Rachel is not saying pregnant women to drink alcohol, she just said that a glass of wine in her opinion after the first trimester is OK. A glass, not glasses.

The whole thing is being blown way out of proportion by a very small few in the media looking for a story that’s not even there.

While I doubt that a very limited amount of alcohol would have serious consequenses on a develpoing fetus why take the chance? I don’t think women who have the occasional glass of wine are horrible people – they are just willing to risk more than I am.

Also the point about women who don;t know they are pregnant and drink- well for the first short while there is no cross over between mother and baby.

To each his own I guess. I can’t see how alcohol can be any worse than some of the junk that people eat nowadays. Coke, fast foods and all these crazy additives that we shove down our throats are pretty unhealthy too.
Plenty of women don’t find out they are pregnant for a few weeks and drink a lot prior to that.

I work with preemies, and I can tell you that smoking and drinking during pregnancy influences the babie’s growth in-utero.

I’d also be worried about the person who smoked a joint/day.Just because you can’t find any compeling evidence that it’s not good for the baby, doesn’t mean it’s safe…

I have worked with children who have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and let me tell you, the effects are heartbreaking and irreversible.
Even small amounts of alcohol consumed during pregnancy can cause severe cognitive and physical defects in children, as well as emotional disorders.

Even if some doctors say that there is LESS risk after the first trimester, why would an expectant mother want to take ANY risk with the health and safety of her unborn child.

In this information age where there is a wealth of medical information at our fingertips through the internet, there is no excuse to be underinformed about this issue and to rely on hearsay.

Here is just one of many websites that provides facts about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder:

http://www.child.gov.ab.ca/whatwedo/fas/pdf/publictips.pdf

For those who think it is no big deal to drink during pregnancy, please take the time to learn the facts.

Anybody with half a brain knew what Rachel was talking about. It was the press that tried to make it something else.

Rachel said nothing wrong.

When I was pregnant, my Dr. said that having a drink every now and then was fine (same true for caffeine). In fact, one of his comments which should be taken not too seriously (knowing this doc) was that ” drug addicts have healthy babies all the time” That said, it should be pointed out that drug addicts/alcoholics have a much higher incidence of low birth weight babies and babies with other developmental problems at birth. I am not a big drinker, but I did enjoy a glass of wine every now and then and my daughter (nearly 6) is extremely healthy.

I am 20 weeks pregant, and from the uk and at my first midwife appointment i was told 100% not to drink any alcohol. But this is a new thing that has only just came in, so when Rachel was pregnant she would of been told it was fine. But now in the UK they really dont want you drinking any.

I see nothing wrong with the occasional drink. I personally never drank during my pregnancy because I hate the taste of alcohol.

Aww, it’s not like she stayed at the bar till final call. I see nothing harmful or foul in having a few sips of red wine or Guinness in your third trimester. Geeze, by that time you’d probably need them :0