant I WANT (NEED) the booze. I always crave Pimms or wine and this time around even beer which I don’t even like! I always manage to stop myself. As much as I want it I figure pregnancy is a relatively short time (although it doesn’t seem like it) and for me if there is ANY chance of it causing a problem for my baby it’s just not worth it. Maybe it doesn’t do any harm at all but I know how I’ve felt the morning after a few glasses of wine and something tells me it’s not going to do any good so why bother ..after all I’d never have more than one so why have one?

This is just my view. Not a judgment on others. Not a lesson or advice for anyone just my view. Plain and simple. I was however interested to know your views so I asked on Twitter and well there were so many different opinions so I thought I would share some..anonymously of course so here are the tweets from some of my twitter followers. I can’t post them all..too many! :

*The only drink I had was half a glass of wine with my christmas dinner would never drink more than that.

*I didn’t as I wasn’t really drinking anyway. I’d probably not though unless special occasion, then might have a small tipple

*I wouldn’t drink at all when I was pregnant, but also didn’t fancy it or miss it. Ex’s sister was an alcoholic + drank to excess – as in rolling, falling down drunk – daily, both her daughters have FAS.

*I didn’t drink a drop when pregnant. I didn’t want to. I do know people who do and have though. It’s up to them I suppose.

*Nothing at all…haven’t drank since pregnant with first girl as breastfed since. I’m neurotic. Nothing since 2010!

*Omg I got back to sleep and just woke from a dream where I drank two bottles of wine!! The guilt. and it was in a dream.On a real life note though, I just have no desire to. Had 1 sip of champagne and it tasted vile!! No need to, so why bother x

*I have spoken at fas/fasd conferences. Not worth it to me. There are no studies on how little is ok bc that would be unethical to conduct.

*Had a glass of wine spritzer or half of cider after 16 weeks VERY occasionally.

*I didn’t have a drop as I think we dont know enough about how it effects the foetus. Only a short 9months too 😉

*I’ve never really drank at home and don’t go out so it’s pretty much a no-brainer x

* I had a glass of wine on my wedding day to toast with, nothing this time round. Xx

*I had a glass of wine with Christmas dinner both pregnancies. I’m not a big drinker generally though.

*I didn’t drink anything at all. I think abstaining from alcohol for 9 months is the least a pregnant woman can do.

*My mum craved stout and Guinness! She had a few during pregnancy with me!

*I had one drink at Christmas when I was 7.5 months pregnant and it was a small glass of bubbly to toast the year that was it.

So a few different views but the general opinion seemed to be that people would rather not risk it.

A post which has raised a lot of discussion this week written by Sarah Cawood can be found here

In the post she talks about her relaxed approach to wine and cheese in pregnancy including occasionally exceeding the recommended alcohol intake. Her post is both honest and at times refreshing but I did interact with her on twitter explaining that I think it’s a personal decision but that I wasn’t able to agree with her opinions on alcohol although I wasn’t judging her for making a different choice. To be fair she replied saying: It’s definitely a very personal journey and I’d be lying if I said I never worried. If I’ve had quite a social week then I make sure I have a very good one after..and I do the mental arithmetic on my units…. Def keep tabs on myself! It’s ovaltine all bank holiday;) so it was nice that she understood my opinion as I had hers.

Anyway as the original idea behind the post was to share my favourite alcohol free drinks with you without further ado here they are:

1.Sodastream mocktails – I was given a Sodastream machine to review at a perfect time. I was getting so frustrated with my lack of drink choices at barbecues etc and then suddenly I had some beautiful fresh mocktails to drink. I highly recommend the mojito and cosmopolitan syrups! You can read my full review of Sodastream here.

2.Schweppes Summer Punch – you may remember reading how I stocked up on this after discovering it tasted SO much like Pimms. I still think it does but I’ve completely gone off it for the time being – pregnancy food/drink aversions suck.

3.Vitamix Smoothies and Slushes – I was extremely lucky to win a Vitamix machine at the Britmums live conference. I make healthy smoothies at least 3/4times a week, chocolate milk shakes occasionally and my new favourite – slushies.. I have a bit of an ice craving at the mo.

4.Alcoholic free ciders – I love the Kopparberg versions although they taste more like pop than cider.

5.Shandy – I like the very cheap shandy you can buy in shops (the kind that children can drink) as an alternative to beer.

6.Juice – I drink a lot of Orange and Apple Juice.

7.Mumkind water our way – I use a drop of this liven up my water.

8.Diet coke with cherry – I keep to one small can or bottle a day and I don’t drink any other caffeinated drinks but sometimes I feel like I NEED this.

9.Isotonic drinks – I’m pretty sick of these but I drink them to avoid too many leg cramps. If I don’t drink them I suffer for it at night.

So that’s its for me.. What did you like to drink in pregnancy? What are your opinions on alcohol in pregnancy?