History Main / OneDrinkWillKillTheBaby

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': [[OneOfTheGuys Roz]] reveals her pregnancy to Martin's poker buddies after Martin has a brief memory lapse and offers her a beer. The other players toast her and start musing on how fast their own kids grew up.

%% Do not remove the permission notice.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[HardDrinkingPartyGirl She's had to put up with nine months of this]].]]
%% Image courtesy of SaburoX, used with permission. See discussion page for links.

%%* The first revival of ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' had this in two episodes.

* 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.

* Subverted in ''Film/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.

* Averted in the ''ComicBook/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 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:Religion and Mythology]]
* In the ''Literature/BookOfJudges'', Samson's mother is told by an angel not to drink wine or beer during her pregnancy with him. This had less to do with the ''physical'' health/safety/well-being of the baby [[note]] Men, women, and children of the Bronze Age all consumed alcohol, including during pregnancy, because it was usually safer (i.e. less likely to cause sickness) than drinking water. [[/note]], however, than the fact that he was to become a Nazirite BecauseDestinySaysSo. In other words, his ''spiritual'' well-being. The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazirite Nazirites]] were a group of Jewish ascetics, who (among other things) were not supposed to drink alcohol, or even to consume (unfermented) grapes.

* On Series/TheDrewCareyShow, when Kate realizes she might be pregnant, this is the consequence [[TheLadette that hits her the hardest]]:

* If you think pregnant women could get out of this by simply avoiding alcoholic beverages, you're wrong. There have been concerns over caffeine use, as some studies have shown a slight correlation with miscarriage in early pregnancy, which is why decaffeinated coffee and tea have been promoted to pregnant women. Music/{{Pink}} was criticized for posting a picture of her drinking decaf, because decaf contains ''trace'' amounts.

** Played straight with Lily in the season 7 opener, where the group attends a wedding and Lily secretly hands her drink to Marshall. [[spoiler:It's revealed near the end that the bride was also pregnant, and was handing her drinks to the groom]].

** Amusingly [[AvertedTrope averted]], where one of the women (Karen pictured above) whom the player can marry will mistake morning sickness for a bad hangover. Not only that but in ''VideoGame/{{Harvest Moon 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 ''VideoGame/{{The 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]] despite the fact that they're [[FrothyMugsOfWater "juice drinks"]], and the developers otherwise deliberately avoid insinuating that they might be alcoholic in order to keep the rating down.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/NotTonight''. During your shifts as a bouncer in bars, pubs, and nightclubs, some of the patrons in queues are women with a bit of a baby bump, which [[Creator/BenCroshaw Yahtzee Croshaw]] in his ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' review calls "pregnant teenagers with bad haircuts" (even though these bars prohibit underage drinking). Since most pregnant women are over 18, you can admit them in provided that they have valid paperwork. However, it's never shown what happens to the women and their unborn babies in there, though it's kinda safe to say that bars in the UK won't offer alcoholic drinks to pregnant women.

* 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.

* In ''Film{{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 ''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.

* In an episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', 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.

We all know about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_alcohol_spectrum_disorder Fetal Alcohol Syndrome]], the irreversible brain damage that results from prenatal exposure to alcohol. The problem is, nobody is sure ''how much'' alcohol it takes to do ''how much'' harm, and nobody is in a hurry to do an in-depth study on it. With the medical community in a state of permanent indecision about how much alcohol can safely be consumed by a pregnant woman (they can't exactly tell fifty expecting mothers to go on a bender and see what happens), the only thing certain is that "none" is definitely less than whatever the "safe" amount is, if one exists at all. This leads many women and doctors to advise that they play it safe and swear off the booze entirely as soon as they miss their first period, or even when they decide to actively start trying for a baby.

** In another episode, Lois has a dream where she finds out that Stewie's evil and bent on world domination. After she realizes this she cries, "Why!? Why did I have to smoke pot when I was pregnant with you!?"

** In the episode "The Judge," a recently-pregnant Princess Carolyn visits her boyfriend Ralph's parents but isn't ready to tell them she's pregnant yet. They offer her some alcohol to calm down, but she declines. They [[SerialEscalation keep insisting she indulge in something else]], such as cocaine, smoking, standing around secondhand smoke, some highly caffeinated coffee, a quick punch in the stomach to make her feel alive, or a ride on their extremely fast rollercoaster. Eventually, Ralph has to step in and change the subject.
** In the next episode "Ruthie," Princess Carolyn is hesitant to drink coffee, but Ralph allows her to have a little sip. [[spoiler:She later miscarries, but it's unclear if this is connected to the coffee, especially since it had been pointed out earlier in the season that it's hard to have children at her age and the reveal she's had four miscarriages beforehand]].

* In the season 4 finale of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'', Lana vehemently refuses alcohol; at the end of the episode, she reveals her pregnancy. This carries over into the next season, with her hard-drinking coworkers often trying to offer her alcohol and Lana pointing out that she couldn't possibly have any since she's pregnant. Averted in a flashback, where Malory asks for a drink after her water breaks.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", Kenny tries to stop his parents from having another child. [[GroinAttack Throwing a baseball at is dad's groin]] doesn't work, so he mixes a drink laced with abortion pills for his pregnant mother. She tells him she can't drink, so her husband downs it instead. Kenny warns him, [[TheFoodPoisoningIncident but it's]] [[PottyEmergency too late]].

* 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 a 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 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?)
** This is why in January 2011, [[http://abcnews.go.com/US/pregnant-lady-turned-illinois-bar/story?id=12600511&page=1 a 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.
** On the other hand, a sex-discrimination case could be made against the bar for ''refusing'' service, especially if the woman was ''not'' pregnant and the [[MistakenForPregnant bartender just assumed]]. TIPPS classes actually avert this trope and tell you that, against your first instinct, you should serve the woman, because it would be much harder to prove ''yours'' was the One Drink that killed the baby than that you turned a customer away.

* In ''{{Webcomic/Drowtales}}'', a visibly pregnant Zala'ess Vel'Sharen is seen [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=10436 imbibing some very expensive liquor]] at one point during a peace negotiation. This naturally caused some concern on the comic's forums and a lively debate on the subject. In retrospect [[spoiler:this was probably a clue that it was a FakePregnancy]].

Somehow it's always in a situation where not drinking alcohol would be suspicious or unacceptable. The woman is convinced that ordering a Pepsi at the bar (when she hadn't been adverse to alcohol before) 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 doesn't want to drink, or is the DesignatedDriver for the evening.

* Averted in the ''ComicBook/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.

* Subverted in ''Film/DazedAndConfused'' when a visibly pregnant women buys whiskey and cigarettes at the Emporium.

* Subverted in ''Film/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.

* There was similar ValuesDissonance in ''Skyjacked'', which has a visibly pregnant passenger order a Bloody Mary on the the rocks.

* Subverted in the film ''Film/BlackboardJungle''. At a restaurant the protagonist pours his four-months-pregnant wife a cup of champagne. The wife only reacts in mild surprise that she's allowed to eat spaghetti and champagne while pregnant. She previously had a miscarriage but doesn't worry what alcohol could do to her current child. ValuesDissonance is probably the reason, as the film is from 1955.

* Exploited in ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' to explain how 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 Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was widely understood. [[ScienceMarchesOn Huxley was even criticized for the idea that alcohol could harm a fetus]].

* In ''Literature/{{Barrayar}}'', 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.

* In Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley novel ''Just One Evil Act'', Angelina Upman is on Italian TV with her former and current boyfriends pleading for information on her missing daughter, and initially does not partake when her current boyfriend offers wine to the police and media there. Then her former boyfriend (who is a Muslim and doesn't drink anyway) asks if she wants some, but as she reaches for it her current boyfriend yells that she shouldn't "during this time especially" and everyone nearby instantly figures out that this means she's pregnant. In an earlier scene when Lynley met with her he observed that she had water while the rest of them had wine, but didn't think much of it until her boyfriend's outburst. In the end this trope ends up {{double subverted}} [[spoiler:since technically that one drink ''did'' kill the baby -- and the mother, since it turned out it had been laced with E. Coli by the current boyfriend, who didn't realize that the former boyfriend didn't drink and intended it for him to [[MurderTheHypotenuse get him out of the way]]]].

* In ''Literature/MySweetAudrina'' by Creator/VCAndrews, Audrina's mother Lucky hosts a weekly afternoon tea ([[spoiler:actually twice a week, in order to make Audrina think that time is passing more quickly than it is]]) at which she takes a large amount of bourbon in her tea. When she gets pregnant, Audrina's father warns Lucky to stop drinking and even beats her to try to make her stop; but she doesn't. Subsequently, she [[DeathByChildbirth dies giving birth]] and Audrina's sister Sylvia is born severely disabled. Audrina is sorry for Lucky but convinced that Sylvia's disability is a result of the drinking.

* A bizarre version on ''Series/AsTheWorldTurns'', when Lily and Holden's baby is found to have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. They are confused, as Lily did not drink while she was pregnant, and eventually irrationally blame it on a gas leak that Lily was exposed to during her pregnancy. Never mind that gas and alcohol are two entirely different things and that Lily was exposed to the gas ''once'', rather than the continuous exposure that would be necessary to produce any ill effects. In true SoapOpera style, it turns out the baby isn't Lily and Holden's after all. She was switched at birth with another, whose mother DID drink while pregnant, resulting in the FAS, ultimately playing the trope straight after all.
* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' while Bernadette is pregnant the rest of the gang gets invited to a wine tasting, so she has to hang out with [[TheTeetotaler Sheldon]]. Fortunately he shows an uncharacteristic amount of sympathy and runs a D&D game where she can do all the things she's not supposed to do.

** Played for laughs in an episode: 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.

** Averted in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut "The Impossible Astronaut"]]: 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). 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?"

* Mentioned (without resolution) in ''Series/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.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': When Rachel 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.

** In the season 2 finale, Barney sees Robin drinking water at a wedding reception, and jumps to the conclusion that she must be pregnant. HilarityEnsues. It turns out she's not pregnant, and just happened to be drinking water. Possibly justified in that Ted had told him that something big had happened between him and Robin (part of the story of which involved them having unprotected sex).

** In season 9 [[spoiler: turns out Lily is pregnant again. However, she's visibly drinking in pretty much every scene. A flashback shows the scene with her placing her standing order from the beginning of the season, but expands it with her specifying that she'd like non-alcoholic drinks, because she thinks she might be pregnant. It's not even confirmed until days later. This creates a PlotHole itself, since she was ostensibly drinking to deal with the stress of missing her husband and child, but if its not ''alcohol'' why did she need constant drinks? Was the stress just making her ''thirsty''?]]
* In ''Series/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.

** 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.

* Parodied in a 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]] 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 ''Please Watch the Jon Lovitz Special''.

** 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.

** A bartender tries to police Jordan's drinking while breastfeeding after one of her pregnancies, and gets a well deserved tongue lashing from Jordan for their trouble.

* Referenced in an episode of ''Series/StarkRavingMad''. 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."

** Amusingly [[AvertedTrope averted]], where one of the women (Karen pictured above) whom the player can marry will mistake morning sickness for a bad hangover. Not only that, but in ''VideoGame/{{Harvest Moon 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.

* ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings 2'': Women with the 'Alcoholic' trait have a chance of giving their children the 'Slow' trait due to what is implied to be Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. ''Pagan Fury'' added a set of events about it where an Alcoholic who becomes pregnant has a random chance of going dry because of it, and getting massive opinion penalties with her husband if she doesn't.

** In the episode "The Judge," a recently-pregnant Princess Carolyn visits her boyfriend Ralph's parents, but isn't ready to tell them she's pregnant yet. They offer her some alcohol to calm down, but she declines. They [[SerialEscalation keep insisting she indulge in something else]], such as cocaine, smoking, standing around secondhand smoke, some highly caffeinated coffee, a quick punch in the stomach to make her feel alive, or a ride on their extremely fast rollercoaster. Eventually, Ralph has to step in and change the subject.

** Some doctors will still recommend that if a nursing mother has trouble letting milk down, she have a drink (ONE drink, as in, just one beer, or a glass of wine) to relax before nursing.
** On a related note, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Wills Lucy Wills]] found that anemia in pregnant woman could be treated with yeast extract, the most available source being Marmite - a yeast extract that is a by-product of beer production.
* 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 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?)
** 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.

* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] when it comes to Nicotine and tobacco. While it can harm the baby, the stress from suddenly going cold turkey from nicotine can have a much greater effect on the baby. However, talk to an obstetrician before you try this. [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle Don't blindly follow medical advice from the internet.]]

* On the rare occasions WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead's parents are mentioned, their mothers are usually said to be heavy drinkers, which definitely explains a lot.

Somehow it's always in a situation where not drinking alcohol would be suspicious or unacceptable. The woman is convinced that ordering a Pepsi at the bar (when she hadn't been adverse to alcohol before) 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 doesn't want to drink, or is the designated driver for the evening.

* {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Literature/FiftyShadesFreed'', after Anastasia learns that she's pregnant. Christian heavily frowns at a glass of champagne she's holding at a welcome party, but Grace, her mother-in-law and a doctor, tells Anastasia that 'a little sip' is fine now and then. (Plus if you do the math she's pregnant for most of the book, and she drinks a ''lot'' before she finds out.)