Drinking & pregnancy -- historical question

Leva

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
527
Reaction score
61
When did it become widely known to medical professionals that drinking during pregnancy was a bad thing?

Have a scene with a pregnant young woman at a party, set around 1913. She's the daughter of a doctor and would be very familiar with the medical knowledge of the day -- and would not drink if she knew it was bad for the baby. (She's late in the second trimester, if that matters.) I'm not sure if she would even be aware of FAS at the time, though.

(It would be helpful to the plot to have her have a hangover the next day.)

-- Leva
 

DeleyanLee

Writing Anarchist
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 6, 2007
Messages
31,661
Reaction score
11,407
Location
lost among the words
I think it was in the latter part of the 20th century, but I could be wrong. However, I'd think it's not as much of a knowledge of FAS, but what other options for potables she had available. There are many times and places in history where the water was far worse for your health (especially in cities) than drinking wine or other alcohol.

Also remember that, in days gone by, alcohol wasn't as alcoholic as it is today. Beer barely rated as alcoholic for many centuries and wine wasn't much better.

It's possible that the discovery waited until such a time that the proof levels were high enough to actually be a danger.
 

waylander

Who's going for a beer?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 24, 2005
Messages
8,333
Reaction score
1,582
Age
65
Location
London, UK
Plus consider the culture norms of the day. Depends on the society around her, but far fewer women drank in company back then
 

Leva

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
527
Reaction score
61
Thanks. I wasn't sure what would be common knowledge for a doctor (or the daughter of a doctor.)

The beverages in question would be fairly good wines, and probably brandy with desert (with desert being a thoroughly pickled fruitcake) in the context of a birthday party with close friends/family. She's not really "drinking in company" as it's a private party. She's just not used to being treated as an adult -- she's an older teen -- and she overdoes it a bit. So she could get fairly drunk without intending to do so.

And, ah, I have ancient family movies of my gramma to prove that women did, indeed, drink in mixed company back then. I'd love to know just how drunk Gramma was when she dropped her jeans and mooned the camera. That would have been about a decade after WW1 ... so close enough. (Granted, whoever was filming tried to follow her into the out house ...)

I got the distinct impression my grandmother -- who was a gracious, dignified lady in her later years -- was somewhat proud of, or at least amused by, that video, when her younger sister found it many decades later and had it transferred to DVD.

-- Leva
 
Last edited:

StephanieFox

Maybull the Bulldog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 27, 2008
Messages
4,442
Reaction score
636
Location
MPLS
My dad was born in 1917. When his mother was pregnant, both with him and his sister, the doctor told her to drink beer and eat bacon to make the babies strong. She did. It didn't seem to hurt the babies. My dad graduated Tulane Medical School when he was 22 years old.

The whole 'drinking even a sip will harm the baby' didn't happen until the 1970s.