Uma Thurman went from “Is she pregnant?” to “OMG, she’s extremely pregnant” in about six weeks it seems. Uma announced her pregnancy (by Arpad Busson) at the end of February. I’m guessing that by then, she was probably… like, four or five months along. These are new photos of Uma in St. Bart’s over the weekend, where she is vacationing with her baby-daddy, and with her two kids by Ethan Hawke, Maya and Levon. That’s little 10-year-old Levon kissing his mom’s hand, it looks like. Isn’t he adorable?
Anyway, Uma looks very pregnant, which is why I’m assuming that she made the February announcement when she was already far along. Uma looks healthy and comfortable. She’s also sipping a glass of a wine, something that may be slightly controversial. Some people think an odd glass of wine during a pregnancy is no big deal. Some people say no alcohol EVER while pregnant. Isn’t it true that you really should avoid alcohol consumption in the first trimester, but later on in the pregnancy, it’s not as potentially harmful? Or is that an old wives tale?
So… whatever. Uma looks great. I hope her pregnancy is healthy, happy and uncomplicated. I hope she and Busson stick with each other. I hope that one day I can have this kind of fun-looking vacation.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
It’s like that in the US but in other countries they drink occasionally while pregnant. I’m American-but my father is Scottish and he kept trying to pour Guiness down my throat throughout both my pregnancies. In our family a mother drank one Guiness a day because its loaded with vitamins and nutrients.
Uma looks adorbs!
Did you get the “rub scotch on their gums when they’re teething” advice too? 🙂
Right here! My dad would do it all the time…
Alcohol while pregnant should be avoided at any trimester. Is alcohol really that paramount in her life that she could not wait nine months to consume it? Is Uma baby daddy the same one who is the baby daddy of another celebrity? can’t think of her name.
Elle Mcphearson?
Elle McPherson.
They say a glass of wine here and there probably won’t hurt, but they don’t know 100% for sure. It all comes down to ‘could you live with yourself if something were wrong with the baby and you had been drinking’?
Anyways, if Lainey’s blind items are to be believed, Uma’s baby was exposed to much worse in the first month/trimester anyways.
What happened during her early pregnancy, according to Lainey? Did she drink/do drugs?
@ Nancy Kaye, she’s a total coke head and has been for years.
http://laineygossip.com/Articles/Details/22696/When-She-Conceived-Blind-Riddle
Okay, but that blind was in February and it says “she’s still early”. Uma is pretty far along.
Late to the party but I have to say Lainey confirmed it was Uma. She wrote about the announcement using the same hints and then later wrote that she had revealed the person. So yes she was talking about UMA now if you believe the blind or not is up to you.
i think he has two kids with Elle MacPherson (sp?) as well.
I drank thru mine.
My cousin is a nurse and she drank during her pregnancies. Not an entire bottle of scotch or anything, but a glass of wine here and there. And her kids are fine!
Uma Thurman must also know what she’s doing, having had two healthy kids before. Smoking I wouldn’t be so gung-ho.
How do you know it’s wine?
I’ve heard you can drink a dark beer in 3rd trimester because they have iron. I have no idea though.
Yeah, I’m hoping she’s just drinking water in a wineglass, why take the chance?
An occasional glass is probably fine, but it’s true, for all we know that’s ginger ale or something.
agreed, it seems a little irresponsible to assume it’s wine because of the glass. an occasional glass of wine during a pregnancy won’t hurt anything, but I don’t think we should assume anything.
Lol… it’s ‘irresponsible’ of us to assume is it? Odd choice of words!!!
If you go by everything they say not to do during pregnancy you’d have to be dead. Have a glass of wine if you feel like it but don’t go overboard!
Surely a relaxed mother after one wine is better than a stressed out one!
She looks so cute in that tankini.
she’s very very pregnant!
cute pic with the kid!
in my country(France),the doctors are OK with ONE glass of wine (red) per day
Her pregnancy weight is doing wonders for her face. She looks 10 years younger.
I rarely drink alcohol so I don’t understand the absolute NEED to potentially put your unborn baby at risk for your own pleasure. Why take a risk?
Along those lines of thinking, why drive a car?- there is a potential risk to that. And why go for a walk? since you could trip or be attacked. Sometimes the benefits outweigh the risks. The calming effects of a small amount of alcohol – plus other benefits of things like red wine or dark beer have been studied and documented. I think its healthier that pregnant women not be overwhelmed with guilt. I personally didn’t drink at all during my pregnancy because I was sick the whole time and had no desire, but I think the calming effect could have really helped.
Comparing apples and oranges I see. I actually have a paraplegic friend whose mother had a couple drinks throughout her pregnancy and unfortunately there were consequences. Her mother was never an alcoholic by any means and drank a few times. Her mother went on to have 3 healthy other children.
I don’t see drinking alcohol while pregnant with the same necessity as driving or walking. Everything is fine and dandy if your child turns out ok until things aren’t.
@CAKat, I agree. All rational thought goes out the window when it comes to analyzing risk during pregnancy. So many of the things American women are “banned” from consuming during pregnancy–sushi comes immediately to mind–are not based in a reasoned analysis of how much risk is acceptable; there’s just a knee-jerk response of NO risk is acceptable.
I understand that we all care about our unborn children, but by this line of thinking, we should not drive cars during pregnancy.
Thank you for saying this. As a woman who is currently pregnant with my first, the amount of fear mongering and shaming that comes from other women is OBSCENE.
It’s true that the calming effects of some alcoholic drinks have been studied and documented – but what there is no consensus on is how much alcohol causes fetal alcohol syndrome. It’s very, very difficult to conduct effective studies, because of the problems of reporting. For that reason, you will get different advice from different doctors. It’s up to women to make their own decisions, but it stands to reason that there would be fear-mongering when so little is understood about the factors at play in this condition.
lin234- your friend’s mother might very well have lied about how much alcohol she actually drank.
I’m truly not trying to be rude, but I 100% agree. If it were documented that a couple/few glasses of wine in an ENTIRE pregnancy caused things like paraplegia, I can guarantee that pregnant women worldwide would not consume alcohol. But it hasn’t been documented to cause that sort of extreme, or even non-extreme, disability.
The main reason that doctors advise pregnant women to abstain from alcohol is because they can’t control how much you’re drinking, and for one woman, she might hear “you can have a few” and consider 4 or 5 to be a few, while other women would just have 1, or whatever. I’m pregnant right now and while I’m not drinking my own glasses, I will have a few sips of my husband’s beer or wine. There are so much worse things that can happen that having a few sips, or drinks! of alcohol while pregnant will not harm your baby.
ITA due any day now and the most annoying thing about pregnancy has been all the other holier than thou people I’ve encountered I drank a coke was told I was going to have gestational diabetes dr gave me morphine for extreme pain I was told that what I had done was unnatural and irresponsible as a parent I just want to scream sometimes
How do we know its wine and not just water out of a wine glass?
My thoughts exactly! I don’t think Uma would want to take a potential risk like that.
She looks so beautiful in that first picture.
I was combing the comments to see if anyone had this brilliant idea! I was thinking the same thing! I NEVER had alcohol during my pregnancies but I often drank out a wine glass during social functions or special dinners… it just feels a little fancy. :0) Its a huge assumption to make that she is a pregnant alcoholic considering the fluid looks clear….
Is this really a good idea for her since she was recently confirmed to be the woman in Lainey’s riddle?
Idk if it’s true or not to be fair.
what is lainey’s blind?
Does anyone have the link to Lainey’s blind?? Am very curious!
Google her and blind item and Lainey. I did, because I didn’t know it was confirmed it was her. It’s about a woman who took drugs and then discovered she’s pregnant.
It was confirmed that it was her? 😮
my ob/gyn has a zero alcohol policy. my friend’s is fine patients having a glass of wine a week. it totally depends on what you’re comfortable with and what your doctor is pushing. 🙂
I thought all doctors are no-no when it comes to alcohol when pregnant? She looks healthy but I wouldn’t risk it.
Where I live wine is not considered as alcohol and a glass of wine everyday is thought to be good for the health. That being said, if the first photo is the only evidence, I could’t say it it’s wine, water or any kind of juice she’s drinking
She looks great! love her cute maternity suit!
Helloooooo boobies! Wow, Uma!
There you go…that is what a woman who is really pregnant looks like! No doubts there…eh Beyawwwwwnce? lol
Oh and I never drank through my pregnancy…in fact I lost my craving for any alcohol. BUT I hear that an occasional small glass of wine is okay…but not much more.
Dude so my friend drank a very small glass of wine two weeks before she gave birth at a family friends wedding.. How about her husbands brothers wife(he doesn’t even speak to his brother, loooooong story) goes up to her and embarrasses her in front of everyone at the wedding! THEN puts it in Facebook that she doesn’t care for her baby and she’s a baby killer… I was trying to defend her on fb with some links to “studies” and articles and then she said I was obviously retarded and stupid… Bad…
So yeah… Just sharing. She looks nice though.
NO alcohol is EVER okay. Research proves this conclusively. FADS is a real issue in our society and schools.
I have always read heard been advised that one glass of wine a day is fine. What studies have you read that say no amount is ever safe teach? One glass of wine a day is safer health wise for the baby then gaining excessive weight which increases the babies chances of obesity and diabetes.
What gets me is that in countries where it’s considered ok to have a glass of wine on occasion when you’re pregnant, they don’t seem to have the same problems. The schools are not filled with kids that have FADS in France for example. Why is that?
I think part of the problem is that North Americans (as a group – not individuals – mass generalization here, but true enough) have problems with doing anything in moderation. So if doctors say that one glass of wine occasionally is OK, there will always be people who take that to mean that it is OK to get hammered every day while pregnant, “because the doctor said it was fine.”
I am not stating this the way I would like, the proper tone is not coming to me. But the above is my general drift.
No, I get what you mean. You have to realize though that the attitude towards alcohol in general isn’t very healthy. Unlike a large number of European countries where wine is a part of a meal and no one clutches their pearls in horror if your 15 year old has a half a glass of champagne on a special occasion, drinking is seen as a form of “right of passage” into adulthood in the US. Sneaking into the bar when you’re underaged is something to brag about having done. Many, almost certainly a majority, go the the bar for their “legal drinking age” birthday and get wasted. Making alcohol a taboo gives it desirablility. Instead of it being associated with a good meal or a social occasion with friends, it gets associated with being a “grown up” at an age where you aren’t yet. That mentality sticks, unfortunately.
You stated it very well, fancyamazon. I totally get your meaning.
I also totally agree we seem to have problems with moderation in the U.S.
Really, it takes a LOT to induce fetal alcohol syndrome, though I would probably abstain just to be extra-safe. I am a tiny bit concerned that idiot Snooki might’ve hurt her fetus with early pregnancy partying, but hopefully not.
I don’t have much to add to that, Wendi. I just wanted to say how much I totally agree. Countries where the drinking age is relatively low (16, 17, 18) also have lower rates of death among young people due to binge drinking. North Americans have always being super anal about alcohol. It was even totally banned at one point. I get the risks, fear mongering is just not the way to aproach these things.
Nationalized health care. Just my guess.
I don’t think it’s at all conclusive given the research that’s out there. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/alcohol-and-pregnancy/ — But while I never plan on having a child, I’d rather be safe than sorry.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome occurs in women who imbibe in a high amount of alcohol during their pregnancy. Not a glass here or there, but enough that someone would have to drink at least two or three full glasses EVERY day for weeks and/or get drunk while pregnant. There are a lot of studies out there that disprove the risk of one glass every so often.
You have no clue what you’re talking about. FAS has ONLY been documented in women who drank heavily throughout their pregnancy. Their is NO research that says anything one way or the other for the occasional wine or beer throughout pregnancy. Fear mongering at its finest.
Research does not conclusively prove that get Off your high horse
In fact research proves the exact opposite. Very, very moderate alcohol is either harmless, or mildly positive. The problem is too many people misunderstand the term “moderate” for “the way I usually drink”, so the medical advice is geared to those people. It’s designed to be idiot-proof.
There’s a part of the Australian coast where the riptides are so dangerous, nobody should swim. Yet every year, they lost several tourists to it, because “bad tides” scare very few people who’ve not grown up aound them. Riptides are hard to survive if you know what you’re doing – almost impossible if you don’t. The local government began a new campaign telling people of the horrific dangers of the local maneating shark population, and suddenly nobody was flouting the advice any more. The point being: sometimes, public health information needs to assume everyone is stupid, to be effective. Nuance is too dangerous to risk.
Research does not prove conclusively that “no alcohol is ever okay”. I couldn’t agree more that fetal alcohol syndrome is a huge – and under-discussed – problem, but it doesn’t help to make insupportable claims like this.
You can drink, just in moderation.
From the National Library of Medicine re Fetal Alcohol Syndrome:
“Using or abusing alcohol during pregnancy can cause the same risks as using alcohol in general. However, it poses extra risks to the unborn baby. When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, it easily passes across the placenta to the fetus. Because of this, drinking alcohol can harm the baby’s development.
A pregnant woman who drinks any amount of alcohol is at risk for having a child with fetal alcohol syndrome. No “safe” level of alcohol use during pregnancy has been established. Larger amounts of alcohol appear to increase the problems. Binge drinking is more harmful than drinking small amounts of alcohol.
Timing of alcohol use during pregnancy is also important. Alcohol use appears to be the most harmful during the first 3 months of pregnancy; however, drinking alcohol any time during pregnancy can be harmful.”
…The reason many doctors have a zero-level policy is that there is still uncertainty abou the effects of alcohol for individual cases.
Yet there’s an Israeli study that demonstrates that specific forms of alcohol late in the pregnancy, consumed in strict moderation, won’t cause FAS.
I live in New Orleans, and my doctor gave me the okay to have one glass of red wine or one glass of dark beer (such as Guinness or Turbodog) once a week. I rarely opted for it, and when I did, I was stringently careful.
In the U.S., we have such a puritanical approach to sexuality and pregnancy – I gave up a lot to ensure a healthy baby, including the raw seafood so common in the diet here, and my doctor, while pragmatic, didn’t sound remotely like that movie they make us watch in 9th grade which implies that if a pregnant woman so much as stands next to alcohol, her child will have disabilities.
There’s common sense, and then there’s Big Brother.
I love how we have decided from a photo that it’s wine she is drinking. I drink water, juices, seltzer out of wine glasses all the time. Also, it looks like there is ice in that glass. Most people don’t drink wine with ice. Don’t attack me, its not heresy, but I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen people drink wine with ice in the glass.
The difference between Europe & U.S. in this matter is huge – when in Europe with my pregnant sister (who is a physician), restaurant staff routinely offered her wine without batting an eyelash and no one found it at all out of the ordinary. Most other pregnant women we met socially also ordered alcohol with dinner.
In the U.S., not only would my sister’s request for a glass of wine be greeted with panic from waitstaff, other restaurant patrons, in all cases busybody women, felt the need to loudly pontificate on her drinking or even to walk over and lecture my sister (who promptly schooled their ignorant asses with her superior medical knowledge).
I wonder if the contrast between Europe & the U.S. regarding public opinion towards drinking during pregnancy is due to the U.S. not being known for moderation – for example, binge drinking is not a problem in Europe the way it is here. There’s also the big difference in portion sizes between the U.S. (huge) and Europe & obesity rates.
So perhaps the American zero tolerance for alcohol during pregnancy is based on the idea that if given a little leeway (e.g. a couple of glasses of wine/wk is okay), American women will not be able to keep from going overboard. Much like dogs and children, they cannot be trusted to moderate their intake and will start chugging anything they can get their hands on.
I agree with this and the “To each his own” as well. My OBGYN explained it as a mother’s body can filter out one glass of wine or beer an hour. So one glass of wine on occation was ok. She said stress is 10 X’s more dangerous on a baby than a glass of wine. She also said the baby isn’t laying inside with a funnel connected to a mothers throat-the body filters out fat, alcohol or anything unhealthy before transferring it to the baby-as long as its at a slow pace. I’m ok either way-but what I hate is how women go stark raving mad if a mother did have a glass of wine.
The worst is when one of those women says, just loudly enough to be overheard, something passive-aggressive like, “Well, I NEVER drank during my pregnancy, but that’s just because I cared about MY baby”.
Self-righteousness & concern trolling must taste delicious. Better than wine even!
That’s what my doctor said — I saw a high-risk OB with my fourth pregnancy (I have a history of miscarriage and had somehow conceived just two weeks after a miscarriage, so he was pretty invested in my case). His primary concern was that I avoid stress.
Weirdly enough (ah, internet anonymity), I started to miscarry my son, said “screw it” in my sadness, and went out and laughed over three martinis with my sisters. I woke up feeling horribly ill the next day, went in for an internal ultrasound a few days later to see what was going on, and the doctor showed me the clots where the placenta had begun to detach from my uterus (it reattached lower down).
I certainly wouldn’t advocate heavy drinking during pregnancy, but Americans get so worried about “the potential risk!!!” and lose their reason. Alcoholic women have babies with alcohol damage. It’s been well established that over three drinks a day does damage to the baby, but doctors are understandably reluctant to suggest that there’s any safe level of consumption. Although my experience certainly indicates there is.
Exactly, my doctors in both Sweden and Finland said that a glass of wine once a week is just fine if it helps the mother stay sane!
I don’t know why there are these differences…(I’m from Europe). I think every mom should decide that question for herself(given it’s a glass here or there and not more). What I do find weird is that there are so much people who think they know better than anybody and are not afraid to teach people. So arrogant.
My best friend, who is an awesome dancer, is currently 7.5 months pregnant. I went to a club with her the other night, where she preceded to dance the night away.
She got the worst stares from people and these comments about whether it was “appropriate” for her to be in this “environment” – and she wasn’t even drinking anything! Apparently just being with child is SUPER SCANDALOUS in the context of public dancing at a club.
Don’t even get me started on the lady at Starbucks who kept secretly giving my pregnant co-worker decaf coffee when she specifically ordered caffeinated coffee.
Ugh. I hate how pregnant women are communal property in the United States.
I’m 38 weeks and got a lecture from a totally strange woman in a 7-11 last weekend because I was wearing very tall wedge sandals. Strappy, super easy to walk in wedge sandals, I might add. She was concerned how I might harm my baby. I just ignored her, since explaining science to her seemed like a waste of my breathe. Wish I would have grabbed a bottle of wine while I was there to see what she would say!
When I was 7 months’ pregnant, my husband and I went to a college football game (I was on my feet for the better part of 14 hours, because the game was preceded by College Gameday live on campus), and then to a Chromeo show the next night (yes, it was smokefree). The looks and snide, passive-aggressive comments I got from women? AMAZING. And it’s only gotten worse since she was born.
Generally speaking, most women exercise common sense when pregnant, because they want the best possible start for their child. I have a gorgeous four month-old, and she’s healthy, happy and developing well…despite the four glasses of wine I had during my final trimester (or perhaps because of!).
My coworker told me a story like that once. He and his wife, who was very visibly pregnant at the time, were on the subway. A lady sat down next to them and noticed they were both holding Starbucks cups. The lady literally slapped the cup out of the wife’s hand and started lecturing her about pregnant women and caffeine. My coworker’s wife was like, “Uh, that was decaf, BITCH!” Apparently the lady apologized profusely, but I couldn’t believe someone thought it was ok to be all up in a total stranger’s business like that.
It’s like when total strangers feel like it’s okay to put their grubby hands on your stomach without your explicit permission. Even though they would never, ever do that to a non-pregnant woman.
people really feel the right to impose themselves on pregnant women, even if they are strangers. It’s like they are not women anymore, just fetus carriers.
You get that when you have a baby, too. I had some woman reproach me at length because my kid had no socks on. In a stroller. In July. She wouldn’t shut up about it. I was just amazed that someone would think they had the right to dictate how a total stranger dressed their child, as long as it was climate appropriate and not saying “porn star in training” or anything.
It’s the Puritan roots.
This is much the same as what I was trying to say above.
Yes. However, there has been a big push to polarize while “Nanny State-ing” at the same time. You go to a restaurant these days for breakfast and they’ll run through 10 different kinds of toast, not one of them is white toast. You’re almost considered an alcoholic if you have a glass of wine or a drink at lunch, even though 20 years ago it was the norm. Smokers are literally treated like 2nd class citizens, even though the government makes hundreds of millions in tax off the sale of cigarettes.
The odd thing is that the countries who have comprehensive national health care aren’t the ones doing this. I honestly wonder at times if the notion of “forbidden / taboo / prohibited” isn’t actually being used to encourage the excesses that inevitably result, for the financial gain of a few mega-industries.
“Much like dogs and children, they [American women] cannot be trusted to moderate their intake and will start chugging anything they can get their hands on.”
We American women apparently can’t be trusted to make our own reproductive health decisions, either, let alone decide if we should have a small glass or wine with dinner or not.
And the argument that doctors in the US have to tell pregnant women “no alcohol whatsoever” will prevent FAS is crazy. I mean, I get what you guys are saying, but let’s be real here- women who have babies born with FAS were probably going to drink throughout their pregnancies (and probably excessively at that), whether a doc told them it was okay or verboten.
I would probably think better safe than sorry and avoid it all together.
But as others have said, no one knows what’s actually in the glass.
Didn’t drink a drop throughout my pregnancy- I was just too scared of living with the “what if I hadn’t” guilt the rest of my life if something had gone wrong.
Don’t mean to be bitchy, but Uma needs a tankini with straps that offers better support.
a few drinks a week has always been ok. But lets not let that cat out of the bag
Children born to mothers who drink lightly during pregnancy – as defined as 1–2 units per week or per occasion – are not at increased risk of behavioral difficulties or cognitive deficits compared with children of abstinent mothers, according to a new study led by researchers at University College London (UCL)
The research, based on data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, is published in the ‘International Journal of Epidemiology’. It uses data on 12,495 three year-old children, looking at the mothers’ drinking patterns during pregnancy and assessments of the behavioural and cognitive outcomes of their children.
Lead author Dr Yvonne Kelly (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health) said: “The link between heavy drinking during pregnancy and consequent poor behavioural and cognitive outcomes in children is well established. However, very few studies have considered whether light drinking in pregnancy is a risk for behavioral and cognitive problems in children.
“Our research has found that light drinking by pregnant mothers does not increase the risk of behavioural difficulties or cognitive deficits. Indeed, for some behavioral and cognitive outcomes, children born to light drinkers were less likely to have problems compared to children of abstinent mothers, although children born to heavy drinkers were more likely to have problems compared to children of mothers who drank nothing whilst pregnant.”
The study data shows that boys born to mothers who drank lightly were 40 per cent less likely to have ‘conduct’ problems and 30 per cent less likely to have hyperactivity, even when a range of family and socioeconomic factors were taken into account. Boys born to light drinkers also had higher scores on tests of vocabulary and whether they could identify colors, shapes, letters and numbers compared to those born to abstainers.
Girls born to light drinkers were 30 per cent less likely to have emotional symptoms and peer problems compared with those born to abstainers, although this appeared partially explained by family and social backgrounds.
Dr Kelly continued: “The reasons behind these findings might in part be because light drinkers tend to be more socially advantaged than abstainers, rather than being due to the physical benefits of low level alcohol consumption seen, for example, in heart disease. However, it may also be that light-drinking mothers tend to be more relaxed themselves and this contributes to better behavioral and cognitive outcomes in their children.”
The UK currently does not recommend complete abstinence from alcohol for the duration of pregnancy and there are inconsistencies in policy statements from the National Alcohol Strategy and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Evidence (NICE), which may cause confusion for health professionals and the public.
A recent review carried out by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, and a statement from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists highlighted the need for studies focusing on the effects of light drinking, and for investigators to use population-based data, as the researchers have done in this study.
Dr Kelly added: “There is inconsistency in policy around this issue and studies such as this one are vital in light of the wider debate around drinking and pregnancy. Our study’s findings do raise questions as to whether the current push for policy to recommend complete abstinence during pregnancy is merited and suggest that further research needs to be done.”
To read the paper in full, or to find out more about Dr Kelly and UCL Epidemiology & Public Health click here >>>
Thank you for that!
To each his own…I think she looks great. Wine and all!
I haven’t had a drop of alcohol since I found out I was pregnant in October, apparently it’s fine to have a glass of wine here and there but I do not want to risk it. That’s just me.
And Uma must not be worried about the baby’s health as much as the blind item said if she has chosen to drink while pregnant on top of all the drug allegations…hope the child is ok.
Love the name! haha
Re: drinking despite the blind. Perhaps she gave up?
None of my business what’s in her glass. This made think of when my friend was pregnant with her 2nd. Dr told her she could have an occasional glass of wine. So she ordered a glass at a restaurant one night and the server refused to serve it to her. The server said if she wanted alcohol, she would need to have dinner somewhere else. My friend was mortified. The whole scene was very public as tables nearby could hear the server’s comments. She left the restaurant in tears. Bottom line, because everyone has an opinion, I think a woman’s own doctor makes for a better advisor than a stranger.
Plus, I guess a doctor knows better than a server…;-)
I’d have been very tempted to sue both the server and the restaurant for discrimination, had I been your friend.
I’ll bet there were no lectures about carbs, fat, sugar or salt intake to the other clients.
First of all, we have no idea if she is drinking wine. And second, I personally wouldn’t drink a zip of alcohol if I was preggers, but I don’t judge women who have an occasional glass of wine.
I just had a baby and was worried cause I had a drink or two with food a few times in trimester. I asked the pediatrician checking my baby about fas risks and she said its much more common for native Americans. But in theory just drinking one drink could trigger fas in any fetus, tho it’s very unlikely statIstically. COffee, if you drink more than 7 a day, creates a risk for 1st trimester miscarriages; other than that coffee is a non issue but everyone acts like its so wrong! Very annoying
I just had a baby and was worried cause I had a drink or two with food a few times in trimester. I asked the pediatrician checking my baby about fas risks and she said its much more common for native Americans. But in theory just drinking one drink could trigger fas in any fetus, tho it’s very unlikely statIstically. COffee, if you drink more than 7 a day, creates a risk for 1st trim miscarriages; other than that coffee is a non issue but everyone acts like its so wrong! Very annoying
Ignorance is bliss
The Medical Officer of Health told an acquaintance of mine that he would rather a woman smoked crack while pregnant than drink. If you can’t abstain from alcohol for 9 months perhaps you should not keep the pregnancy.
You hear that guys – “the medical officer of health” told an acquaintance of Trillium’s who told Trillium that it’s better to smoke crack than drink alcohol while pregnant. Well, I’m convinced!
Thanks for the chuckle…indeed!
Bet he works for the Ministry of Silly Walks
HAHAHAHAHA,LMAO.
So let’s all smoke crack during pregnancy 😉
Whenever the medical officer of health comes down to drop pearls of wisdom on the little people I pay attention!
You guys are idiots. He said it to make a point about how bad it is to drink during pregnancy. Only a selfish bitch would take that risk.
BAHAHAHAHAHA. Good One, Vis!
Apparently the Medical Officer of Health has never seen a crack baby.
Oh, and Vis and Wendi…I think I heart you.
I waited until the third trimester to enjoy an occasional glass of wine. My doctors approved it. I didn’t “need” it, of course, but it certainly released some of the tension of a painful and very stressful pregnancy. There is no evidence that having one drink once a week (up to one drink per day, actually) has ever caused Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or harmed a single baby.
I think it’s healthier to have an odd glass of wine now and then through pregnancy than, say, buttered pop tarts for breakfast. Ahem. Not naming any names.
It really is astonishing–and pretty alarming–to see just how much women’s bodies (especially women’s pregnant bodies) are considered communal property in the U.S. I’m a professor, and had stopped by the Starbucks at the student center to get my half-caf once every other day morning drink before lecturing. And had a MALE undergrad chasten me: “Miss, you really shouldn’t drink any caffeine while pregnant. Surely you care more about your baby than that! Does your husband know? Do you have a husband? Wouldn’t he be angry?”
My response: “It’s not Miss, it’s Doctor. And it’s funny, but you don’t look like my OBGYN. Hell, you don’t even look old enough to knock someone up, young man, so perhaps you should keep your opinions to yourself.”
He practically ran out of the cafe, and I actually got applause.
I have no idea if Uma’s drinking wine or not, but it isn’t my business one way or another.
I wish I’d been there. You would have earned a standing ovation from me.
You’d have gotten a standing ovation from me too.
I’ll bet he never does that again…
Dr Lindy, you’re officially my hero now!
I think I love you.
I’m glad you “schooled” him, professor. 🙂
**wild applause**
There’s a huge amount of research and if I remember rightly it indicates that a (small) glass of wine every other day or less does no harm. More than that and they just can’t say whether it will or not, but risk that it will obviously increases with intake.
I had half a glass of champagne with a huge meal to celebrate a friend’s weddding at 3 months. I then had 2 glasses in 12 hours, a week before I gave birth, because it was my husband’s 30th. That was one glass per meal. Otherwise, I was cautious – I didn’t even eat salad I’d not made myself, and that’s unusual in England (my godmother is French and they avoid salad, but not rare meat or cheese or wine!).
I also ignored the advice on peanut butter, because I craved it and after reading that nut allergies soared in this country after it was banned in pregnancy, and peanuts are used as a weaning food in countries which have low levels of nut allergy, the science made no sense to me. That same thinking has now reversed the advice here, and they think peanut butter in pregnancy may protect your child from allergy, after all. So my thinking there has been vindicated.
Common sense and respect for science is great. Self-righteous indignation over what another woman does with her body is obnoxious, especially when she may just be better informed than you. There is zero evidence that very light drinking does harm. Zero. That being the case, people should shut up, butt out and leave it to the woman in question. If she’s drinking over the recommended limits then she has issues and/or is a selfish mare, I agree. But the entitled attitude people have to this stuff baffles me. I also know pro-choice people who think women have the right to abort, but slam women who don’t breastfeed. Just, what? You can end a pregnancy, but can’t choose what you do with your own boobs? the recent horror stories over what various politicians want to legislate for – enforced transvaginal ultrasounds, anyone? – seems to me to be linked. It’s seeing women as walking incubators, not people.
A glass of wine a week in pregnancy doesn’t make you Britney or Halle. Uma will have access to the best medical care in the world, and she’s likely getting accurate advice on the safety of very light drinking in pregnancy. Not prissy sanctimony on how she’s a sacred vessel and should enter the temple of pure living in homage to the coming child.
Totally, completely could have written exactly what you just said–down to the peanut butter/seeing women as incubators! I have been working at a big Catholic university and just happened to be eleventy-hundred months pregnant when Obama had been invited to speak at commencement. Which meant that I got to wade through a sea of anti-abortion picketers waving signs at me and commenting on how great I was for “choosing life”, as if they had any clue what my views were, or what my situation was. And as if I actually welcomed public commentary on my body. Fun times. Poor Uma.
This. Times eleventy billion.
P.S. Why do the French avoid salads? I love salads. The French have some HUH-MAZING food, though.
P.S.S. I am pro-choice, but I also formula feed. My daughter and I simply could not make breastfeeding work. I’ve even had lactation consultants tell me, repeatedly, that ultimately all that matters is your baby gets FED. And Queen V does. So anyone who dares castigate me over not breastfeeding, despite my best attempts and many tears over it, will get a kick in the baby maker.
um, i think that’s water in a wine glass. happens all the time.
My mum used to drink a whole bottle of white wine every fri nite when she was pregnant with me. That was 28 yrs ago so hopefully they didn’t know the risks so much then.
I would think the s-it Americans eat (the majority, not EVERYONE, so keep calm) would more detrimental than a drink every day. I drank four to five times a week during my pregnancies with no issues to report. However, I was sure to eat whole foods, no canned, boxed or processed garbage. No one seems to make a big deal about that, but they should.
I would agree with you there, a constant diet of pesticide and hormone imbibed, irradiated grocery store produce probably has a much bigger negative impact on a growing fetus than an occasional glass of wine. Especially the hormones one would think.
I’ve seen a heck of a lot of women I’ve worked with over the years smoking during pregnancy, and no one wants to say a word to them because of ‘smoker’s rights’. I’d say that’s a damn sight worse than an occasional glass of wine.
I’ve never been pregnant and I’m not a big drinker, but it seems that in the countries where there is a relaxed and self-controlled approach to alcohol consumption (ie continental Europe) this isn’t even an issue. Probably something to do with the whole concept of moderation and being able to control oneself rather than eat/drink oneself into oblivion and blame the fast food outlets or the drink makers for being so irresistible…
she’s beautiful.
I never drank a single glass of alcohol while pregnant. Everything you eat/drink, the baby gets, too. That’s absolutely irresponsible!
Oh for goodness sake! Wine isn’t poison!
What did you eat when you were pregnant Jenny? Brown rice, steamed fish, fresh fruit, lean meat, eggs, Brazil nuts and roast vegetables?
Or did you eat PRETTY healthily and occasionally gave in to your junk cravings?
Junk food is POISON. Wine is not.
Not to mention that unless you’re eating totally organic, you’re likely ingesting a certain amount of pesticides in your fruit and veg, hormones and antibiotics in your beef / chicken / fish.
Whine IS poison, as every alcohol is!
So you would give alcohol into your babys bottle? Just because alcohol does no harm? That would be just as sick as drinking while pregnant!
im more surprised by pregnant women eating KFC or chicken nuggets when pregnant than drinking wine. having had 2 children (and enjoyed the occasional glass of wine when pregnant) personally i think its more frightening to roll the dice on a diet of taco bell than a glass of sancerre.
Gosh, really? All this posting about one little glass of wine?
I find it AMAZING the way (mostly) Americans get all up in arms about this stuff. Personally, I think Jessica Simpson and her eating all that junk food is WAAAAAAY worse than a few glasses of plonk through a pregnancy.
Do you know that junk food is created in laboratories? And why is that people? Because it is made from CHEMICALS. Chemicals are not meant to be EATEN.
So, growing a little baby by eating loads and loads of chemicals doesn’t sound that healthy to me, but do you hear American doctors warning you against the dangers of it? No, but the glass of wine? DONT RISK IT!
Common sense tells you that a little glass of wine with a lovely dinner of, say, baked fish and steamed veges sounds like the perfect dinner for a pregnant woman. As opposed to Ms Simpson and her endless consumption of absolute rubbish. Honestly, it makes me cry for the madness of it.
Pffft. Seriously ridonculous.
Actually, my OB offered some very sage advice: during pregnancy, you should treat your body like a temple, both for your sake and the healthy of your baby. I took her advice seriously and ate an incredibly healthy diet during my pregnancy. Then again, I probably do live in the most Europeanesque city in the country.
But, you know, preggos gonna preg.
“Preggos gonna preg”…
Five months pregnant and I’m gonna use that quote every time I screw up in the next four months.
Love it!
I didn’t drink during my pregnancies (except the one where the only thing I could keep down was a mixture of lemon juice, sparkling water, and a dash of white wine – don’t ask, because I don’t know) but I loved Catherine Zeta Jones’ quote in Traffic, something about how “I’m European; my doctor says I can have a glass of red wine a day” when she was lunching with the ladies.
It seems like just a couple of weeks ago I saw a picture of Uma holding a couple of packs of Marlboro lights. Funny you don’t see her smoking them but I am sure she does if she is drinking too. Why risk any of it? Is my humble opinion.
I hear what you’re saying. But pregnancy in and of itself is a roll of the dice. You can do everything right (as I did my first pregnancy) and still miscarry (as I did my first pregnancy); you can also do everything wrong, and still deliver successfully (as illustrated by so, SO many other women).
I can’t explain it; I can’t understand it; I can’t define it; it just IS.
So happy i left the pregnancy thing behind 28 years ago. Could not imagine having one at 42 years old.
Had one (SURPRISE!) at 39. It’s a lot more tiring, but I’m much more patient. (My oldest are almost 22 and just-turned-18.)
But there are days…I tell you…there are days…
…Occasionally, I recall the days of using the bathroom with the door closed. Sometimes, I dream of taking a l-o-n-g bath alone; by myself, with the door closed and no-one body-checking it. Sometimes, I dream of taking a full day to just sleep in, have a “spa day,” and do whatever I want. I even think of eating hot food I don’t have to share.
But it’s worth it.
I hope that’s sparkling apple cider in that glass and not really wine!
I am the mother to a child whose birth mother drank alcohol while pregnant with him. I don’t know how much she drank, when she drank, or what she drank, but I do know that he has Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
FASD is brain damage, irreversible, untreatable, and 100% preventable. It’s a spectrum disorder, so for some kids it might cause mild ADHD symptoms, for others it might cause serious behavioral problems, memory problems, processing disorder, sensory issues, intellectual and developmental delays (this is my baby), and for others it might cause heart problems and other physical issues. I know of 2 children under 1 year old who were born with FASD who just died because of complications due to maternal alcohol consumption.
Do I give a crap what Uma is drinking? No. But would I risk it when I was pregnant, knowing how difficult the world is for my child and my family? No.
You don’t really know if that’s wine. It could be a non-alcohoic equivalent, it could be soft drink. It’s too broad an assumption to make, on the basis of the type of glass surely!
I live in uk & 1 of my pregnant friends has suffered with anaemia throughout her pregnancy. Her doctor has encouraged her to drink 1/2 pint of guiness per day ( 10.5 units per wk)to help replace the iron. In his opinion the effects of anaemia are far worse than consuming the alcohol.
There is far less alcohol in 1/2 pint of Guinness than a glass of wine.
They’re both considered one unit.
Having children is a crap shoot…the occasional glass of wine is not going to hurt the baby. Besides – its none of our business…her body, her baby, her business.
I had one child, born when I was 34. I didn’t drink during my first trimester, but had about 5-6 glasses of wine total in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters and never more than 1 glass at a time.
He’s 18 today, and his IQ is 140, his graduating HS GPA was 4.5 and he’s physcially all there–10 toes, fingers, 2 eyes, etc. Now unless someone wants to suggest my imbibing alcohol made him gay….. 😉
Seriously folks….all things in moderation. Its all a crapshoot. Give it your best of course, and be smart about it, and if you don’t want to drink–then don’t. And if you want a very occasional glass of wine–my philosophy is if its good for the mom, then its OK for the baby. But if you worry about it, then don’t do it.
Thank you! Wine, in moderation, is NOT dangerous (if you have a healthy pregnancy) after first 3 months. Moderation is the key.
Last couple of weeks, reading Cb and Jezebel, I was pretty sad to realize how ignorant we,women and girls, are about our sexual/reproductive health and baby-managing. And how judgey. This is perfect example; you can’t drink any amount of wine and breastfeed!!! YES, you can. Be informed. (and still, look at this tread, the number of smart women having a discussion(and judging one another) about something that’s been established for a long time now.
Listen, I’m from Europe. Things we do with our babies would surely be judged by many US moms; on the other hand, honestly, US parenting is something that most of my European friends can’t fathom, understand and would never do.
Maybe it’s time to stop judging and pushing views on someone we don’t know, and realize it’s a cultural thing.
I had the occasional glass of wine or beer after 20 weeks when I was pregnant and my doctor said it was fine at that point, as long as it was only occasional and minimal.
Spose its okay to drink wine and breastfeed too *rollesyes*
Actually, it can be done. The body metabolizes alcohol at a very specific rate. A glass of wine takes about an hour to metabolize. So you can have a glass of wine, wait about an hour & nurse your child without worry. Ask LLL.
All I see is a wine glass in her hand. For all we know, it could be water, sparkling grape juice, etc.
She can afford the health care costs and the tutoring costs if the child ends up with problems associated with FASD. Too bad poor mothers don’t have those resources. It’ll be between her and the kid when it grows up, I guess.
Good Lord! What a lot of hoo-hah for nothing. It doesnt even look like wine in the glass – the liquid looks clear!
I swear, I think some people just like to get outraged at a non-event and NON-STORY just to feel superior for half a second.
Pssst… here’s the hot tip: Wine glasses work for all liquids, not just wine! Should she be drinking out of a sippy cup instead?
I agree that we cannot assume it is wine from the picture.
Also, for all those tauting healthy babies after drinking…I have personally known a teenager who was perfectly normal (but had a temper) until he reached the teenage years and never went through puberty properly. He was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (he was adopted which is why they didn’t suspect earlier).
The point is, sometimes the harm from drinking doesn’t come out until many years later and many studies aren’t that long term. So assuming just because a baby came out looking normal that alcohol isn’t bad to consume while pregnant is not a good idea.
Alcohol is a neurotoxin. It’s main affects are on the developing brain. A sensitive, complex organ that could receive subtle damage that goes undetected.
Do your child a favor and stay away from all alcohol. It is only 9 months. It is not hard to do. Why not do whatever you can for your baby?
Oh my god.
Please stop treating pregnant women and their bodies like they are public property. Stop the scare mongering and judgement.
No one knows how much alcohol is ‘okay’ when pregnant as how would you research it? Provide pregnant women with alcohol? Medical researches cannot prove or disprove its effects in the everyday because there is a general understanding that many women are not honest about their alcohol intake while pregnant. Therefore the statstic are skewed.
Alcohol is believe to have THE MOST negative effect on the nervous system. With a baby, this forms in the 1st trimester. Based on this, it could be assumed that if you want to drink moderately, it is best after the 1st trimester. As no one can prove or disprove, drinking is generally discouraged in the medical profession.
There would be many, many women would fall pregnant accidentially and drink in the first trimester. It is common. I would say majority go on to have normal pregnancy and children.
In the latter stages of pregnancy, the most important factor is the health, happiness and mental wellbeing of the mother. If she enjoys a glass of wine every now and then why should she abstain?
Just for the record, I’m in the UK and currently 23 weeks and 6 days pregnant (about 6 months). My bounty booklet, which is given to all pregnant women in the UK says no heavy drinking at all, (obviously) and while they do not advise drinking at all, IF YOU DO (after the first trimester) keep it down to 1-2 UNITS per week. A unit is equal to half a pint beer or lager, one measure of spirits or one SMALL glass of wine.
If she’s as far along as she looks, a single glass on holiday won’t harm her or the baby. Are we just assuming it’s wine because it’s in a wine glass, though? It could be anything in there, not that it’s any of my business.
It could be iced water in a goblet, as a restaurant might serve, no? Or are there actually photos of her beverage being poured from a wine bottle?
Whatever. Our bodies, ourselves and all that.
I know that a lot of mothers are frustrated with some people’s attitudes, I’m not denying the validity of that or the perspective that motherhood bestows upon people. But let’s call a spade a spade: there is always some posse who comes to the debates looking for a fight and demanding worship from the childless peons. People start getting reactionary and the whole arc of the conversation is plotted and telegraphed long before either side has launched the first grenade. Another round of ‘Broodmares And Barren Bitches’ starts up and we’re off. These are no more conversations than they are lightning strikes thrown at various enemies and sending down divine decrees from Mount Olympus.
The ‘tearing down the sisterhood by not liking someone’s outfit of elective surgery’ seems insignificant, at times.
If I were to say it in extremes, I’d say that I’m sure I’m out of bounds as I’m not a mother, so my opinions on anything even tangentially related to motherhood should be stopped up with a muzzle. I also had the temerity to not be born a naturally-better-than-everyone-else European, so there’s my credibility out the window. To hear it this way seems beyond silly, but below the surface, that’s the kind of sense I’m getting. These threads get meaner and meaner. Defining and negotiating motherhood makes head cheerleaders of us all, huh?
Alright, you may scold at will.
No study will ever exist to prove how much alcohol is safe because it would require forcing a group of pregnant women to drink alcohol so the effects could be studied. It’s unethical and will never happen. My doctor told me I could have one 5 ounce glass of wine a couple times a month after 20 weeks. And I did.
So where is the pic of her drinking it, all I see is a pic of her hikding a glass…she could be holding it for someone who just walked away or may have picked it up to move it somewhere out of the way…don’t assume she is drinking it until you see the pic of it actually happening!!
All this research, all these rules!! Not so long ago it was common for people to drink beer instead of water in urban areas where the water was contaminated. Not to mention the fact that alcohol with meals was normal. Somehow women still managed to give birth to healthy babies and our species has survived. Sometimes I think that all this science is a curse as much as it is a blessing. It makes us afraid (well me anyway!) eat lots of this – no, wait a minute, don’t eat that etc. The boffins seem to change their minds on a regular basis and it’s hard to keep up. As for Uma drinking while pregnant, as mentioned umpteen times who knows what was in that glass? Secondly, mostly everyone I know drank the odd glass of wine or half pint of guinness on occasion while pregnant & they all have beautiful, intelligent children. Everything in moderation…
It doesnt look like wine to me…on yatchs/cruises its not uncommon to be served water in a glass like that…i think shes smart enough to know that openly drinking wine that far along would raise questions…