Drinking during pregnancy

The NY Times came out with an article today (subscription required) about drinking during pregnancy. It's great that the topic is coming up, since it has long been assumed that a pregnant woman shouldn't drink - end of story. Kudos to the writer who stated that the story isn't entirely over.

But while the article is fairly lengthy, it doesn't say much new. Yes, Europeans drink wine regularly during pregnancy (but they don't eat raw vegetables). People are quick to judge women who drink during pregnancy, but the fact remains that there is no evidence showing that light drinking during pregnancy is detrimental to the fetus. There is only clinical evidence that heavy drinking (with zero drinking as the control) is dangerous.

I drank wine during both my pregnancies. I had a waiter who looked to be about 21 tell me he didn't know if he should serve me the glass of champagne I ordered at my anniversary dinner with my husband. I told him he should, and he obliged.

By the way, both of my children were born without fetal alcohol syndrome.