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Somehow it's always in a situation where not drinking alcohol would be suspicious or unacceptable. Somehow the woman is convinced that simply refusing a drink will cause everyone to shout, "AHA! You're Pregnant!" when it's supposed to be a secret - and sometimes that is exactly how the pregnancy becomes known. This requires huge leaps of logic from the other people, instead of assuming the woman simply ''wants'' water or a soft drink, or doesn't drink alcohol for other reasons (religion, medical, just hating the taste).
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Somehow it's always in a situation where not drinking alcohol would be suspicious or unacceptable. Somehow the woman is convinced that simply refusing a drink will cause everyone to shout, "AHA! You're Pregnant!" pregnant!" when it's supposed to be a secret - and sometimes that is exactly how the pregnancy becomes known. This requires huge leaps of logic from the other people, instead of assuming the woman simply ''wants'' water or a soft drink, or doesn't drink alcohol for other reasons (religion, medical, just hating the taste).
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*In the 1940s, doctors sometimes advised new mothers to drink Guiness stout because the yeast in the brew was supposed to promote milk production.
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* Averted on ''MadMen'': Betty Draper definitely drinks (and smokes!) while pregnant with her son Eugene (seasons 2-3), and Peggy Olson's drinking isn't mentioned to have done anything to her son (although she didn't know she was pregnant, and the baby has been more or less out of the picture for two seasons).
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* Averted on ''MadMen'': Betty Draper definitely drinks (and smokes!) while pregnant with her son Eugene (seasons 2-3), and Peggy Olson's drinking isn't mentioned to have done anything to her son (although she didn't know she was pregnant, and the baby has been more or less out of the picture for two seasons).ever since).
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* Averted in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', in part because the character didn't know at the time. Ayla gets completely smashed at the welcome party she throws for Crono, and despite waking up much the worse for wear, manages to go on a dungeon raid with him the next day before finally losing it and throwing up. Only at the very end of the game is it alluded to that it might have been morning sickness rather than a hangover, and Ayla certainly doesn't act like she's about to dial it back any.
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* Inverted in Robertson Davies' TheLyreOfOrpheus, where Maria drinks milk with rum in it while pregnant on the advice of her doctor (to help her sleep). The possibility of FAS is only brought up by a character who's treated as a crazy hippie by the narrative, and in fact the doctor seems more concerned that Maria might put on too much weight from drinking milk! (We now know that it is very important for pregnant women to consume plenty of calcium to help the foetus's skeleton develop.) While it's true that drinking in very small amounts is unlikely to harm a foetus, it's equally unlikely that a doctor would recommend it.
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[[folder:Theater]]
* PlayedForLaughs in ''AmericanIdiot'' when the visibly pregnant Heather drinks her boyfriend's beer .
[[/folder]]
* PlayedForLaughs in ''AmericanIdiot'' when the visibly pregnant Heather drinks her boyfriend's beer .
[[/folder]]
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* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' - when Rachel is pregnant with Emma.
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* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' - when ''Series/{{Friends}}'': When Rachel is pregnant with Emma.first finds out she's pregnant, it's the morning of Chandler and Monica's wedding. Throughout the reception, every time she absently picks up a glass of champagne and takes a sip she spits it out and eventually tells Monica to take the drink off her. However, it does become a long-term plotline that, as a first time mother, she lacks a lot of real knowledge about pregnancy and parenthood, she gets a lot of things wrong and panics easily about even the smallest things.
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An example of TruthInTelevision. A survey of U.S. bar workers confirms that most would refuse point blank to serve an alcoholic drink to a visibly pregnant woman, which would make for an interesting lawsuit. The requirement for pregnant women to abstain from alcohol was based on the existence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: basically, the fetus' fragile developing brain cells and structures can be malformed or have development interrupted by prenatal alcoholism, resulting in developmental deficits including but not limited to mental retardation. You can witness the damage [[http://www.judiciaryreport.com/images/fas-brain.jpg here]].
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An example of TruthInTelevision. A survey of U.S. bar workers confirms that most would refuse point blank to serve an alcoholic drink to a visibly pregnant woman, which would make for an interesting lawsuit. Ironically, the further along the pregnancy, the ''less'' danger there is to the unborn child. The requirement for pregnant women to abstain from alcohol was based on the existence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: basically, the fetus' fragile developing brain cells and structures can be malformed or have development interrupted by prenatal alcoholism, resulting in developmental deficits including but not limited to mental retardation. You can witness the damage [[http://www.judiciaryreport.com/images/fas-brain.jpg here]].
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* A survey of bartenders showed that they would not serve alcohol to women who appeared to be pregnant. Some fear lawsuits, because with the US being [[FrivolousLawsuit such a litigious society]], a mom could come back years later and attempt to sue the bartender for every problem her child ever had. (No one has ever tried it, and it's unlikely she would win, but who wants to take the chance?)
** Probably some bartenders would rather risk a lawsuit then risking someone's child being born with birth defects?
** Probably some bartenders would rather risk a lawsuit then risking someone's child being born with birth defects?
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* A survey of bartenders showed that they most would not serve alcohol to women who appeared to be pregnant. Some fear lawsuits, because with the US being [[FrivolousLawsuit such a litigious society]], a mom could come back years later and attempt to sue the bartender for every problem her child ever had. (No one has ever tried it, and it's unlikely she would win, but who wants to take the chance?)
** Probably some bartenders would rather risk a lawsuit then risking someone's child being born with birth defects?chance?)
** Probably some bartenders would rather risk a lawsuit then risking someone's child being born with birth defects?
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* While the trope's title is defended by the Women's Temperance League in ''BoardwalkEmpire'', the trope itself is avoided by Lucy who smokes and drinks while in her third trimestre because of DeliberateValuesDissonance.
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* While the trope's title is defended by the Women's Temperance League Averted in ''BoardwalkEmpire'', the trope itself is avoided by ''BoardwalkEmpire''; Lucy who smokes and drinks while in her third trimestre trimester because of DeliberateValuesDissonance.DeliberateValuesDissonance. Margaret doesn't touch a drop, but that has more to do with the fact that she's an active member of the Temperance League at the time.
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* In ''TheCiderHouseRules'', [[LittlestCancerPatient Fuzzy]]'s mother was an alcoholic, and as a result he suffered heart damage and breathing problems, which confine him to his [[BubbleBoy oxygen tent]].
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* In ''TheCiderHouseRules'', ''Film/TheCiderHouseRules'', [[LittlestCancerPatient Fuzzy]]'s mother was an alcoholic, and as a result he suffered heart damage and breathing problems, which confine him to his [[BubbleBoy oxygen tent]].
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** Probably some bartenders would rather risk a lawsuit then risking someone's child being born with birth defects?
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An example of TruthInTelevision. A survey of U.S. bar workers confirms that most would refuse point blank to serve an alcoholic drink to a visibly pregnant woman, which would make for an interesting lawsuit.
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An example of TruthInTelevision. A survey of U.S. bar workers confirms that most would refuse point blank to serve an alcoholic drink to a visibly pregnant woman, which would make for an interesting lawsuit.
lawsuit. The requirement for pregnant women to abstain from alcohol was based on the existence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: basically, the fetus' fragile developing brain cells and structures can be malformed or have development interrupted by prenatal alcoholism, resulting in developmental deficits including but not limited to mental retardation. You can witness the damage [[http://www.judiciaryreport.com/images/fas-brain.jpg here]].
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* Used straight in ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' to explain how less intelligent people were created: fetuses destined to be Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons are regularly administered alcohol for the sole purpose of [[DesignerBabies making them shorter, weaker, and less intelligent than Alphas and Betas]]. A nasty rumour about the character Bernard Marx (an Alpha) claims that he is short because someone spilled alcohol in his gestation bottle, since pregnancy as we know it is nonexistent in the world of Huxley's novel and people are grown in artificial vats. And yes, alcohol introduced directly into the gestation environment is a poison. Ironically, ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' was written '''years''' before the effects of alcohol on a fetus were widely understood. [[ScienceMarchesOn Huxley was even criticized for the idea that alcohol could harm a fetus]].
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* Used straight in ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' to explain how less intelligent people slaves were created: fetuses destined to be Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons are regularly administered alcohol for the sole purpose of [[DesignerBabies making them shorter, weaker, and less intelligent than Alphas and Betas]]. A nasty rumour about the character Bernard Marx (an Alpha) claims that he is short because someone spilled alcohol in his gestation bottle, since pregnancy as we know it is nonexistent in the world of Huxley's novel and people are grown in artificial vats. And yes, alcohol introduced directly into the gestation environment is a poison. Ironically, ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' was written '''years''' before the effects of alcohol on a fetus were Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was widely understood. [[ScienceMarchesOn Huxley was even criticized for the idea that alcohol could harm a fetus]].
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* Bridget in ''{{Ringer}}'' was a recovering alcoholic, but she couldn't let anyone know because she was posing as her sister Siobahn, who was a typical social drinker. She used the trope as her excuse not to drink.
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* Parodied in a late 80s ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch with Victoria Jackson as a pregnant housewife, Phil Hartman as her overprotective husband, and Woody Harrelson as the permissive neighbour. The neighbour offers her Irish coffee, but she swears off based on this trope. He convinces her because it's Irish coffee, the effects of the caffeine and alcohol should cancel each other out, whereupon she gulps down three cups. She then proceeds to irradiate her stomach with the microwave and fall down a flight of stairs. At the end, Jon Lovitz claims the previous bit was a true story about his mother, and offers a PSA on the importance of pre-natal care before shamelessly plugging ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic''.
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* Parodied in a late 80s 1992 ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch with Victoria Jackson as a pregnant housewife, Phil Hartman as her overprotective husband, and Woody Harrelson as the permissive neighbour. The neighbour offers her Irish coffee, but she swears off based on this trope. He convinces her because it's Irish coffee, the effects of the caffeine and alcohol should cancel each other out, whereupon she gulps down three cups. She then proceeds to irradiate her stomach with the microwave and fall down a flight of stairs. At the end, [[TheCameo Jon Lovitz Lovitz]] claims the previous bit was a true story about his mother, and offers a PSA on the importance of pre-natal care before shamelessly plugging ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic''.''Please Watch the Jon Lovitz Special''.
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** When Robin and Barney have a pregnancy scare, he gets himself a scotch and her an iced tea. After realizing he gave her the wrong drink, he has to practically break her fingers to get the scotch out of her hands.
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* In the Furry comic, ''Shanda The Panda'', the major character Missy is a classic case of being a reasonably functional victim of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome courtesy of her cold hearted mother who refused to stop drinking during her pregnancy.
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* In the Furry comic, ''Shanda The Panda'', {{Furry|fandom}} comic ''ShandaThePanda'', the major character Missy is a classic case of being a reasonably functional victim of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome courtesy of her cold hearted mother cold-hearted mother, who refused to stop drinking during her pregnancy.
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* Subverted in ''{{While You Were Sleeping}}'', when Jack points out - loudly, in front of all her friends - that the glass of champagne that Lucy is intending on having at a New Year's Eve party will be 'unhealthy for the baby'. Unfortunately for both, this is a case of MistakenForPregnant, and thus results in a very humiliating New Year's Eve for Lucy and a lot of apologizing required from Jack.
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* Subverted in ''{{While You Were Sleeping}}'', ''WhileYouWereSleeping'', when Jack points out - loudly, in front of all her friends - that the glass of champagne that Lucy is intending on having at a New Year's Eve party will be 'unhealthy for the baby'. Unfortunately for both, this is a case of MistakenForPregnant, and thus results in a very humiliating New Year's Eve for Lucy and a lot of apologizing required from Jack.
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* Averted in ''Empire Of Ivory'', book 4 of the [[{{Temeraire}} Temeraire series]], with [[spoiler:Harcourt]]. The character still avoids drinking wine, claiming that it upsets her stomach. This skirts implausibility, as the novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars, a time period when drinking plain unboiled water (which was always contaminated with bacteria, including Listeria) was immensely more dangerous to mother and fetus than drinking wine could ever be.
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* Averted in ''Empire Of Ivory'', book 4 of the [[{{Temeraire}} Temeraire series]], ''{{Temeraire}}'' series, with [[spoiler:Harcourt]]. The character still avoids drinking wine, claiming that it upsets her stomach. This skirts implausibility, as the novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars, a time period when drinking plain unboiled water (which was always contaminated with bacteria, including Listeria) was immensely more dangerous to mother and fetus than drinking wine could ever be.
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* Parodied in ''TheSimpsons'' twentieth season episode "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble," where a {{Flashback}} shows a single drop of sprayed alcohol going down Marge's throat by accident, whereupon it changes the nondescript baby boy inside her into a [[PsychoticSmirk wickedly smirking]] Bart.
--> [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome (Gregorian Chant) Aye Ca-Rum-BA,]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0vNq3zt_7A Aye Ca-Rum-BA]]
--> [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome (Gregorian Chant) Aye Ca-Rum-BA,]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0vNq3zt_7A Aye Ca-Rum-BA]]
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* Parodied in ''TheSimpsons'' ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' twentieth season episode "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble," where a {{Flashback}} shows a single drop of sprayed alcohol going down Marge's throat by accident, whereupon it changes the nondescript baby boy inside her into a [[PsychoticSmirk wickedly smirking]] Bart.
--> [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome (Gregorian Chant) AyeCa-Rum-BA,]] Ca-Rum-BA]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0vNq3zt_7A Aye Ca-Rum-BA]]
--> [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome (Gregorian Chant) Aye
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* Meanwhile, on FamilyGuy, after Meg claims to be pregnant Lois advises her that if she's going to dose herself on drugs and alcohol to induce a miscarriage to be committed to it, otherwise she'd end up giving birth to something like Chris.
* On the rare occasions BeavisAndButthead's parents are mentioned, their mothers are usually said to be heavy drinkers, which definitely explains a lot.
* On the rare occasions BeavisAndButthead's parents are mentioned, their mothers are usually said to be heavy drinkers, which definitely explains a lot.
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* Meanwhile, on FamilyGuy, ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', after Meg claims to be pregnant pregnant, Lois advises her that if she's going to dose herself on drugs and alcohol to induce a miscarriage to be committed to it, otherwise she'd end up giving birth to something like Chris.
* On the rare occasionsBeavisAndButthead's WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead's parents are mentioned, their mothers are usually said to be heavy drinkers, which definitely explains a lot.
* On the rare occasions
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** Also used for DeadBabyComedy, when Brandine in one episode sips whiskey to stop the fetus from kicking.
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** Also used for DeadBabyComedy, BlackComedy, when Brandine in one episode sips whiskey to stop the fetus from kicking.
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* Averted in ''DwarfFortress'', where '''all''' dwarves, including the children, have to drink booze, or else they'll go insane. In fact, no special treatment is given to pregnant females there at all; they'll work on and just casually give birth without missing a beat. Doesn't matter if they were in the middle of digging, or hauling something, or even if they were in the middle of fighting an invading goblin horde.
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[-[[caption-width-right:350:[[http://saburox.deviantart.com/gallery/8837602#/deoc3a Image]] courtesy of [[http://saburox.deviantart.com/ SaburoX]]. Used with permission.]]-]
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** Also used for DeadBabyComedy, when Brandine in one episode sips whiskey to stop the fetus from kicking.
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* Played with in ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'': alcohol ''is'', in fact, poisonous to Minbari, inducing violent mental breakdowns.
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* A survey of bartenders showed that they would not serve alcohol to women who appeared to be pregnant. Some fear lawsuits, because with America being [[FrivolousLawsuit such a litigious society]], a mom could come back years later and attempt to sue the bartender for every problem her child ever had. (No one has ever tried it, and it's unlikely she would win, but who wants to take the chance?)
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* A survey of bartenders showed that they would not serve alcohol to women who appeared to be pregnant. Some fear lawsuits, because with America the US being [[FrivolousLawsuit such a litigious society]], a mom could come back years later and attempt to sue the bartender for every problem her child ever had. (No one has ever tried it, and it's unlikely she would win, but who wants to take the chance?)
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Added an example. I personally tried this \'just to see what would happen\'. The drink tray greys out if you have the mom-to-be selected.
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* In ''Sims 2'', a pregnant woman can make and serve drinks, but not have one herself.[[note]]The drink tray is unselectable if the mom-to-be is selected.[[/note]]
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* In ''{{Lajja}}'', [[TroubledButCute Janki]] drinks to ease her stage fright, despite being 2 months pregnant, and laughs it off when [[PinballProtagonist Vaidehi]] gives her a WhatTheHellHero.
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* In ''{{Lajja}}'', ''Bollywood/{{Lajja}}'', [[TroubledButCute Janki]] drinks to ease her stage fright, despite being 2 months pregnant, and laughs it off when [[PinballProtagonist Vaidehi]] gives her a WhatTheHellHero.
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[[caption-width-right:350:[[HardDrinkingPartyGirl She's had to put up with nine months of this]].]]
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* Averted on ''Series/{{Dallas}}''. Sue Ellen drank to excess during her entire pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
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* Averted on ''Series/{{Dallas}}''. ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' averted this one hard. Sue Ellen drank to excess during her entire pregnancy pregnancy, eventually driving a car into a telephone pole while under the influence, and gave birth to a healthy healthy, albeit premature, baby boy.
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With medical advice in a state of permanent indecision about exactly how much alcohol can safely be consumed by a pregnant woman, many women (and many doctors) advise that they play it safe and swear off the booze entirely as soon as they miss their first period.
Fair enough, but many TV shows take this to ridiculous lengths. Comedy series especially hang entire scenes on the pregnant woman desperately avoiding taking even a single sip of the wine offered, as if even a single drop of alcohol will irreparably harm the helpless little fetus.
Somehow it's always in a situation where not drinking alcohol would be suspicious or unacceptable. Somehow the woman is convinced that simply refusing a drink will cause everyone to shout, "AHA! You're Pregnant!" when it's supposed to be a secret - and sometimes that is exactly how the pregnancy becomes known. This requires huge leaps of logic from the other people, instead of assuming the woman simply ''wants'' water or a soft drink, or doesn't drink alcohol for other reasons (religion, medical, just hating the taste).
Even more ridiculous situations tend to arise when a character is MistakenForPregnant and the other characters desperately try to stop her from drinking without revealing that they "know."
An example of TruthInTelevision. A survey of U.S. bar workers confirms that most would refuse point blank to serve an alcoholic drink to a visibly pregnant woman, which would make for an interesting lawsuit.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* In a case of ArtisticLicenseBiology, ''Greyshirt'' features a girl born with Down Syndrome as a result of her mother boozing while pregnant. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is one thing, but Down's Syndrome is a ''genetic'' condition and has nothing to do with the mother drinking during pregnancy.
* In the Furry comic, ''Shanda The Panda'', the major character Missy is a classic case of being a reasonably functional victim of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome courtesy of her cold hearted mother who refused to stop drinking during her pregnancy.
* Averted in the ''IronMan'' comic 181 that had the pregnant Gretl drinking at a bar just a few hours before she gave birth to a baby. The baby seemed to be fine, and this is is actually TruthInTelevision, since exposure to alcohol is mostly a long-term developmental issue. In fact, before some modern drugs were invented, alcohol was used as a way to stop premature labor. If it didn't work then the kid would be born drunk (and still premature) but otherwise fine.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:{{Film}}]]
* Parodied at the beginning of ''Film/DieHard'': Holly's heavily pregnant secretary is leaving to go to the staff Christmas party, and wonders if a sip of alcohol will harm the baby. Wryly, Holly says "I think that baby's ready to tend bar."
* Subverted in ''{{While You Were Sleeping}}'', when Jack points out - loudly, in front of all her friends - that the glass of champagne that Lucy is intending on having at a New Year's Eve party will be 'unhealthy for the baby'. Unfortunately for both, this is a case of MistakenForPregnant, and thus results in a very humiliating New Year's Eve for Lucy and a lot of apologizing required from Jack.
* In ''{{Juno}}'', the title character shocks the prospective adoptive parents of her child by requesting bourbon whiskey at their first meeting, even more so since she's also 16.
--> "Ah, yes, the classic sense of humor. Just one of Juno's many genetic gifts."
* Parodied in the 2007 ''{{Hairspray}}'' adaptation. When Tracy and Edna are on their way to the clothing store, they pass a bar where a group of visibly pregnant women are smoking and making a toast "to the future" (it's set in TheSixties, when people presumably didn't know the effect smoking and drinking had on fetuses).
* Played very straight in ''Italian for Beginners''. Two long lost sisters discover each other at the funeral of their father, soon after their alcoholic mother died (or was it the other way round?). The younger sister is so clumsy she can't hold down a job. The older sisters' nurse friend says this may well be fetal alcohol poisoning. Justified in that the mother is treated for alcohol related disease during the movie. The trope is more about an excessive reaction to mild to moderate consumption, not alcoholism.
* In the film ''In Her Shoes'', Maggie gets her sisters boyfriend to turn up for a reconciliation by pretending the sister is pregnant. He finds her with a drink in her hands. Maggie delays the inevitable denouement by grabbing the drink and pretending it's hers.
* ''The Way We Were'' averted this. ValuesDissonance hits the movie hard when we see the visibly pregnant Katie holding a cigarette in one hand, and a glass of liquor in the other.
* In ''{{Lajja}}'', [[TroubledButCute Janki]] drinks to ease her stage fright, despite being 2 months pregnant, and laughs it off when [[PinballProtagonist Vaidehi]] gives her a WhatTheHellHero.
* In ''TheCiderHouseRules'', [[LittlestCancerPatient Fuzzy]]'s mother was an alcoholic, and as a result he suffered heart damage and breathing problems, which confine him to his [[BubbleBoy oxygen tent]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
* Used straight in ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' to explain how less intelligent people were created: fetuses destined to be Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons are regularly administered alcohol for the sole purpose of [[DesignerBabies making them shorter, weaker, and less intelligent than Alphas and Betas]]. A nasty rumour about the character Bernard Marx (an Alpha) claims that he is short because someone spilled alcohol in his gestation bottle, since pregnancy as we know it is nonexistent in the world of Huxley's novel and people are grown in artificial vats. And yes, alcohol introduced directly into the gestation environment is a poison. Ironically, ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' was written '''years''' before the effects of alcohol on a fetus were widely understood. [[ScienceMarchesOn Huxley was even criticized for the idea that alcohol could harm a fetus]].
* Averted in ''Empire Of Ivory'', book 4 of the [[{{Temeraire}} Temeraire series]], with [[spoiler:Harcourt]]. The character still avoids drinking wine, claiming that it upsets her stomach. This skirts implausibility, as the novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars, a time period when drinking plain unboiled water (which was always contaminated with bacteria, including Listeria) was immensely more dangerous to mother and fetus than drinking wine could ever be.
* Referenced in the ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' series, by EricFlint. A doctor who (along with a modern small American town) had been forcibly sent into the 1600s explained that. while drinking alcohol was a bad idea, the lack of sanitation made drinking potentially contaminated water a greater threat to the baby. She suggested well-watered wine and boiled water when possible.
* In Dan Savage's ''The Kid'', an autobiographical novella telling the story of his and his partner's attempt to adopt a child, they were at first worried when they found out that the young woman who was going to give up her child for them to adopt had not known she was pregnant for the first several weeks and had a lifestyle that was heavy in drinking beer (as well as smoking and the occasional joint), though she'd stopped immediately upon finding out. He and his partner nearly work themselves into a frenzy researching the possibility that they could get a kid with fetal alcohol syndrome...until they notice how some [=FAS=] information websites list restlessness and moodiness in teenagers, among other perfectly normal behavior for children of all ages, as "symptoms"--and that some of them could easily apply to [=ADHD=]. They come to the conclusion that if the child does have [=FAS=], they'll deal, but that the risk is probably less than advertised.
* ''Literature/AFarewellToArms'' had Catherine argue ''for'' drinking when she's pregnant, on the grounds that she's petite and alcohol will make the baby smaller, easing the birth. Since this was written in 1929 (and set in World War I) ValuesDissonance / ScienceMarchesOn is no doubt in effect. (Though [[spoiler:both Catherine and the baby suffer DeathByChildbirth, so maybe Hemingway was ahead of his time]]?)
* Appears in ''Barrayar'' of the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' where Cordelia passes up some wine, noting internally that she's sworn off "all metabolic poisons" while pregnant. Although, given Barrayar has only recently regained full contact with galactic civilization, it may be that she's wise in her decisions. Also, as a Betan, she's unfamiliar with ''in vivo'' pregnancy and may have some superstitious fear of the state.
* Used in ''Literature/TheNumberOfTheBeast''. About two months into their pregnancies, Deety and Hilda wonder if a single drink would harm their fetuses (they've just had an INeedAFreakingDrink moment). The agreement is that they're probably safe.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* Played with in ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'': alcohol ''is'', in fact, poisonous to Minbari, inducing violent mental breakdowns.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' - when Rachel is pregnant with Emma.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' - inverted, as the only person who doesn't know Carla is pregnant is Carla herself and she is trying to drink a glass of wine. JD and Turk are constantly "spilling" it, distracting her and generally attempting to prevent even a single sip from passing her lips.
** Averted with Kim, who mentions that she's allowed to have a half-glass of wine every night while pregnant.
* Played with in an episode of ''Series/{{Titus}}''. Titus's sister is pregnant, but he doesn't know that yet. When she turns down a drink, he assumes it's because she has an alcohol problem.
* On ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Barney sees Robin drinking water at a wedding reception, and jumps to the conclusion that she must be pregnant. HijinksEnsue. It turns out she's not pregnant, and just happened to be drinking water.
** Played straight with Lily in the season 7 opener.
** Subverted with Lily later. Her doctor says she can drink and eat all sorts of things typically frowned upon during pregnancy as long as it's "just a little bit". Ted and Marshall frown at this but Lily gladly continues to drink.
* ''Studio60OnTheSunsetStrip'' included a variation in which a character's pregnancy was revealed when she refused a voluntary vaccination because the vaccine had a chance to harm her child.
* On ''DesperateHousewives'', pregnant Susan takes a tiny sip of her daughters drink to see if it's alcohol (it's not) and no big deal was made of it on the show. The forumers, however, seemed to think this was a tremendous and insane risk, probably because they see this trope so much on tv.
** Likewise on ''Series/{{Glee}}'', even though ''it was half a glass of champagne to celebrate! [[spoiler: And she wasn't even pregnant!]]''
** ''DesperateHousewives'' later plays this straight with Lynette trying to hide her pregnancy by having her husband quickly down her glass of wine when the others are looking away. Naturally, they assume she really likes it and keep pouring her more until Tom is completely drunk.
* In an episode of ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Law & Order: SVU]]'', a man seeks to have his estranged, pregnant wife incarcerated or committed to stop her from drinking. Benson initially sides with her, but as the story develops it becomes clear the woman really is an alcoholic and earlier had a daughter, given up for adoption, who is mentally retarded from fetal alcohol syndrome.
* On ''MadAboutYou'', shortly after Jamie and Paul realize she is pregnant, she almost drinks a sip of wine in a toast, and stops, looking as though she narrowly avoided drinking cyanide. Her OB/Gyn is there, and excuses Jamie's behavior by saying she is taking antibiotics.
** Jamie also acts this way about a sip of caffeinated coffee, which she is desperate to spit out, which is an even more exaggerated variation of this trope--while a pregnant woman (or anyone else) shouldn't drink caffeine in excess, the most restrictive medical guideline is that she can get away with 200mg a day, or slightly less than [[http://www.energyfiend.com/caffeine-content/espresso three shots of espresso]].
* Played with in the American version of ''MenBehavingBadly'', where Rob Schneider's character helps women give birth quickly by bragging while they're in labor about being able to drink .
* Referenced in an episode of ''Stark Raving Mad''. Tess (who narrates the episode) makes this remark when [[TheDitz Jake]] does a ridiculous dance: "Jake Donovan. His mother insists there was nothing wrong with chain smoking, drinking whiskey and riding roller coasters while pregnant. You be the judge."
* The first revival of ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' had this in two episodes. One followed a sailor who gets drunk and wakes up in an empty bar. The other, much darker, followed a man who decides to give up the alcohol and begin a cure that could destroy his life.
* Inverted in the pilot episode of ''Series/QuantumLeap''. A woman goes into early labor and, in 1956, the only available treatment is essentially to get her drunk. It stopped the labor and saved the lives of mother and child.
* Averted on ''Series/{{Dallas}}''. Sue Ellen drank to excess during her entire pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
* Averted on ''MadMen'': Betty Draper definitely drinks (and smokes!) while pregnant with her son Eugene (seasons 2-3), and Peggy Olson's drinking isn't mentioned to have done anything to her son (although she didn't know she was pregnant, and the baby has been more or less out of the picture for two seasons).
* Played for laughs in an episode of ''{{Coupling}}''. Susan, Sally and Jane all take pregnancy tests, with Susan and Jane showing solidarity with Sally; however, one of them turns up positive, but they get mixed up ([[spoiler: it's Susan]]). The ladies return to their table, pour a glass of wine, raise it... and put it down right before it touches their lips, just in case.
** [[spoiler: Subverted a second later. Susan, the one who turns out to be pregnant, takes a drink and says it can't be her because she's been trying to conceive a child for a while, and her doctor had told her she'd 'need a miracle'.]]
* Kari Byron in ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' was banned from taking part in a hangover myth test during her third trimester. But considering that this test involved drinking enough to get hungover ''twice'', that's definitely enough booze to cause problems.
* Parodied in a late 80s ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch with Victoria Jackson as a pregnant housewife, Phil Hartman as her overprotective husband, and Woody Harrelson as the permissive neighbour. The neighbour offers her Irish coffee, but she swears off based on this trope. He convinces her because it's Irish coffee, the effects of the caffeine and alcohol should cancel each other out, whereupon she gulps down three cups. She then proceeds to irradiate her stomach with the microwave and fall down a flight of stairs. At the end, Jon Lovitz claims the previous bit was a true story about his mother, and offers a PSA on the importance of pre-natal care before shamelessly plugging ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic''.
* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' does this at Pam and Jim's wedding, where it is (!) PlayedForDrama as follows: [[spoiler:Pam was already pregnant (as you might have guessed), but they avoided telling her very-conservative grandmother about this fact. When the toast is called the night before the actual wedding, Jim invites everyone "except Pam of course" to raise their wine in a toast. Everybody catches on the way he phrased that, and though he tries to cover it up, they quickly figure out what's going on and Grandma is not amused.]]
* {{Subverted|Trope}} and PlayedForDrama on ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', in which Lana faints after having some white wine and loses her baby. However, [[spoiler: she was never really pregnant; Lex had slipped her hormones to make her think she was. The wine was drugged in order to remove the evidence after they had been [[TheBabyTrap married]].]]
* Played straight once on ''Mercy'' when Veronica, a known heavy drinker, takes a break from drinking on the advice of a therapist. Veronica's mother, upon the daughter's refusal of an offered glass of wine, assumes she is pregnant.
* In ''ParaPencariTuhan'', Baha TheAlcoholic put some alcohol into ''kecap'' (soy sauce) bottles. Asrul's family accidentally consumes it and the newborn baby died almost instantly.
* In ''Series/{{Bones}}'' Booth finds out that [[spoiler: Angela]] is pregnant because she slips that she can't drink wine anymore.
* In ''LALaw'' Roxanne is pregnant, and requests a drink from the young waitstaff. They refuse to serve her, and chide her on endangering her baby. Her date blows up and calls them 'sanctimonious pisspots' for refusing to serve one drink to an adult woman. Roxanne ends up re-marrying this man that stood up for her.
* Averted in ''Series/DoctorWho'': Amy Pond has no trouble sipping a glass of red wine at a picnic early enough in her pregnancy that she hasn't even started to show. Certain elements of the fandom, however, practically went ballistic over it, sure that it had to be either a clue that she wasn't really pregnant, or a sign that she was bound to be a terrible, negligent mother (and a terrible human being to boot). Of course, she didn't think she was pregnant at the time, which [[spoiler:turned out to be sort of correct, since she'd been swapped out with a mind-linked copy earlier that had been programmed to not show any signs of pregnancy so as to not alert her companions to her capture and the possible uberchild she carried. Needless to say, that didn't work out as planned...]]
** Made much funnier because when (mainly American) fans asked the writers of that episode why Amy was drinking a glass of wine while pregnant, their response was along the lines of "... because she's Scottish?"
* Averted in ''{{Weeds}}'' Season 4 finale, Nancy goes on a bender drinking anything she wants before she sees Esteban to possibly be [[spoiler: killed]]. She later admits she's [[spoiler: pregnant]].
* While the trope's title is defended by the Women's Temperance League in ''BoardwalkEmpire'', the trope itself is avoided by Lucy who smokes and drinks while in her third trimestre because of DeliberateValuesDissonance.
* Averted (or avoided) in ''Series/{{Fringe}}''. [[spoiler: The alternate Olivia Dunham]] greets her partner on his return home with a glass of wine for him and a similar glass of water for herself. That would be a dead giveaway in most other shows, [[spoiler: but we've already seen that she doesn't like alcohol. The episode later reveals that she is pregnant, making the water a kind of anti-red herring.]]
* Parodied on ''Series/{{Roseanne}}.''
-->'''Jackie:''' I can't believe Mom drank while she was pregnant with us.
-->'''Roseanne:''' Eh, after being inside Mom for a few months [[INeedAFreakingDrink we probably needed a good drink.]]
* Mentioned (without resolution) in ''FreaksAndGeeks'', in the Episode where Bill accidentally eats a peanut. He's severely allergic. In the waiting room, Bill's mother mentions she blames herself for his allergies, because she drank and popped pills during her pregnancy.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:VideoGames]]
* Amusingly [[AvertedTrope averted]] in the ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' games, where one of the women whom the player can marry will mistake morning sickness for a bad hangover.
** Not only that, but in HM 64, one of the requirements for marrying her is beating her in a {{drinking contest}}, requiring you to build up your tolerance with repeated alcohol purchases.
** In many of the DistaffCounterpart games, your player character ''herself'' can drink as much alcohol as you wish while pregnant, without any harm whatsoever. There is at least one game where your husband will insist that, in your case, there's no way that a little alcohol is any danger to you or the baby. This is because, by that point, you are heavily pregnant and have still managed to keep the farm running practically single-handed, all without the slightest hint of ill-health.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* Failblog once featured a scan of a picture from a newspaper article. The caption stated that the pictured woman was pregnant and concerned about the effect of jackhammers used in roadwork outside her home on her unborn baby. She was also smoking a cigarette. A later article revealed she had actually cut her smoking from [[http://www.roanoke.com/columnists/kennedy/11293.html two packs a day to half a pack]] and was told that quitting completely while pregnant would put stress on her unborn baby, but the internet did not fail to notice the cognitive dissonance.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* Parodied in ''TheSimpsons'' twentieth season episode "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble," where a {{Flashback}} shows a single drop of sprayed alcohol going down Marge's throat by accident, whereupon it changes the nondescript baby boy inside her into a [[PsychoticSmirk wickedly smirking]] Bart.
--> [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome (Gregorian Chant) Aye Ca-Rum-BA,]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0vNq3zt_7A Aye Ca-Rum-BA]]
* Meanwhile, on FamilyGuy, after Meg claims to be pregnant Lois advises her that if she's going to dose herself on drugs and alcohol to induce a miscarriage to be committed to it, otherwise she'd end up giving birth to something like Chris.
* On the rare occasions BeavisAndButthead's parents are mentioned, their mothers are usually said to be heavy drinkers, which definitely explains a lot.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:WebComics]]
* In one strip of ''{{Muertitos}}'', Angel-Pie Hova complains at one point that her mom didn't drink ''enough'' during the pregnancy that produced her, because she could really have used a third arm at the time.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:RealLife]]
* As recently as the early 1980s, an old wives' tale in many cultures, including some [[ChristianityIsCatholic Catholic]] cultures (such as some Irish and Italian cultures), stereotyped as having ''lots'' of healthy children due to [[TruthInTelevision birth control restrictions]] while also using wine in their Mass, held that a pregnant woman drinking a small amount of wine or a small amount of beer was actually ''beneficial'' to a fetus. Recent scientific studies have suggested some Italian grandmothers [[http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/InTheNews/MedicalReports/GeneralHealth/20090324114942.html are right]], as always, on this issue.
* While current [[FunWithAcronyms National Institute for Clinical Excellency]] guidelines advise teetotalism during the first three months of pregnancy the guidelines also state that consuming no more than two units of alcohol up to twice week has not been shown as harmful to foetuses and that consumption of more than 7.5 units is proven to increase the risk of birth defects and other problems.
* A survey of bartenders showed that they would not serve alcohol to women who appeared to be pregnant. Some fear lawsuits, because with America being [[FrivolousLawsuit such a litigious society]], a mom could come back years later and attempt to sue the bartender for every problem her child ever had. (No one has ever tried it, and it's unlikely she would win, but who wants to take the chance?)
** This is why on January 2011, a [[http://abcnews.go.com/US/pregnant-lady-turned-illinois-bar/story?id=12600511&page=1 woman was kicked out of a bar just for being pregnant]], despite the fact that she wasn't, and had no plans to be, drinking alcohol.
[[/folder]]
----
[[caption-width-right:350:[[HardDrinkingPartyGirl She's had to put up with nine months of this]]. [-(Original art by [=SaburoX=])-] ]]
With medical advice in a state of permanent indecision about exactly how much alcohol can safely be consumed by a pregnant woman, many women (and many doctors) advise that they play it safe and swear off the booze entirely as soon as they miss their first period.
Fair enough, but many TV shows take this to ridiculous lengths. Comedy series especially hang entire scenes on the pregnant woman desperately avoiding taking even a single sip of the wine offered, as if even a single drop of alcohol will irreparably harm the helpless little fetus.
Somehow it's always in a situation where not drinking alcohol would be suspicious or unacceptable. Somehow the woman is convinced that simply refusing a drink will cause everyone to shout, "AHA! You're Pregnant!" when it's supposed to be a secret - and sometimes that is exactly how the pregnancy becomes known. This requires huge leaps of logic from the other people, instead of assuming the woman simply ''wants'' water or a soft drink, or doesn't drink alcohol for other reasons (religion, medical, just hating the taste).
Even more ridiculous situations tend to arise when a character is MistakenForPregnant and the other characters desperately try to stop her from drinking without revealing that they "know."
An example of TruthInTelevision. A survey of U.S. bar workers confirms that most would refuse point blank to serve an alcoholic drink to a visibly pregnant woman, which would make for an interesting lawsuit.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* In a case of ArtisticLicenseBiology, ''Greyshirt'' features a girl born with Down Syndrome as a result of her mother boozing while pregnant. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is one thing, but Down's Syndrome is a ''genetic'' condition and has nothing to do with the mother drinking during pregnancy.
* In the Furry comic, ''Shanda The Panda'', the major character Missy is a classic case of being a reasonably functional victim of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome courtesy of her cold hearted mother who refused to stop drinking during her pregnancy.
* Averted in the ''IronMan'' comic 181 that had the pregnant Gretl drinking at a bar just a few hours before she gave birth to a baby. The baby seemed to be fine, and this is is actually TruthInTelevision, since exposure to alcohol is mostly a long-term developmental issue. In fact, before some modern drugs were invented, alcohol was used as a way to stop premature labor. If it didn't work then the kid would be born drunk (and still premature) but otherwise fine.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:{{Film}}]]
* Parodied at the beginning of ''Film/DieHard'': Holly's heavily pregnant secretary is leaving to go to the staff Christmas party, and wonders if a sip of alcohol will harm the baby. Wryly, Holly says "I think that baby's ready to tend bar."
* Subverted in ''{{While You Were Sleeping}}'', when Jack points out - loudly, in front of all her friends - that the glass of champagne that Lucy is intending on having at a New Year's Eve party will be 'unhealthy for the baby'. Unfortunately for both, this is a case of MistakenForPregnant, and thus results in a very humiliating New Year's Eve for Lucy and a lot of apologizing required from Jack.
* In ''{{Juno}}'', the title character shocks the prospective adoptive parents of her child by requesting bourbon whiskey at their first meeting, even more so since she's also 16.
--> "Ah, yes, the classic sense of humor. Just one of Juno's many genetic gifts."
* Parodied in the 2007 ''{{Hairspray}}'' adaptation. When Tracy and Edna are on their way to the clothing store, they pass a bar where a group of visibly pregnant women are smoking and making a toast "to the future" (it's set in TheSixties, when people presumably didn't know the effect smoking and drinking had on fetuses).
* Played very straight in ''Italian for Beginners''. Two long lost sisters discover each other at the funeral of their father, soon after their alcoholic mother died (or was it the other way round?). The younger sister is so clumsy she can't hold down a job. The older sisters' nurse friend says this may well be fetal alcohol poisoning. Justified in that the mother is treated for alcohol related disease during the movie. The trope is more about an excessive reaction to mild to moderate consumption, not alcoholism.
* In the film ''In Her Shoes'', Maggie gets her sisters boyfriend to turn up for a reconciliation by pretending the sister is pregnant. He finds her with a drink in her hands. Maggie delays the inevitable denouement by grabbing the drink and pretending it's hers.
* ''The Way We Were'' averted this. ValuesDissonance hits the movie hard when we see the visibly pregnant Katie holding a cigarette in one hand, and a glass of liquor in the other.
* In ''{{Lajja}}'', [[TroubledButCute Janki]] drinks to ease her stage fright, despite being 2 months pregnant, and laughs it off when [[PinballProtagonist Vaidehi]] gives her a WhatTheHellHero.
* In ''TheCiderHouseRules'', [[LittlestCancerPatient Fuzzy]]'s mother was an alcoholic, and as a result he suffered heart damage and breathing problems, which confine him to his [[BubbleBoy oxygen tent]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
* Used straight in ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' to explain how less intelligent people were created: fetuses destined to be Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons are regularly administered alcohol for the sole purpose of [[DesignerBabies making them shorter, weaker, and less intelligent than Alphas and Betas]]. A nasty rumour about the character Bernard Marx (an Alpha) claims that he is short because someone spilled alcohol in his gestation bottle, since pregnancy as we know it is nonexistent in the world of Huxley's novel and people are grown in artificial vats. And yes, alcohol introduced directly into the gestation environment is a poison. Ironically, ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' was written '''years''' before the effects of alcohol on a fetus were widely understood. [[ScienceMarchesOn Huxley was even criticized for the idea that alcohol could harm a fetus]].
* Averted in ''Empire Of Ivory'', book 4 of the [[{{Temeraire}} Temeraire series]], with [[spoiler:Harcourt]]. The character still avoids drinking wine, claiming that it upsets her stomach. This skirts implausibility, as the novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars, a time period when drinking plain unboiled water (which was always contaminated with bacteria, including Listeria) was immensely more dangerous to mother and fetus than drinking wine could ever be.
* Referenced in the ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' series, by EricFlint. A doctor who (along with a modern small American town) had been forcibly sent into the 1600s explained that. while drinking alcohol was a bad idea, the lack of sanitation made drinking potentially contaminated water a greater threat to the baby. She suggested well-watered wine and boiled water when possible.
* In Dan Savage's ''The Kid'', an autobiographical novella telling the story of his and his partner's attempt to adopt a child, they were at first worried when they found out that the young woman who was going to give up her child for them to adopt had not known she was pregnant for the first several weeks and had a lifestyle that was heavy in drinking beer (as well as smoking and the occasional joint), though she'd stopped immediately upon finding out. He and his partner nearly work themselves into a frenzy researching the possibility that they could get a kid with fetal alcohol syndrome...until they notice how some [=FAS=] information websites list restlessness and moodiness in teenagers, among other perfectly normal behavior for children of all ages, as "symptoms"--and that some of them could easily apply to [=ADHD=]. They come to the conclusion that if the child does have [=FAS=], they'll deal, but that the risk is probably less than advertised.
* ''Literature/AFarewellToArms'' had Catherine argue ''for'' drinking when she's pregnant, on the grounds that she's petite and alcohol will make the baby smaller, easing the birth. Since this was written in 1929 (and set in World War I) ValuesDissonance / ScienceMarchesOn is no doubt in effect. (Though [[spoiler:both Catherine and the baby suffer DeathByChildbirth, so maybe Hemingway was ahead of his time]]?)
* Appears in ''Barrayar'' of the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' where Cordelia passes up some wine, noting internally that she's sworn off "all metabolic poisons" while pregnant. Although, given Barrayar has only recently regained full contact with galactic civilization, it may be that she's wise in her decisions. Also, as a Betan, she's unfamiliar with ''in vivo'' pregnancy and may have some superstitious fear of the state.
* Used in ''Literature/TheNumberOfTheBeast''. About two months into their pregnancies, Deety and Hilda wonder if a single drink would harm their fetuses (they've just had an INeedAFreakingDrink moment). The agreement is that they're probably safe.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* Played with in ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'': alcohol ''is'', in fact, poisonous to Minbari, inducing violent mental breakdowns.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' - when Rachel is pregnant with Emma.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' - inverted, as the only person who doesn't know Carla is pregnant is Carla herself and she is trying to drink a glass of wine. JD and Turk are constantly "spilling" it, distracting her and generally attempting to prevent even a single sip from passing her lips.
** Averted with Kim, who mentions that she's allowed to have a half-glass of wine every night while pregnant.
* Played with in an episode of ''Series/{{Titus}}''. Titus's sister is pregnant, but he doesn't know that yet. When she turns down a drink, he assumes it's because she has an alcohol problem.
* On ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Barney sees Robin drinking water at a wedding reception, and jumps to the conclusion that she must be pregnant. HijinksEnsue. It turns out she's not pregnant, and just happened to be drinking water.
** Played straight with Lily in the season 7 opener.
** Subverted with Lily later. Her doctor says she can drink and eat all sorts of things typically frowned upon during pregnancy as long as it's "just a little bit". Ted and Marshall frown at this but Lily gladly continues to drink.
* ''Studio60OnTheSunsetStrip'' included a variation in which a character's pregnancy was revealed when she refused a voluntary vaccination because the vaccine had a chance to harm her child.
* On ''DesperateHousewives'', pregnant Susan takes a tiny sip of her daughters drink to see if it's alcohol (it's not) and no big deal was made of it on the show. The forumers, however, seemed to think this was a tremendous and insane risk, probably because they see this trope so much on tv.
** Likewise on ''Series/{{Glee}}'', even though ''it was half a glass of champagne to celebrate! [[spoiler: And she wasn't even pregnant!]]''
** ''DesperateHousewives'' later plays this straight with Lynette trying to hide her pregnancy by having her husband quickly down her glass of wine when the others are looking away. Naturally, they assume she really likes it and keep pouring her more until Tom is completely drunk.
* In an episode of ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Law & Order: SVU]]'', a man seeks to have his estranged, pregnant wife incarcerated or committed to stop her from drinking. Benson initially sides with her, but as the story develops it becomes clear the woman really is an alcoholic and earlier had a daughter, given up for adoption, who is mentally retarded from fetal alcohol syndrome.
* On ''MadAboutYou'', shortly after Jamie and Paul realize she is pregnant, she almost drinks a sip of wine in a toast, and stops, looking as though she narrowly avoided drinking cyanide. Her OB/Gyn is there, and excuses Jamie's behavior by saying she is taking antibiotics.
** Jamie also acts this way about a sip of caffeinated coffee, which she is desperate to spit out, which is an even more exaggerated variation of this trope--while a pregnant woman (or anyone else) shouldn't drink caffeine in excess, the most restrictive medical guideline is that she can get away with 200mg a day, or slightly less than [[http://www.energyfiend.com/caffeine-content/espresso three shots of espresso]].
* Played with in the American version of ''MenBehavingBadly'', where Rob Schneider's character helps women give birth quickly by bragging while they're in labor about being able to drink .
* Referenced in an episode of ''Stark Raving Mad''. Tess (who narrates the episode) makes this remark when [[TheDitz Jake]] does a ridiculous dance: "Jake Donovan. His mother insists there was nothing wrong with chain smoking, drinking whiskey and riding roller coasters while pregnant. You be the judge."
* The first revival of ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' had this in two episodes. One followed a sailor who gets drunk and wakes up in an empty bar. The other, much darker, followed a man who decides to give up the alcohol and begin a cure that could destroy his life.
* Inverted in the pilot episode of ''Series/QuantumLeap''. A woman goes into early labor and, in 1956, the only available treatment is essentially to get her drunk. It stopped the labor and saved the lives of mother and child.
* Averted on ''Series/{{Dallas}}''. Sue Ellen drank to excess during her entire pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
* Averted on ''MadMen'': Betty Draper definitely drinks (and smokes!) while pregnant with her son Eugene (seasons 2-3), and Peggy Olson's drinking isn't mentioned to have done anything to her son (although she didn't know she was pregnant, and the baby has been more or less out of the picture for two seasons).
* Played for laughs in an episode of ''{{Coupling}}''. Susan, Sally and Jane all take pregnancy tests, with Susan and Jane showing solidarity with Sally; however, one of them turns up positive, but they get mixed up ([[spoiler: it's Susan]]). The ladies return to their table, pour a glass of wine, raise it... and put it down right before it touches their lips, just in case.
** [[spoiler: Subverted a second later. Susan, the one who turns out to be pregnant, takes a drink and says it can't be her because she's been trying to conceive a child for a while, and her doctor had told her she'd 'need a miracle'.]]
* Kari Byron in ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' was banned from taking part in a hangover myth test during her third trimester. But considering that this test involved drinking enough to get hungover ''twice'', that's definitely enough booze to cause problems.
* Parodied in a late 80s ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch with Victoria Jackson as a pregnant housewife, Phil Hartman as her overprotective husband, and Woody Harrelson as the permissive neighbour. The neighbour offers her Irish coffee, but she swears off based on this trope. He convinces her because it's Irish coffee, the effects of the caffeine and alcohol should cancel each other out, whereupon she gulps down three cups. She then proceeds to irradiate her stomach with the microwave and fall down a flight of stairs. At the end, Jon Lovitz claims the previous bit was a true story about his mother, and offers a PSA on the importance of pre-natal care before shamelessly plugging ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic''.
* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' does this at Pam and Jim's wedding, where it is (!) PlayedForDrama as follows: [[spoiler:Pam was already pregnant (as you might have guessed), but they avoided telling her very-conservative grandmother about this fact. When the toast is called the night before the actual wedding, Jim invites everyone "except Pam of course" to raise their wine in a toast. Everybody catches on the way he phrased that, and though he tries to cover it up, they quickly figure out what's going on and Grandma is not amused.]]
* {{Subverted|Trope}} and PlayedForDrama on ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', in which Lana faints after having some white wine and loses her baby. However, [[spoiler: she was never really pregnant; Lex had slipped her hormones to make her think she was. The wine was drugged in order to remove the evidence after they had been [[TheBabyTrap married]].]]
* Played straight once on ''Mercy'' when Veronica, a known heavy drinker, takes a break from drinking on the advice of a therapist. Veronica's mother, upon the daughter's refusal of an offered glass of wine, assumes she is pregnant.
* In ''ParaPencariTuhan'', Baha TheAlcoholic put some alcohol into ''kecap'' (soy sauce) bottles. Asrul's family accidentally consumes it and the newborn baby died almost instantly.
* In ''Series/{{Bones}}'' Booth finds out that [[spoiler: Angela]] is pregnant because she slips that she can't drink wine anymore.
* In ''LALaw'' Roxanne is pregnant, and requests a drink from the young waitstaff. They refuse to serve her, and chide her on endangering her baby. Her date blows up and calls them 'sanctimonious pisspots' for refusing to serve one drink to an adult woman. Roxanne ends up re-marrying this man that stood up for her.
* Averted in ''Series/DoctorWho'': Amy Pond has no trouble sipping a glass of red wine at a picnic early enough in her pregnancy that she hasn't even started to show. Certain elements of the fandom, however, practically went ballistic over it, sure that it had to be either a clue that she wasn't really pregnant, or a sign that she was bound to be a terrible, negligent mother (and a terrible human being to boot). Of course, she didn't think she was pregnant at the time, which [[spoiler:turned out to be sort of correct, since she'd been swapped out with a mind-linked copy earlier that had been programmed to not show any signs of pregnancy so as to not alert her companions to her capture and the possible uberchild she carried. Needless to say, that didn't work out as planned...]]
** Made much funnier because when (mainly American) fans asked the writers of that episode why Amy was drinking a glass of wine while pregnant, their response was along the lines of "... because she's Scottish?"
* Averted in ''{{Weeds}}'' Season 4 finale, Nancy goes on a bender drinking anything she wants before she sees Esteban to possibly be [[spoiler: killed]]. She later admits she's [[spoiler: pregnant]].
* While the trope's title is defended by the Women's Temperance League in ''BoardwalkEmpire'', the trope itself is avoided by Lucy who smokes and drinks while in her third trimestre because of DeliberateValuesDissonance.
* Averted (or avoided) in ''Series/{{Fringe}}''. [[spoiler: The alternate Olivia Dunham]] greets her partner on his return home with a glass of wine for him and a similar glass of water for herself. That would be a dead giveaway in most other shows, [[spoiler: but we've already seen that she doesn't like alcohol. The episode later reveals that she is pregnant, making the water a kind of anti-red herring.]]
* Parodied on ''Series/{{Roseanne}}.''
-->'''Jackie:''' I can't believe Mom drank while she was pregnant with us.
-->'''Roseanne:''' Eh, after being inside Mom for a few months [[INeedAFreakingDrink we probably needed a good drink.]]
* Mentioned (without resolution) in ''FreaksAndGeeks'', in the Episode where Bill accidentally eats a peanut. He's severely allergic. In the waiting room, Bill's mother mentions she blames herself for his allergies, because she drank and popped pills during her pregnancy.
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[[folder:VideoGames]]
* Amusingly [[AvertedTrope averted]] in the ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' games, where one of the women whom the player can marry will mistake morning sickness for a bad hangover.
** Not only that, but in HM 64, one of the requirements for marrying her is beating her in a {{drinking contest}}, requiring you to build up your tolerance with repeated alcohol purchases.
** In many of the DistaffCounterpart games, your player character ''herself'' can drink as much alcohol as you wish while pregnant, without any harm whatsoever. There is at least one game where your husband will insist that, in your case, there's no way that a little alcohol is any danger to you or the baby. This is because, by that point, you are heavily pregnant and have still managed to keep the farm running practically single-handed, all without the slightest hint of ill-health.
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[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* Failblog once featured a scan of a picture from a newspaper article. The caption stated that the pictured woman was pregnant and concerned about the effect of jackhammers used in roadwork outside her home on her unborn baby. She was also smoking a cigarette. A later article revealed she had actually cut her smoking from [[http://www.roanoke.com/columnists/kennedy/11293.html two packs a day to half a pack]] and was told that quitting completely while pregnant would put stress on her unborn baby, but the internet did not fail to notice the cognitive dissonance.
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[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* Parodied in ''TheSimpsons'' twentieth season episode "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble," where a {{Flashback}} shows a single drop of sprayed alcohol going down Marge's throat by accident, whereupon it changes the nondescript baby boy inside her into a [[PsychoticSmirk wickedly smirking]] Bart.
--> [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome (Gregorian Chant) Aye Ca-Rum-BA,]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0vNq3zt_7A Aye Ca-Rum-BA]]
* Meanwhile, on FamilyGuy, after Meg claims to be pregnant Lois advises her that if she's going to dose herself on drugs and alcohol to induce a miscarriage to be committed to it, otherwise she'd end up giving birth to something like Chris.
* On the rare occasions BeavisAndButthead's parents are mentioned, their mothers are usually said to be heavy drinkers, which definitely explains a lot.
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[[folder:WebComics]]
* In one strip of ''{{Muertitos}}'', Angel-Pie Hova complains at one point that her mom didn't drink ''enough'' during the pregnancy that produced her, because she could really have used a third arm at the time.
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[[folder:RealLife]]
* As recently as the early 1980s, an old wives' tale in many cultures, including some [[ChristianityIsCatholic Catholic]] cultures (such as some Irish and Italian cultures), stereotyped as having ''lots'' of healthy children due to [[TruthInTelevision birth control restrictions]] while also using wine in their Mass, held that a pregnant woman drinking a small amount of wine or a small amount of beer was actually ''beneficial'' to a fetus. Recent scientific studies have suggested some Italian grandmothers [[http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/InTheNews/MedicalReports/GeneralHealth/20090324114942.html are right]], as always, on this issue.
* While current [[FunWithAcronyms National Institute for Clinical Excellency]] guidelines advise teetotalism during the first three months of pregnancy the guidelines also state that consuming no more than two units of alcohol up to twice week has not been shown as harmful to foetuses and that consumption of more than 7.5 units is proven to increase the risk of birth defects and other problems.
* A survey of bartenders showed that they would not serve alcohol to women who appeared to be pregnant. Some fear lawsuits, because with America being [[FrivolousLawsuit such a litigious society]], a mom could come back years later and attempt to sue the bartender for every problem her child ever had. (No one has ever tried it, and it's unlikely she would win, but who wants to take the chance?)
** This is why on January 2011, a [[http://abcnews.go.com/US/pregnant-lady-turned-illinois-bar/story?id=12600511&page=1 woman was kicked out of a bar just for being pregnant]], despite the fact that she wasn't, and had no plans to be, drinking alcohol.
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