A Glass of Wine and Everything’s Fine: Momma’s Night Cap

When it’s okay to enjoy that glass of wine

By Molly Hermann

After sheepishly admitting to a number of friends that each night I pour a glass of red wine after my two young children are tucked in bed, I learned I am not alone. Many friends with small children share the same covert habit. One even drinks Scotch on occasion so she doesn’t have to uncork a new bottle of wine.

For me, it started after I became a mother of two and getting to the end of the day felt like something to celebrate.

A handful of mothers told me they tend to pour a glass just before dinnertime (or roughly 4:30 p.m. for the small set), which many unabashedly declared the worst hour of the day. As one mom quipped, “It’s too late for coffee and too early for wine.” Well, for some it’s too early — others refer to it as “happy hour.”

A mom of three said that for her, it’s that point in the day when everyone is getting grouchy, she’s scrambling to throw together dinner, and bedtime is still a ways off.

“Admittedly, I feel that I am more patient and easy going after a glass. It helps me,” she said.

A mom of two young girls said having a couple glasses early in the evening allows her to ease into the nighttime routine and hit the sack early so she’s ready to tackle the next day without feeling, well, foggy. “I can enjoy it at that time,” said another.

But is it healthy? When I admitted my nightly pour to my doctor she said, ’Yes, it’s fine.” She also warned not to let it creep up — and to detox once in awhile to prove you don’t actually need wine (gulp). For the record, I did. There was a three-day stretch after New Year’s that I drank chamomile tea — then I decided I was much more interesting with a vice.

But how many of us are really having one drink? In the U.S., a 12-ounce beer or 5-ounces of wine (is that a port glass?) are considered a standard drink size. After all, a bottle of wine contains about four glasses of wine.

Dr. Andrew Granas, a family physician at Valley Medical Group in Waldwick, NJ, points to The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which states that in general, moderate alcohol consumption is defined as up to one drink a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men.

“My personal opinion is that wine, red wine specifically, is the healthiest of alcoholic beverages and may be best at promoting some of the health advantages when used at the moderate consumption level,” said Dr. Granas.

These days, pregnant women seem to be less shy about taking a sip of wine — or enjoying an entire glass — in public, but experts say they should steer clear of alcohol. Even women hoping to conceive need to get back on the wagon. Dr. Granas advises patients who wish to become pregnant to act as if they already are, and that means ditching drinking.

The American Academy of Pediatrics states that fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are 100 percent preventable.“Women who are trying to get pregnant or who could get pregnant also should avoid alcohol,” according to AAP. “This is because damage from prenatal alcohol exposure can occur even during the earliest weeks of pregnancy, even before a woman realizes she’s pregnant.” It maintains, “There is no safe amount of alcohol when a woman is pregnant.”

I don’t have a baby on the brain or in the belly, but I am considering trading my wine glass for a tea cup once again, but not just yet.

Tags: alcohol, alcohol during pregnancy, alcohol while conceiving, drinking while pregnant, night cap, parenting, wine