A new study released yesterday looks at the effects of drinking alcohol in pregnancy drawing on data from 11,000 children born in the UK between 2000 and 2002.
Several contradictory studies have been published over the last few years and the advice to women has ranged from not drinking at all to having a few drinks with no consistency.
The results of the study suggest that women can have at least one glass of wine per week without harming their foetuses, and that, in fact, children who had mothers who drank a little every now and then have fewer social problems and scored higher on cognitive tests.
Children who had mothers who drank heavily during pregnancy did poorly on cognitive tests and were hyperactive.
Sounds reasonable, right?
Wrong.
1) The study is retrospective which means that they asked women what they drank during pregnancy well after the time that they were pregnant.
2) W0men who are affluent and highly educated tend to drink less during pregnancy anyway so babies are inclined to fare better on cognitive tests based on the socio-economic status of their mothers external to any influence on their development via drinking.
So, the jury is still out on drinking. Do you think avoiding alcohol is the best solution?
Showing posts with label alcohol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alcohol. Show all posts
Drunk breastfeeding
"A North Dakota woman accused of breast-feeding her 6-week-old baby while drunk has pleaded guilty to child neglect. Stacey Anvarinia, 36, could face up to five years in prison when she's sentenced on the felony charge in August."
While I'm no advocate of drunk breastfeeding, am I crazy in thinking that a potential sentence of 5 years is just a little bit harsh? How about rehab? Who will look after her baby? It seems counterintuitive to me to take a mother who did something stupid away from her baby and put her in prison instead of getting her help. Not clear if she made drunk breastfeeding a habit but what if it only happened once?
While I'm no advocate of drunk breastfeeding, am I crazy in thinking that a potential sentence of 5 years is just a little bit harsh? How about rehab? Who will look after her baby? It seems counterintuitive to me to take a mother who did something stupid away from her baby and put her in prison instead of getting her help. Not clear if she made drunk breastfeeding a habit but what if it only happened once?
Don't drink lagers in Sussex while pregnant
We have seen the future and it is not good:
Caroline Williams, 23 week pregnant, was ordered out of a Sussex pub after bar staff noticed she had drunk a pint of lager and her friend attempted to purchase her one more half pint. Williams said, “I was on a rare night out with some friends. I had a pint of lager and a friend offered to get me another half that was going to be my limit." Her friend was refused service and the whole group was asked to leave the pub.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says there is no evidence that a couple of units, equivalent to a pint of beer, once or twice a week will harm a baby.
Read more: Mum-to-be ordered out of pub
Caroline Williams, 23 week pregnant, was ordered out of a Sussex pub after bar staff noticed she had drunk a pint of lager and her friend attempted to purchase her one more half pint. Williams said, “I was on a rare night out with some friends. I had a pint of lager and a friend offered to get me another half that was going to be my limit." Her friend was refused service and the whole group was asked to leave the pub.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says there is no evidence that a couple of units, equivalent to a pint of beer, once or twice a week will harm a baby.
Read more: Mum-to-be ordered out of pub
Drinking in pregnancy = bad
I'm sorry but if isn't the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard....
"Scientists believe that early exposure while still in the womb can reduce youngster's sensitivity to the underlying bitterness of many alcoholic drinks, making them more appealing."
Apparently, researchers at SUNY in Syracuse believe that women who drink can give their unborn babies a taste for alcohol by doing experiments on rats. "When offered the choice of sugared water, alcohol, or quinine flavoured water, rats who were not exposed to alcohol [in the womb] tended to plump for the sweeter alternative."
*rolls eyes*
Source: Mothers who drink while pregnant can give their children a taste for alcohol
"Scientists believe that early exposure while still in the womb can reduce youngster's sensitivity to the underlying bitterness of many alcoholic drinks, making them more appealing."
Apparently, researchers at SUNY in Syracuse believe that women who drink can give their unborn babies a taste for alcohol by doing experiments on rats. "When offered the choice of sugared water, alcohol, or quinine flavoured water, rats who were not exposed to alcohol [in the womb] tended to plump for the sweeter alternative."
*rolls eyes*
Source: Mothers who drink while pregnant can give their children a taste for alcohol
Pre-conception care: useful or a crock?
In an interesting study recently published in the British Medical Journal, it seems that women of childbearing age in the UK (20-34 years old) are less likely to follow pre-pregnancy recommendations such as decreasing the consumption of alcohol, taking folic acid supplements and quitting smoking. Of the 12, 445 women in the study, only 2.9% were taking folic acid supplements and having fewer than 4 drinks per week three month before conception. The authors of the study pin this down to young women being less inclined to want to change their pre-pregnancy lifestyles. The authors also suggest that public health messages about pre-conception care are not getting to women. I wonder if it's really just a lack of appropriate communication of public health messages or if women are just actively resisting the overly prescriptive rules and regulations surrounding pregnancy (from pre-conception to post-birth). Increasingly, women are being told to treat their bodies as if they could be pregnant at any time and I think this fits in nicely with all of the moral panics about motherhood and fertility for young women in their 20s.
I'm interested as to whether any of you following pre-conception care closely or if you think it's all a load of bollocks?
Source: British Medical Journal, Online First, February 13, 2009.
I'm interested as to whether any of you following pre-conception care closely or if you think it's all a load of bollocks?
Source: British Medical Journal, Online First, February 13, 2009.
Follow celebrity parenting styles in new book
As if People magazine hadn't elevated celebrity motherhood to a new stratosphere of cultural importance, a new book slated for release in March 2009 claims to provide its readers with the inside secrets of Hollywood pregnancy. Entitled The Black Book of Hollywood Pregnancy Secrets, the authors interviewed a number of celeb mums including Angelina Jolie, Kate Hudson,Tina Fey and Katie Holmes about 'real' celebrity motherhood (whatever that is). While the thought of having an even closer look inside the uteruses of America's most famous mothers (and considering my book about celeb pregnancy will be much better....*hiss*!), I did find one great tidbit from Helena Bonham Carter, 42, an actress known more for her sartorial mishaps than her stellar parenting skills. Upon being chastised by a stranger for drinking coffee she said to the man:
"You try nine months of gestation and self-abnegation before you start censoring my diet. Your mother was probably on vodka, and do you have three heads?"
Sources: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013492495
http://tinyurl.com/737bgk
"You try nine months of gestation and self-abnegation before you start censoring my diet. Your mother was probably on vodka, and do you have three heads?"
Sources: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013492495
http://tinyurl.com/737bgk
Yes, you can? No, actually you can't.
As I've already had a few rants about alcohol in pregnancy, it perhaps comes as no surprise that the British National Institude for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is advising pregnant women to avoid drinking completely in the first three months of pregnancy and to be very strict with drinking in the months following.Whilst there is no definite or consistent evidence of harm to the foetus if a pregnant woman has one glass of wine per week, for instance, it seems a blanket ban on drinking is the preferred method of 'managing' pregnant women because clearly they cannot manage their own bodies themselves.
It's not my place here to debate whether women should drink or not...that is an individual choice; however, what I will say is that I find it SO incredibly offensive that pregnant women are continually instructed on how to be pregnant the 'right' way and no one ever talks about the behaviour of partners (particularly, male partners).
A new study in Birth reveals that men often do not change their negative lifestyle habits such as drug use or smoking and drinking when their partners are pregnant. The researchers argue that it is critical to get partners on board because if a male partner continues to binge drink or smoke, for instance, a pregnant woman will be less inclined to diminish those negative behaviours herself.
"Reductions in substance use among young fathers, both during their partner's pregnancy and after the birth of their child, would likely increase the probability that mothers will relapse to use postpartum, and reduce children's exposure to harmful substance use in the home environment," the researchers conclude.
Seriously, if women are supposed to stop smoking and drinking for the 'health' of the foetus, why in the world is it acceptable to absolve partners of responsibility for their lifestyle choices?
What do you think?
Pregnancy is apparently a 'medical condition'
"Mom-to-be Nicole Ritchie has been granted a leave of absence from her court-mandated anti-drinking program, her rep confirms to People. The program suggested the Simple Life star take a leave because they were worried for her safety, according to her rep. "They offer that option to anyone with a medical condition of any kind," the rep says. "She is not receiving special treatment.""
They are worried about her 'safety'? Interesting.
1) Why is pregnancy considered a medical condition? I thought we were sitting comfortably in an era where pregnancy is sexy and glamourous and definitely not a condition to be hidden or represented as 'clinical' in popular culture.
2) How does being pregnant hinder Nicole from going to counselling or sitting in a class room for drug/alcohol education? Wouldn't you think that have a mother-to-be with a demonstrated history of drug/alcohol abuse and who has served time in jail would benefit from some preventive measures to keep her from re-indulging in old habits?
Source: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20164577,00.html
They are worried about her 'safety'? Interesting.
1) Why is pregnancy considered a medical condition? I thought we were sitting comfortably in an era where pregnancy is sexy and glamourous and definitely not a condition to be hidden or represented as 'clinical' in popular culture.
2) How does being pregnant hinder Nicole from going to counselling or sitting in a class room for drug/alcohol education? Wouldn't you think that have a mother-to-be with a demonstrated history of drug/alcohol abuse and who has served time in jail would benefit from some preventive measures to keep her from re-indulging in old habits?
Source: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20164577,00.html
Mums behaving badly
Sushi Das has written a great piece for The Age today about 'mums behaving badly' or how pregnant women are navigating all of the rules and regulations of being pregnant, the constant cultural surveillance of motherhood and the spaces (perhaps small) of resistance available to women who don't conform (especially when it comes to controversial topics like drinking and alcohol).
Read it here:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/strongmotherhoodstrong-pressure-to-be-perfect-starts-before-the-birth/2007/11/16/1194766949198.html
Alcohol in pregnancy: the saga continues
I finally feel vindicated in all my posts about risk culture and alcohol during pregnancy. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, medical experts are in a furore over the latest recommendations that pregnant women abstain from drinking completely during pregnancy. The 'zero tolerance' policy, as it has come to be known in other countries, has caused quite a bit of unrest among pregnant women who are scared to death that their babies will be damaged for life after consuming one drink.
I probably shouldn't say 'I told you so'..but...I TOLD YOU SO.
The president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Christine Tippett, says:
"Specialists practising in obstetrics and gynaecology in Canada have had requests from women to terminate their pregnancy because they're concerned they may have harmed their foetuses through alcohol exposure early in their pregnancy."
How ridiculous is this? Why is it that doctors are surprised that women are so freaked out in light of all of these 'rules' about alcohol they think that one drink is going to cause fetal alcohol syndrome?
I think it's great to encourage women to have healthy pregnancies; I think it's paternalistic and just wrong to monitor pregnant women so closely and scare them so much that they do not feel responsible enough or too guilty to continue with a pregnancy because they've had a few drinks.
Dr. Tippett continues:
"It's extremely unlikely that a small amount of alcohol or a single case of binge drinking is going to be harmful to the foetus … We need to establish what is a safe level rather than saying you shouldn't drink at all, because that does engender a great deal of anxiety."
Some of the women in my study were so distressed about drinking, especially early in pregnancy (when many of them did not actually know they were pregnant), they went into hyper-vigilance mode when it came to food, drink and exercise for the rest of the pregnancy because they felt so guilty about drinking in the first few weeks. New British research has revealed that binge drinking (more than 5 drinks) is actually NOT consistently harmful to fetuses.
"When pregnant women report isolated episodes of binge drinking in the absence of a consistently high daily alcohol intake ... the evidence of risk seems minimal," the researchers wrote in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, published today.
This may be a comfort to women who drank early on in pregnancy without knowing they were pregnant but only highlights the absolute inconsistency in research findings on this topic. If one group of doctors is telling women not to drink at all, others say no more than one drink per day, and then another group says an occasional binge is okay, what are women to do?
Pregnancy is hard enough as it is...perhaps more research should be done before women stop having babies altogether because they are too afraid to breathe, or walk outside, or come into contact with cheese or be in the presence of alcohol, lest they harm their unborn.
What do you think?
Sources: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/zerotolerance-alcohol-code-may-cause-panic/2007/11/14/1194766770310.html
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/boozings-minimal-baby-harm/2007/11/14/1194766733789.html
I probably shouldn't say 'I told you so'..but...I TOLD YOU SO.
The president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Christine Tippett, says:
"Specialists practising in obstetrics and gynaecology in Canada have had requests from women to terminate their pregnancy because they're concerned they may have harmed their foetuses through alcohol exposure early in their pregnancy."
How ridiculous is this? Why is it that doctors are surprised that women are so freaked out in light of all of these 'rules' about alcohol they think that one drink is going to cause fetal alcohol syndrome?
I think it's great to encourage women to have healthy pregnancies; I think it's paternalistic and just wrong to monitor pregnant women so closely and scare them so much that they do not feel responsible enough or too guilty to continue with a pregnancy because they've had a few drinks.
Dr. Tippett continues:
"It's extremely unlikely that a small amount of alcohol or a single case of binge drinking is going to be harmful to the foetus … We need to establish what is a safe level rather than saying you shouldn't drink at all, because that does engender a great deal of anxiety."
Some of the women in my study were so distressed about drinking, especially early in pregnancy (when many of them did not actually know they were pregnant), they went into hyper-vigilance mode when it came to food, drink and exercise for the rest of the pregnancy because they felt so guilty about drinking in the first few weeks. New British research has revealed that binge drinking (more than 5 drinks) is actually NOT consistently harmful to fetuses.
"When pregnant women report isolated episodes of binge drinking in the absence of a consistently high daily alcohol intake ... the evidence of risk seems minimal," the researchers wrote in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, published today.
This may be a comfort to women who drank early on in pregnancy without knowing they were pregnant but only highlights the absolute inconsistency in research findings on this topic. If one group of doctors is telling women not to drink at all, others say no more than one drink per day, and then another group says an occasional binge is okay, what are women to do?
Pregnancy is hard enough as it is...perhaps more research should be done before women stop having babies altogether because they are too afraid to breathe, or walk outside, or come into contact with cheese or be in the presence of alcohol, lest they harm their unborn.
What do you think?
Sources: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/zerotolerance-alcohol-code-may-cause-panic/2007/11/14/1194766770310.html
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/boozings-minimal-baby-harm/2007/11/14/1194766733789.html
booze alert for pregnant mums: safety measure or scare tactic?
As I was perusing my copy of the Sunday Age over breakfast this morning, I came across this article about the perils of drinking in pregnancy which is, as anyone who has ever had a baby will know, is not a new concern. According to new guidelines set out by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), warning labels will be placed on bottles to alert pregnant women to the risks of drinking for the fetus. You can read the whole article here: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/booze-alert-for-pregnant-mums/2007/04/21/1176697155273.html
I have very mixed feelings about this. I've never been pregnant so I don't know how it feels to negotiate the mixed messages pregnant women are given with regard to making lifestyle decisions such as whether to have a glass of wine or to participate in any 'risky' behaviour. In America, alcohol bottles have the warning shown in the picture above. I was particularly captivated by the label this year over Christmas dinner with my parents. On some level, I felt like the label was another blatant privileging of fetal rights over mother's rights. I think for the most part, women are generally aware that drinking significant amounts of alcohol in pregnancy can interfere with the development of a fetus. Maybe I am being naive, but how many women really have no sense at all that alcohol is potentially dangerous during pregnancy? I think that some of the 'risk' management in pregnancy often positions women as passive dupes; that the government needs to tell women what to do in order to protect unborn babies from their irresponsible mothers. It just rubs me the wrong way. Whilst perhaps a positive step in educating women in pregnancy, I think this issue is more closely tied to issues of fetal rights. What bothers me is that the government and/or cultural institutions are so worried about women causing harm to their fetuses by drinking alcohol, no one seems to care about women who are actually addicted to alcohol? The health of the woman in this case is totally neglected in favour of the baby. Warning labels aren't being placed on alcohol bottles for the general population; they are being placed on bottles because fetal lives are 'at risk'. Although pregnancy involves certain ethical obligations, it is legally and politically problematic to assume that a woman must sacrifice her self-sovereignty for public interest even if we do not condone her lifestyle choices during pregnancy. As a consequence of such protracted and divisive political feuds surrounding fetal rights, pregnant women are increasingly perceived as merely ‘uterine environments’ and their bodies are policed as sites for ‘public inspection’ (Duden 1999: 24).
Why do fetal rights matter for women?
For many people, it is hard to deny that pregnant women do have certain responsibilities to the unborn; however, the institutionalised social and medical management of pregnancy as an experience to be had in the public is extremely problematic. The privileging of fetal rights potentially encourages the subordination of women’s reproductive rights in protecting the survival of the fetus at all costs. On the other hand, not recognising fetal identity may alienate many women who do see fetuses as babies.
Women experience their relationship to the politics of fetal rights differently on the basis of class, race, sexuality and religious or cultural background. For example, the rules of self-sacrifice in pregnancy (like not drinking or smoking) are commonly seen as the inevitable path to motherhood for many middle-class women (i.e. it's just what you do. period.) In contrast, poor women or young mothers are seen as being ill-equipped to make responsible choices simply because they do not have the financial means or the experience/knowledge to defend themselves. In my view, the crux of the fetal rights debate rests in how women can be pregnant without sacrificing their rights as citizens.
I wrote a similar post about pregnancy and smoking:
Here are a few other articles on drinking in pregnancy from The Age today:
I am really interested in what you think about this issue. How have you made your choice about drinking alcohol in pregnancy? Have people in your life (or complete strangers) judged you for the choices you've made? Feel free to share your thoughts and I'll post them on the blog.
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