Alcohol Fear

[twolilducks]

I haven't admitted this anywhere yet, but I struggled to give up alcohol at points throughout this pregnancy. Yes I know it's awful.. but I have drank alcohol the most at one time about 4 standard drinks.. generally over half a day... with food.

averaged between 1-4 standard drinks a few times a week until about 24 weeks... after this stage i've managed to cut down significantly and have had a glass of wine here or there.

But now that I've achieved that, the guilt and worry is consuming me. I'm so scared about the damage I could have done. We are now 34 weeks so not long to go.. all scans have been perfect, have been measuring ahead consistently by two weeks.. all measurements have consisistently sat at the 75th percentile.

I know there will be negative feedback, that's fine, I'm beating myself up as it is.. but I just needed to get this off my chest.

 

[night owl]

to be honest the scans can’t tell you if the baby has been harmed by alcohol or not, the scary type of harm which alcohol does to the fetus is mainly organic brain damage (fetal alcohol syndrome) which can’t be picked up by a scan, that is usually caused by heavy/excessive drinking earlier on though and I wouldn’t say you have drank heavily at any one point it’s been more like at drip-feed of it, there’s also evidence to say that the mums tolerance of alcohol can make a different ie the better the mum tolerates alcohol the less will go through to the baby, also the stage at which the drinking was heaviest can make a different - early stages while face and brain
still developing is the worst time to drink,
If I was you I’d try and address why you couldn’t feel like you could stop drinking during pregnancy - is it underlying issues with alcohol or maybe wasn’t ready to be pregnant or similar? I wouldn’t worry about what’s happened so far as you can’t change it and hopefully you’ve ‘gotten away with it’ as many many women do just focus on addressing any underlying issues going forward so you can be the best mum you can! X

 

[WinterWolf]

Up to 4 drinks in a sitting a few times a week is A LOT, especially in tri 1 where alcohol will have the most effect on the baby. Not gonna sugar coat it - There’s a very real chance your baby will have some kind of learning difficulty. Alcohol causes mental damage much more than physical damage so you probably won’t know for a couple of years if baby has been affected. I agree with night owl, you need to think about why you felt the need to drink so much so frequently and put measures in place to stop you lapsing back into it again once baby is born.

It is what it is - there’s nothing anyone can do about it now. Focus on staying sober and being a great mum to your baby x