When 'guidelines' are counter-productive

Re morning sickness etc. I knew I was pregnant both times, both were boys. Sick with one, not the other.

I had morning sickness all the way through with my son!

I was told to drink Mackeson when I was pregnant- hated the stuff but I drank it.They even told us to drink it in hospital when we were breastfeeding.
I had 2 babies over 10 lbs in weight so it obviously didn't do me any harm. Nor them as they are now 40 something fathers of 3 each.
I think it was something about the iron in it. I seem to remember I carried on drinking wine too.Never smoked.

We know much more now about drinking and smoking when your pregnant. I gave up when I got pregnant with my d, which was 46 years ago. I did occasionally have a drink but not very much I felt to guilty. My rotten dil smoked and drunk through all her pregnancies (2) my gd was very tiny when she was born, but she's a healthy 16 yrs old so I can't complain. Her older b is the same.

when i was pregnant with my daughter i continued to drink although i've never drunk a lot - just the normal bottle of wine with a meal at the weekends. i did the same when i was pregnant with my son.
i had morning sickness ony with my daughter for the first couple of months but i had all day sickness with my son - but only for the first few months.
however, i was finding it difficult sleeping when i was about 8 months pregnant with my daughter so my doctor prescribed mogadon!! now frowned upon for everyone.
and i also had to have a tooth out - which caused everyone to raise their hands in horror when i told them!
my daughter was 8.5 lb and she's now a very healthy 46 and my son was 9.8 lb [and a home birth as he arrived very quickly] and now is a 6'6" 43 year old!!
i don't want to be controversial but i really wonder if drinking in moderation isn't a bad thing in pregnancy - it did me and my children no harm.

My 1st baby was born in 1975 - I went in a few days early because there were complications, but was allowed to take a few hours out to have a bit of fresh air. We said I might call in for a bottle of Guinness and was told by my medical team that would be really good for me.

Foetal Alcohol Syndrome has severe effects on the individuals, their families/carers. It's only 9 months without alcohol and not worth the risk of inflicting FAS on anyone. I know one adopted child who has this condition and you wouldn't wish to be her or her parents. They live with this every day and it's heartbreaking to watch.

I believe that so many babies being adopted from some countries have FAS that some governments have declared they can take no more, because the cost of caring for them and provision for their special needs is overwhelming their support system.

I smoked and drank through my first pregnancy (though not heavily), without any ill effects to me or my baby - except for the first three months when I experienced a minimal amount of nausea and tiredness in the evenings

I stopped smoking during my second pregnancy but still had the odd drink, again without any ill effects to my baby or me - except tiredness in the first three months.

At the onset of my first pregnancy my doctor instructed me to take iron tablets, even though there was no indication that I needed them. At the onset of my second pregnancy a different, younger, doctor said she was not prescribing iron tablets. She said that research had indicated that taking iron tablets when they were not needed could be damaging.

I think most people would now agree that it would not be wise to drink like a fish or smoke during pregnancy but I also think some of the restrictions on pregnant women are far too prescriptive and alarmist.

Maggiemaybe not only a guinness on the maternity ward ,my consultant used to give us a brandy if we did our exercises after a c section as a reward ....lol.Mind you he had us all on very strict diets all the way through our pregnancies ,I only put 15 pounds on with my 2nd and virtually nothing with my 1st because of bad sickness ,meant I came out oof hospital in size 10 jeans

We had a child in our school with foetal alcohol syndrome. He had learning difficulties, a heart condition, needed a kidney transplant and had facial abnormalities. He was a poor wee soul, with no quality of life.

My niece had fits when she was born which passed within a few weeks. My sister smoked heavily throughout her pregnancy and they said that was the cause.I agree with Ginny...

Maggiemaybe my DD was born in 1980 & my GP's advice was the occasional drink didn't do any harm, I wasn't a smoker at that time.

My DD gave birth to DGS2 on Wednesday, both her & her OH were horrified at the number of pregnant women standing outside the entrance smoking.

There are no 'restrictions' on pregnant women - they are simply offered advice, and are free to take it or leave it.

Of course the foetus doesn't have any choice if the mother decides to overindulge.

Well, anya, what the two articles are saying is that the advice is unnecessarily restrictive and is not evidence-based.

It's the same with peanuts or tree nuts, the guidelines were to not eat them through pregnancy. They those who sometimes think they know best but get it wrong a lot have changed their minds and now the advice is women who eat nuts are less likely to have babies with nut allergies.

The guidelines to eat low fat food have only changed in the last couple of years and vitamin D which wasn't considered important up to about five years ago is now considered very important.

As someone who has just been working on guidelines [totally unrelated to pregnancy] they are just that - guidelines. It's up to you whether you follow them or not. In my current work the guidelines are based on law but under discussion are, it would seem, guidelines resulting from a mixture of suggestions and research ie with no definite outcome if they're not followed. Perhaps they're publicised to encourage common sense which seems to be lacking in so many areas these days - or perhaps I'm just a grumpy gran!