Afew glasses of wine when trying to get pregnant??

I have always been a big drinker but as I am now trying to get pregnant I have cut down my alcohol consumption drastically.


I only ever drink red wine and never have more than 3.....usually 2 is my limit.


Do you think drinking at this level is preventing me from getting pregnant.


My diet is healthy, (i don't eat junk food at all) and I exercise regularly so my gut feeling is that a glass or two of wine is probably more beneficial than anything however my partner thinks I am deluding myself.


I'd appreicate frank opinions on this.

Doctors always recommend to not drink during the second half of your cycle (after ovulation) as that's is the time when you might be pregnant. First few weeks are extremely important for a baby's development + alcohol intake can increase the chance of miscarriage.

Sarsky, my doctor once told me to have a glass to relax if that is what I would like, even when I was pregnant. I think everything you have said in your thread in bang on and there is no problem at all with drinking a glass of wine, perhaps if you are worried, then limit it to just one a night. I think we can get too paranoid, anxious and obsessive when it comes to trying to fall pregnant and it definately makes a difference I think. We were trying to get pregnant for months before we arrived in Hong Kong and I was constantly thinking about it and doing "all the right things", in other words obsessing. When we arrived in HK and things settled down and I wasn't stressing or thinking about things, I fell pregnant and yes I had a drink or two, not every night, but most nights I had a glass with dinner. I'm 11wks pregnant with my second now and the other day I was having a coffee and the woman I was with was gobsmacked and told me in no uncertain terms that I was crazy and will harm the baby and to throw it away immediately! ONE COFFEE!! When I fell pregnant with my first I didn't know I was and I went out on a couple of tragic nights, it wasn't until a couple of weeks later I found out. I felt terrible that I had done some damage to the baby, but my ob assured me it would be okay and you know what I have a great little girl now. The best thing I think you can do is contact your GP and speak to them, they are the professionals and are going to know what is best for you. Sorry, I have a tendency to babble, good luck sarsky.

Of course if I were pregnant I wouldn't have any alcohol...I am referring to the endless months of trying...what if it turns into years of trying. I want some semblance of a life whilst I am trying to conceive. I think I'd become very miserable and obsessed with trying if I couldn't occasionally have a drink or two. I am NOT talking about drinking WHILST pregnant at all!


I appreciate your frankness though

I gave my husband a really hard time during TTC. I wasn't getting pregnant after months of trying so I was obssessing about what we could be doing wrong. I banned hot baths, drinking alcohol and stood over him to ensure he took his vitamins. I obsessed about my own lifestyle too of course. Was there anything else I could be doing to improve things etc etc? A while later we found out that varicocele was causing really bad sperm morphology so no matter what we did in terms of lifestyle I was unlikely to get pregnant naturally. Obviously I'm hoping my circumstances don't apply to you but the point is I'd spent months as a control freak watching every piece of food and drink that went into our mouths and it was pretty pointless. If I'd been sensible - ie allowed myself the occasional glass of wine and allowed my husband a bit more freedom, the last year could have been much more bearable for both of us. A couple of weeks ago I found out I was pregnant after an IVF frozen embryo transfer. Ironically, I had convinced myself it hadn't worked and during the two week wait I'd allowed myself the odd drink! Certainly ease up on drinking after ovulation as you don't know whether or not you're pregnant, but don't drive yourself mad with guilt either.

... oh and by the way, I reckon the people who say they didn't drink coffee or alcohol when trying to conceive and advise other people not to drink etc. didn't take too long in getting pregnant themselves. I'm sure if they'd endured months or years of infertility they'd be singing a different tune!

You said you had cut back on your consumption, but why not try eliminating it for a couple of months just to see what happens? Alcohol can cause problems with ovulation and endometrial lining. But my more important question is, what are the drinking habits of your husband? If you are drinking 2-3 glasses a night, is he drinking more? In men alcohol can change hormone levels interrupting sperm development, and it can directly effect the sperm-developing cells. This usually takes enough alcohol to cause a change in liver function, but it may be something to ask your doctor about.


You already said you don't plan on drinking during pregnancy. Just know that week 3 of the pregnancy is when alcohol does it's damage on the heart and central nervous system if you are drinking in excess. Basically, there is a time line for development, and whatever is doing the most development at that time is most at danger. That is why Fetal Alcohol Syndrome has such a wide variety of symptoms and physical characteristics and there is a spectrum of diagnosis. Like autism, there are many children who are not even diagnosed. The important thing to point out here is that there is a thresh hold that is different for every woman. No one knows or can possibly predict that fine line of "too much" as everyone's biochemistry is, at some level, different. That is why a lot doctors recommend that women abstain from alcohol.


And as for caffeine, here are some facts:

1. it is absorbed by the placenta, so the caffeine that your body easily breaks down, is passed on to your baby's tiny body to deal with.

2. it effects nutritional absorption - so not only are you not getting the optimal nutrition, but either is the baby

3. it is known to suppress certain biochemical pathways of development


All of this being said, I personally think like anything in life you have to learn what you are going to learn about something and then make a choice based on what you know. If you know something about genetics and fetal development, it is astounding that most of us come together with everything in place and all our parts working. Doctors give advice on things like alcohol or caffeine consumption based on statistics - i.e. one cup of coffee a day is fine or one glass of wine with dinner is fine. Statistically a mother who follows this advice has a perfectly normal pregnancy and a healthy baby. And then there are mothers who do everything by the book and follow a "perfect" pregnancy diet and something goes wrong. We all want pregnancy to be a positive experience - yeah there are physical aspects we could live without, but you know what I mean. For some moms, to achieve that feeling they need to feel like they are doing everything a certain way. Each mom needs to decide which is the right way for her so that she can feel calm and self assured that she is doing what she thinks is best for the baby and herself. Sorry - this is not very frank, but I think it's the truth.

And the same local ladies who freaked about you drinking coke/cold water/eating ice cream/watermelon/whatever are probably the same mothers who brought their newborns home from the hospital in a taxi without a car seat or on a minibus. Mad mad mad...

And these women feed their children lollies filled with artificial colours and flavours. I mean you can't even get toothpaste for kids over here that isn't flavoured!! I have my daughter's toothpaste sent over from Aust and panadol, and cough medicine and so on and so on.... I'm thinking I would prefer to stick with my one coffee a day whilst pregnant than feeding myself artificial crap including MSG. Surely that is worse!

Food additives, like MSG, are evil, especially on a developing brain. And people wonder why the rates of things like autism are on the rise...I agree with you specks. At least caffeine is a naturally occurring substance - not something made in a laboratory.

I have to avoid MSG regardless as I'm allergic and it puts me out for at least 2 days with a migraine and not being able to take my meds whilst pregnant is just not worth it. So I am very picky and choosy about where I eat and let me tell you the restaurants not adding MSG are very few and far between