Drinking occasionally while trying?

[Angelsfan]

My husband and I are trying to conceive and have been unsuccessful for three months. Many people have told me to "not try" and to live my life the way I always have so that I do not focus on this and stress myself out. My lifestyle does contain casual drinking with friends. When we first started trying I completely cut out alcohol. With each negative test I felt like, wow it would have been nice to have a glass of wine with my girlfriends the other night.



Should I continue not drinking, or let myself have the occasional glass of wine? I take tests as often as possible so I will know that I am pregnant very soon after the fact.



Any advice would be excellent.

-Heather

[badunnin]

Think of all the girls who get knocked up when they are drunk!

[Jazzmatazz49]

I would think an occasional glass of wine is fine. Ask your doc what he/she thinks. I think it's possible the alcohol-pregnancy thing has been a bit overblown, but I'm of an older generation when drs. sometimes gave patients in premature labor an alcohol drip!!!:eek:

[cumulus]

Getting schnokered a few nights a week and having a casual night out with friends are completely different.

If you're stressed, and a glass of wine relaxes you- I say go for it! You want to be in a calm, happy state when trying to conceive anyway! A few glasses of alcohol over an extended period of time probably isn't going to harm a fetus--it's more the prolongued, complete intoxication that's going to cause problems.

[TKay]

I don't think an occasional glass of wine or two is going to hurt anything. It took dh and I a year and a half (and the help of a doctor) to get pg the first time. We tried it all. I stayed away from alcohol and everything, but obviously, it didn't make a difference. I know some people say it can hinder your chances, but that may just be a wive's tail. I say just live your normal life and if you don't conceive after a while, you can try abstaining from your wine. Or discuss it with your ob as suggested above.
Btw, I'm sorry people are telling you to relax and "not to try." I don't know about you, but that bothered me. It was over a year of trying for us and my SIL's mother said, "Oh, you're just trying too hard." Excuse me?! But I guess that's my own rant. :rolleyes:
Good luck whatever you decide to do. I hope it happens for you soon.

[cumulus]

Btw, I'm sorry people are telling you to relax and "not to try." I don't know about you, but that bothered me. It was over a year of trying for us and my SIL's mother said, "Oh, you're just trying too hard." Excuse me?! But I guess that's my own rant. :rolleyes:

That's not how I meant my post to come out :). More so that worrying about one glass of wine in the grand scheme of things is IMO unnecessary.

Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers! And I can't see how "trying too hard" would be a bad thing ;).

But living your life the way you want to live it should be of utmost importance! Things will roll into place (whatever place that will be) eventually.

[LaraW]

Getting pg with DD: 6 months, drinking alcohol only when I wasn't in my 2 week wait (between the time I had ovulated and the time I was expecting either AF or to take a pregnancy test).

Getting pg with DS: ~24 hours from the time DH and I decided to try for another baby and a BFP test. I had been drinking alcohol, in a hot tub and eating sushi 3 or 4 days before said BFP (not all at the same time ;) ). And, no prenatal vitamins either.

Generally the advice I have heard from books (and from my own doctor when I found out I was pg with DS) is that the things that you do before finding out you are pregnant will probably not hurt the baby. I would say to go ahead and have an occasional glass of wine, if you and your DH are comfortable with it.

ETA: My lifestyle also included casual drinking with friends. When I did get pregnant, it was a trick to not let that be our "giveaway" since we didn't tell anyone for a period of time. I can remember being at a brunch for mothers day with DH, and I kept trading our glasses of wine. We were both poured a glass of wine, and partway through the meal when nobody was at the table, I switched my glass with DH's so that it looked like I had drunk part of my glass. I had to be the designated driver on the way home that day because DH drank about twice what he was used to! :)

[Angelsfan]

Thanks so much for your replies everyone! It's great to have such helpful friendly people to run things past:)

-Heather

[TKay]

That's not how I meant my post to come out :). More so that worrying about one glass of wine in the grand scheme of things is IMO unnecessary.

Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers! And I can't see how "trying too hard" would be a bad thing ;).

But living your life the way you want to live it should be of utmost importance! Things will roll into place (whatever place that will be) eventually.

Oh, my gosh. :o I absolutely was not directing that comment at you. Apologies, cumulus! I completely agree about living your life the way you want to live it. I guess I was mostly referring to myself and all the comments I used to get. Forgive me? :o

[TieKitty]

Think of all the girls who get knocked up when they are drunk!

Amen to that!!:p or maybe:(