[cake_crumb]

Here's a point of observation from a former bartender: most of the women I was aquainted at the places I worked obviously consumes alcohol. Naturally, this sometimes led to the usual consequenses. What is never pointed out is that nearly all teh drinking women I knew did NOT know they were pregnant until sometime after missing their first period and then having the pregnancy test come back positive. They continued drinking until they knew they were pregnant. The incidence of miscarriage or abnormalities was no higher than in the tee-totaling population, which includes me, since I didn't drink during any of my pregnancies. In other words, none of the women I knew lost one or had one with abnormalities attributed to alcohol consumption.

*Note: these woman were the usual girl's night out, weekend-type drinkers.

[Gabz]

Speaking from having been on both sides of the bar, I agree with you.

I stopped drinking alcohol when I realized I was pregnant, however the missing of the first period wasn't the clue, because I didn't miss one right away....... I know plenty of women that continued their habit of a few drinks at Friday night happy hour without any adverse effects on the baby.

Taking precautions is the best way to go.............however, the scare tactics of these types of stories probably do more harm than they do good. The stress caused by the worry over any possible harm done by the few drinks prior to knowing one is pregnant most likely causes more harm than the alcohol itself.