Adebayor's started so well for Man City
How much did you drink when you were pregnant?
Today the NHS watchdog is changing it's advice on how much alcohol you should enjoy when expecting.
If you'd ask NICE yesterday they'd have said ..nothing in the first 3 months and then if you must drink at all, then one small glass of wine a day. TODAY NICE is saying nothing in the first 3 months, and only 2 small glasses of wine PER WEEK. Why have they altered their advice? They admit it's not based on new medical advice. Some mums-to-be say they're confused - maybe it would be easier to abstain through the whole of pregnancy. But again, why? I was very cautious about alcohol the first time I was pregnant; the second time I was a lot more "relaxed" about my alcohol intake. Was I irresponsible, too casual, or just trusting my own judgement?
From a male perspective I can’t help wondering why that once again when it comes to an issue of women’s health - particularly diet/nutrition - there is so much confusion and debate when surely a liberal dose of common sense would go a long way??
My wife gave birth to our first child last year and in the early stages of pregnancy she was worrying about all manner of things from food and alcohol to supplements and exercise to sleep and travel. What made it worse for us is that she is French and the official advice from health professionals in France and the UK differs on certain issues, so she was confused as to which advice to follow.
It drove me mad and I insisted in the end that she took all the books that she’d bought bar one down to a charity shop and said that if I saw another pregnancy magazine in the house I’d be chucking it straight in the bin.
Fortunately I was able to persuade her that she was an intelligent person who was capable of making decisions on most issues using her own common sense. The result? She ate sensibly, including plenty of fresh fruit and veggies, ate more fish and cut down on red meat, drank lots and lots of water but had a glass of wine when she fancied it, and didn’t deny herself the occasional bar of chocolate or treat. She took multi-vitamins and folic acid, exercised gently, had a nap when she felt tired and took the Eurostar/SNCF train to go and see her family instead of flying.
Now we have a beautiful (OK, I’m biased), happy and healthy five month-old daughter. She also had a very quick and trouble free labour and birth without the need for any pain killers.
Maybe we were just lucky, but I like to think the removal of all the worry and stress to conform to a particular way of doing things helped both her and our baby. Why women allow themselves to be put under so much pressure on this and other issues I’ll never know.