A pregnant woman was refused a drink at a pub and then asked to leave by staff who said they were protecting her unborn child.

Caroline Williams, 26, who is five months pregnant, says she felt humiliated by the treatment.

She insists she is a responsible mother and would never endanger her baby even though she drank a pint of beer and was going to have another half.

She said: ‘I was on a rare night out with some friends. I had a pint of lager and a friend offered to get me another half – that was going to be my limit.

‘He was refused service because it was for me and when I later took a sip from another friend’s glass the assistant manageress asked me and my friends to leave.’

Even though I agree with this manager, a spokesman for the Mitchells and Butler chain which owns the pub, apologised and said an investigation had been launched.

He said: ‘We would like to apologise unreservedly to all of the guests involved for any offence that may have been caused. While the team member may have believed she was acting with her own good intentions, she did not handle the situation in an appropriate manner.’

Advice from the Chief Medical Officer says that women trying to conceive or who are pregnant should avoid drinking alcohol.

Excess alcohol consumption can be the cause of a condition known as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome which causes mental retardation and birth defects. But other experts say an occasional glass of wine will not harm a child.

Some people just don’t get it…

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The group representing obstetricians and gynaecologists said Thursday it will develop national guidelines on how much alcohol — if any — is safe for women to consume leading up to and during pregnancy.

“The advice is extremely inconsistent, the advice is sometimes downright wrong and the perception on the part of the public is extremely wide and varied,” said Dr. Vyta Senikas, a spokeswoman for the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Because there are currently no guidelines in Canada, advice varies from province to province and from physician to physician.

“I have patients who think a couple of beers a day is not an issue. And the question is, is it an issue? That’s what we’re going to look at,” Senikas said. “And it has to do with the equivalents of what a couple of beers are and what a martini is. And there’s the whole issue of binge drinking and patterns of alcohol drinking. It’s a review of the literature on that.”

She said one doctor may tell a pregnant woman, or a woman trying to get pregnant, “don’t drink at all,” while another may say “moderate drinking” is OK.

“Are we talking about a beer? So what’s the percentage of alcohol? Are we talking about a Canadian beer or imported beer? Light beer, wine, cocktails. What are we talking about there? A lot of people, when they think of alcohol, they think of liquor like gin, whiskey. But they may not think of beer,” she said. “We’ve been made aware the message is inconsistent and may in fact be wrong.”

The goal is to put together the best national and international information available to develop guidelines and recommendations for physicians to give to patients.

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists estimates between one and six out of every 1,000 children are born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, a term that refers to disabilities that can result from alcohol use during pregnancy.

It is about time that everyone is on the same page.

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• Pregnant Teen Accused of Drunk-Driving TWICE!
• Another Pregnant Woman Caught Driving Drunk
• Do You Need Milkscreen?
• Published Reports Inaccurate Concerning Alcohol Consumption During Pregnancy

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We have covered this subject extensively so it came as a SHOCK to read the headlines this week stating that pregnant moms could not only drink, while they are pregnant, they could binge drink (5 drinks in one sitting)!!!

There is some pleasure in knowing that this study, that was done at Oxford University, has caused a furore in medical circles.

“When pregnant women report isolated episodes of binge drinking in the absence of a consistently high daily alcohol intake … the evidence of risk seems minimal,” the researchers wrote in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, published Wednesday.

The article goes on to say that:

The findings could provide comfort to expectant mothers who have been on a drinking binge before realising they are pregnant.

Health groups are furious, claiming the research sends a dangerous message to women already confused about conflicting advice on alcohol and pregnancy.The research comes just weeks after Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council released new guidelines warning pregnant women there was no safe drinking level.

Previously women were told they could drink up to seven standard drinks a week without risking their baby’s health.

“I don’t buy this nonsense that the evidence does not exist so drink up. The evidence does not exist so the safest thing to do is refrain,” said Sonia Berton, chief executive of Arbias, Australia’s only service for people with alcohol-related brain damage.

“The alcohol will reach your unborn baby within one minute and she/he will have exactly the same blood alcohol content as you do (and) the alcohol also stays in your baby longer than it does in you.” National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Related Disorders

“A fetus does not have a mature enough liver until week nine weeks – so how on earth is consuming alcohol safe?”

The effects of sustained heavy drinking during pregnancy include miscarriage, stillbirth, low birth weight and birth defects such as fetal alcohol syndrome.

The study did however find that evidence that occasional binge drinking could cause brain damage leading to behavioural problems, learning difficulties and speech impairment. But the effects were “‘generally quite small”. [How could brain damage be considered an effect that is "generally quite small"?]

“These are not small effects. Having a child that can’t learn at school, that doesn’t make friends easily, that doesn’t understand cause and effect, is not a small problem, especially as it’s with them for the rest of their life.” Sue Miers from the National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Related Disorders

Someone who needs to drink 5 drinks at a time while pregnant shouldn’t be having a baby. They are clearly not ready to make the sacrifices necessary to raise a healthy, strong child.

Related Articles:

• Pregnant Women Told Not To Drink At All
• Child And Adolescent Psychiatrists Raise Awareness Of Fetal Alcohol Effects
• Baby Born Drunk: Blood Alcohol Six Times Legal Limit to Drive

A baby boy in Poland was born drunk.

Doctors decided to check his blood-alcohol level because his mother was drunk when she arrived to give birth.

What they saw frightened them.

A doctor tells the PAP news agency that 12 hours after he was born, the boy had a blood-alcohol level six times the legal limit for driving. That means he was drunk before he was even born. He weighed five pounds, seven ounces at birth.

Doctors say the baby will likely suffer permanent neurological damage from his mother’s drinking.

Related Articles:

Little Known About The Risks of Alcohol and Pregnancy

Pregnant Women Told Not To Drink At All
Child And Adolescent Psychiatrists Raise Awareness Of Fetal Alcohol Effects

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