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<blockquote data-quote="pippin" data-source="post: 2466365" data-attributes="member: 193503">There is no one &#039;right&#039; answer here. Experts disagree, so it&#039;s fine that you and your fiance disagree too.There is not a tube that runs directly from your mouth to your uterus, so it&#039;s not quite accurate to say that &#039;everything you take into your body, baby gets as well.&#039;&nbsp; Alcohol is taken into your blood stream, and from there is gets to the fetus.&nbsp; If you have had one drink and have, say, a BAC of .03%, then your fetus also has a BAC of .03% --- it isn&#039;t like you gave your 2 ounce fetus an entire glass of beer.While there is clear and compelling evidence that excessive alcohol use during pregnancy can be harmful to the fetus (especially binge drinking), the evidence for harm from light/occassional use is *very* minimal. We KNOW that a single drink doesn&#039;t cause FAS/FAE. &nbsp;But because women differ in the way they metabolize alcohol, and because there is simply no way to ethically do scientific/statistical research on the effects of various levels of alcohol use,&nbsp; it&#039;s impossible to determine what the cut-off is between &#039;safe&#039; and &#039;possibly unsafe&#039; use.&nbsp; So many experts (including the U.S. professional obstetrics board) prefer to err on the side of caution, and recommend that pregnant women drink no alcohol at all.Other experts (including those in many other countries, and some individual doctors) believe that because there is no evidence of harm from light/occassional use, that there is no need to demand complete abstinence.&nbsp; So... take your pick, either it&#039;s ok if you don&#039;t overdo it, or you must never touch a drop from the second you take your last birth control. Both options have legitimate support. For your personal situation -- of course nobody,&nbsp; pregnant or not HAS to drink alcohol, so if you prefer to abstain completely, then by all means you should do so, and your fiance should stop pressuring you.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pippin, post: 2466365, member: 193503"] There is no one 'right' answer here. Experts disagree, so it's fine that you and your fiance disagree too. There is not a tube that runs directly from your mouth to your uterus, so it's not quite accurate to say that 'everything you take into your body, baby gets as well.' Alcohol is taken into your blood stream, and from there is gets to the fetus. If you have had one drink and have, say, a BAC of .03%, then your fetus also has a BAC of .03% --- it isn't like you gave your 2 ounce fetus an entire glass of beer. While there is clear and compelling evidence that excessive alcohol use during pregnancy can be harmful to the fetus (especially binge drinking), the evidence for harm from light/occassional use is *very* minimal. We KNOW that a single drink doesn't cause FAS/FAE. But because women differ in the way they metabolize alcohol, and because there is simply no way to ethically do scientific/statistical research on the effects of various levels of alcohol use, it's impossible to determine what the cut-off is between 'safe' and 'possibly unsafe' use. So many experts (including the U.S. professional obstetrics board) prefer to err on the side of caution, and recommend that pregnant women drink no alcohol at all. Other experts (including those in many other countries, and some individual doctors) believe that because there is no evidence of harm from light/occassional use, that there is no need to demand complete abstinence. So... take your pick, either it's ok if you don't overdo it, or you must never touch a drop from the second you take your last birth control. Both options have legitimate support. For your personal situation -- of course nobody, pregnant or not HAS to drink alcohol, so if you prefer to abstain completely, then by all means you should do so, and your fiance should stop pressuring you. [/QUOTE]

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