Comments on: The Vine: October 3, 2008

By: Beer

Beer — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:52:28 +0000

Hi, all – original letter-writer here (SO THRILLED that I have earned the nickname Beer!).

Wanted to say thanks for all the input. I actually haven't been eschewing alcohol altogether (or coffee, for that matter, because that would be crazy talk). However, as someone who generally had either a beer or a glass of wine most evenings after work, I figured that I had to drink less than that, anyway. The NA request was for getting through the day when I really want a cold one, but just had one a day or two ago, you know? Also for the drinking-in-public scenario. I am in complete agreement that Americans are way too much all-or-nothing about, well, everything, pregnancy included… and am pleased to report that my OB feels the same!

@Courtney – I actually am a Chicagoan who has made many a trip to the Three Floyds pub – such a great spot! So glad to hear I'm not the only one who's discovered it!

By: Lizbet

Lizbet — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:14:01 +0000

Beer — lemme add my congratulations!

I am not and have never been preggers, but I have birthed many a hangover in my day. Generally, medically speaking, hangovers are the result of your body being deprived of nutrients that it needs, either because of dehydration (alcohol being a drying agent) or because it blocks/absorbs/neutralizes vitamins (usually, the B-complex family is screwed when you drink).

So, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that problems with fetuses and drinking could be linked to nutritional deficiencies, rather than the alcohol itself per ce. Therefore, moderation would be the solution. Sadly, we Americans aren't all that good at moderation — all or nothing is our thinking.

Current favorite beers:
Fat Tire's 1558 (OMG SO GOOD)
Gordon Birsch's Marzen Ale

By: Meredith

Meredith — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:46:48 +0000

Congrats to all who are expecting!

I didn't drink at all during my pregnancy (I had a doc who wouldn't let me do *anything*. No coffee or coke, no tuna, no nothin' fun!). However, I did get a kick out of drinking grape or cranberry juice out of a wine glass in restaurants. The waiter usually thought it was funny, too! (I got some stares, and I'd just take a big old gulp. The few who felt the need to comment were met with an innocent "Oh, it's just juice! I just wanted to pretend.")

But then, I have an odd sense of humor sometimes.

By: jalana

jalana — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:44:36 +0000

I respect people's choices here and love that everyone's done their reading. But that said (as a med student who just finished her obgyn rotation and did a presentation on this topic)…the guidelines are made b/c while there's no study that conclusively says whether or not low EtOH exposure during pregnancy is harmful, abstaining has no true negative effects (besides a bad craving) while fetal alcohol syndrome is horrific. Human studies support a dose-response curve to alcohol exposure (but have been unable to state where the "line" is, which is of course the whole issue) And many animal studies, done in everything from mice to goats, supports not only multitudes of negative effects of EtOH but also, and importantly, negative effects into the 2nd and 3rd trimesters. It's not like the central nervous system is done developing after the first 3 mos. which is why it's called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder now b/c milder symptoms such as cognitive deficits (but not full mental retardation) are a well established sequelae of alcohol exposure. Several studies have shown good correlations between poor school performance and prenatal alcohol exposure in children who were not previously labeled with "fetal alcohol syndrome." Is it ultimately up to you to weigh the risks/benefits/evidence/lack thereof? Sure. But there is good logic behind the guidelines, and at the very least, if you decide to drink after you thought about all this, go ahead, but I think it's false to argue that it's "safe" when in fact we really don't know and the evidence points two ways.

By: elise

elise — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:51:57 +0000

I've never been pregnant, but my best friend is now pregnant with number two. Her doctor told her that she would be fine drinking a glass of wine every now and then after twenty weeks. But she never really did because she felt crappy and didn't think one glass of wine would help that.

The best part though is that she started feeling better by the end (as is typical, from what i hear). This is when her mother in law decided to throw her a perfectly lovely baby shower at a gorgeous restaurant that is also a winery. So the rest of us got to sample dozens of wines and take them home with us, while she sat there enormously pregnant and finally feeling well enough to drink, but was also quite aware that there were dozens of people not with our party who would scorn her if she took even a sip. Seeing as how my friend is quite the Oenophile when not pregnant, we have often wondered if this was a passive aggressive move by a not always wonderful mother in law.

On the subject of N/A beers in all my years bartending the only ones I would recommend if someone asked were Kaliber and Buckler, but I obviously need to keep my eyes peeled for the St. Pauli girl and Beck's varieties! Good luck with your beer search and your baby!

By: Ix

Ix — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:22:03 +0000

@Jo: The difference between n/a wine and grape juice is the taste, mostly. N/a wine, for all that it lacks alcohol, still *tastes* like real wine – you don't feel like you just got punted back to the little kids' table.
My parents liked to get it for me and my siblings, so that we could enjoy New Years' or other special occasions with them, without feeling like we were being left out some how.

@Alessandra: I agree that the infant mortality rate wasn't due to the drinking (or at least, not the drinking alone). The majority of it was due to the many, *many* illnesses that kids could and did get at the time – most of which have also been eliminated, due to vaccinations. Then there was also the fact that nutrition wasn't as good as it is today – the kids in the nobility would get good food, yes, but kids from less wealthy families couldn't be sure of that. Because of that, you ran into nutrition-related diseases: rickets, jaundice, scurvy and the like.

By: kates

kates — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:27:06 +0000

I'm so glad to see so much common-sense advice about moderation being the key here. I've birthed two kiddos and I drank occasionally throughout both pregnancies. I also *never* skipped my tea or coffee in the morning, not once. (: I found that drinking in public while hugely pregnant was good practice for breastfeeding in public (not all "here are my boobs!" but I don't hide out in the bathroom either). Both are situations in which you may get judgmental stares, or even the occasional rude comment, but public knowledge and tolerance for these (PERFECTLY HEALTHY and also NOT THEIR BUSINESS) things are growing every day. Come up with a good response and smile in case you run into an idiot, and go enjoy yourself.

Also: the amount of guilt and worry and crap that is troweled onto expecting mothers these days is ridiculous. If you start, now, trusting in YOUR judgment and having confidence in what makes sense to YOU instead of letting every expert out there gun you down with everything you have to do to be a good mother, things will be easier as you go. It's a wonderful journey, and it's your own — don't let someone else tell you how to make it.

Was that a rant? If so, rant over.

By: Ann

Ann — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:49:40 +0000

Congrats!!!!
When I was pregnant with my son, I had occasional MASSIVE beer and red wine cravings. Especially towards the end. When I wanted a good guzzle, I drank Kaliber, sometimes St. Pauli Girl. I thought Becks was skunky. O'Doul's Amer was OK in a pinch.

My midwife gave me the go-ahead to have small amounts of whatever after the first tri. I found that a few sips of the real deal satisfied the craving.

By: Alessandra

Alessandra — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:09:57 +0000

My mom's OB put her on amphetamines to keep the pregnancy weight down. I was born 5 weeks early. Coincidence? Hmmmm…

So, yeah, we're tying ourselves up in knots to be completely healthy vessels for our children and that's very noble, but up until about 100 years ago, a lot of people drank more because there wasn't truly potable water. So, you'd drink water mixed with wine or weak ale or a cider. Plus lots of caffeinated tea and coffee. The infant mortality rate was higher, but I'm not sure that the causation is necessarily 100% attributable to alcohol.

I will say that if you opt for the one small glass of wine or beer (I might shy away from hard liquor personally), definitely don't imbibe in public.

By: Sue

Sue — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:30:16 +0000

A reliable friend of mine told me a story that her OB/GYN's mother was advised (by her doctor) during her pregnancy in the 1960s to take up smoking as a habit so that she wouldn't gain too much baby weight. She was a non-smoker who was encouraged to start smoking after she got pregnant, and she did just that because her doctor told her to. Crazy, but notice that her daughter survived the pregnancy, the birth, and her childhood and is now a healthy, successful MD herself.

Congrats to you and your husband, Beer.