Gwyneth Paltrow likes her Guinness

by Stefania Butler (Subscribe to Stefania Butler's posts) Mar 30th 2006 2:02PM

Categories: Pregnancy & Birth, Development, Bump Watch, Celeb Kids, Media

Tipster Missy alerts us to a story in the New York Daily News which reports that pregnant Gwyneth Paltrow recently drank a Guinness with her sushi dinner. According to the article, diners in a small sushi restaurant observed Paltrow's husband Chris Martin leave "the BYOB joint to pick up several bottles of the Irish stout Guinness at a nearby deli. And they were surprised when Paltrow, who is five months pregnant with the couple's second child, drank one herself."

The article goes on to say that "some experts recommend a little Guinness for expecting mothers, because of the brew's high iron content."

Paltrow's "person" confirms that she did drink the alcoholic beverage, but clarified that she only ate cooked food, not sushi.

Comments (53)

Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)

Laura 3-31-2006 @ 1:14AM

I live in the Netherlands and my midwife told me that in the 3rd trimester a very ocasional small glass of wine or 1/2 a beer is fine (note very occasional and only 1 small wine or 1/2 beer - not binge drinking!). In fact she too recomended Guiness because my iron was low, but I can not drink the stuff (not a big fan). I did have a small glass of wine about 3 times towards the end of my pregnancy though... Guess according to most of you I am a horrid mom though for that :-)

Lisa 3-31-2006 @ 2:23AM

Terry Mauro, You obviously went overboard and didn't drink in moderation as perscribed. I'm very sorry for your child having the disease that YOU YOURSELF brought on because of YOUR misbehaviour. A glass of wine or beer occasionally, is not a problem and actually does deliver vitamins to the child as per my doctor's advice. I was iron deficient and my doctors wnated me to drink more wine, etc. but I chose not to. My daugher is 26, healthy and perfect! I think the many bags of lemons I ate may have helped much :)

Amy 3-31-2006 @ 2:30AM

I love how all of the so-called experts here can judge a woman based on their one or two pregnancies or the fact that they work in the same office as someone with medical knowledge.

If you don't feel comfortable having ANY alcohol during your pregnancy, then don't drink. No one is going to judge you for it. However, to speculate that any amount of alcohol causes fetal issues is baseless and paranoid. To try to label any woman who drinks or smokes as potentially unfit is without merit. And to assume that because someone is smoking in public that they must be harming their fetus is equally as small-minded.

The prevailing wisdom on this comment board is that ADHD is to be blamed on alcohol in the first trimester???? Do you have the methodology to show how much each pregnant woman drank during her pregnancy? Do they take into account parenting styles like those that park their children in front of the TV while they or their caregivers sit on the computer offering bogus advice about parenting? Or is this study written by a bunch of conclusion-jumping moralists who are looking to prove their point?

When you wannabe experts can cite how many cigarettes Sinead O'Connor are smoking a day and can offer some research into what that amount of smoking does to a fetus, then I'd be happy to acquiesce to your expertise. Until then, all I see is a bunch of busy-bodies prattling on what they assume to be the truth.

jen 3-31-2006 @ 3:55AM

My Health Visitor told me about the Guinness- but said that in fact the iron content was originally high, but not any more. When the Guinnesss brewery first opened, there was an iron smelting factory upstream from where the Guinness brewery had its water intake on the Liffey. This increased the iron content of the water which gave the beer its 'medicinal' properties. This iron smelting works has since closed, reducing the iron content in the beer. She did however suggest I had a glass or two (post baby's arrival) to chill out, as I'd had a very stressful pregnancy and delivery :)
(I drank 4 glasses of wine and had one G&T whilst I was pregnant - two of those (half) glasses were at my wedding, and the G&T was the day I found out I was pregnant.... before I did the test!)

Aiden 3-31-2006 @ 5:14AM

She named her child Apple. What more can you expect from this wacko

Lynn 3-31-2006 @ 5:51AM

I agree with the blogger who suggested getting iron through a healthy diet. There are SUCH better ways to meet your nutritional needs during pregnancy than to justify alcohol for it's "iron content". Plain and simple, alcohol is a POISON, and to put poison into your body when your body is not your own TO poison, is simply wrong. And, this has nothing to do with culture or which continent you live on or come from. Globablly, we use our "rights" ~ to do whatever we want, whenever we want ~ as an excuse to rationalize our actions, but this is done to the detriment of our future generations. Similarly, we are now also ignoring what medical science has long known about the increased risks of advanced paternal age on pregnancies, the mothers and the babies. We are seeing a frightening, dramatic increase in children qualifying for Special Needs Early Childhood Education programs, with delays in any of the following 5 areas: communication, cognitive, physical, social/emotional and adaptive. For example, Autism and other Pervasive Developmental Disorders, specifically, have risen drastically and millions of dollars are being spent trying to find "the cause", not to mention a "cure". The problem of low birth weight rate has also continued to increase steadily and tragically, with millions more being spent on efforts to curb that dilemna, as well. The long-term delays and problems that can affect the baby are many and wide, but we make our choices and then we want our doctors and our schools to "help fix our children", instead of being proactively intelligent in our decisions, and responsible for our choices. We need to think, people. Just because we CAN get pregnant later in life than in decades past, and just because we CAN keep those pregnancies viable, and just because we CAN keep those premature babies alive, doesn't mean we should.

Carole 3-31-2006 @ 8:41AM

THANK YOU AMY!!! Well said... and I repeat, my mother is a devout Christian who never smoked and has only tasted alcohol a few times, and that was after we'd grown up. My grandmother - a naive innocent to her death at 86 - never smoked or drank. Do you want to blame my grandmother for my father's autism and my mother for my brother's autism and for my ADD? Blame me for my son? My sister-in-law and I were very careful in our pregnancies. There's no proof that autism is genetic and passes from generation to generation, so of course we feared that it could be our fault, but we know it wasn't, in retrospect. And for Lynn - my grandfather, father and brother who fathered a boy with AS, were all in their 20s when their children were born. My husband was 35 - not a particularly "advanced" age. Why can't people accept that, at least some of the time, in some families, "special needs" children happen no matter what you do to protect them? For that matter, maybe some of us are tired of being made to feel like we were damaged at birth. Maybe we are just a variation from normal where the world revolves around a majority that doesn't include us. We have to be made to fit into a world made for everyone else, when perhaps our brains are just running on another track. It's epidemic in my family, but we were the most non-smoking, non-drinking family you'll find. None of us even tried wine with dinner until we were grown and on our own. This culture raises the most exasperating people who judge with a lack of evidence and draw conclusions from bits and pieces of conjecture, all leading to an overwhelming need to blame someone for everything. My father died with a tortured soul because he blamed himself for all our problems. Judgement, blame, guilt, shame - we have enough to cope with without all that.

Meagan 3-31-2006 @ 8:45AM

I'm a vegetarian, but I had to take daily iron supplements to keep my level even close to normal. Iron supplements bring about other issues, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/202305.html so I suppose the occasional high-iron beer couldn't hurt. I seriously doubt that she is tossing them back more than occasionally. Spinach is high in iron, but really, could you eat a daily dose of spinach? I certainly couldn't.

My friend (also 5m pregnant) just returned from a trip to Italy. She had a couple of sips of her husbands wine with dinner and more than one person felt obligated to tell her that she was "killing her baby."

I just don't see the need to be so ridiculous. My friend is one of the best moms that I know, and I'm sure Gwyneth feels the same about herself. But a pregnant mommy puffing away in a Beer Tent... that begs for comment.

Jenny 3-31-2006 @ 9:10AM

Lisa - Terry Mauro said she was RAISING a child. She didn't say she gave birth to him. I can understand her point-of-view because I also have FAS people in my family (and no one in my family gave birth to them).
Beyond that I'm not going to comment, because I'm busy living my life and not Gwyneth Paltrow's.

Anonymous 3-31-2006 @ 11:41AM

I live in Brooklyn and EVERY SINGLE mother I know (over 50 easily) had an occasional glass of wine or beer during our pregnancies. None of us had kids with PAS.

Thanks for spelling it out so well, Amy.

Marianne 4-01-2006 @ 5:18AM

Americans are obsessed with this issue. It's stupid. Ofcouse drinking while you are pregnant is not healthy, but drinking a beer, a glass of wine here and there, won't hurt you or the baby. Besides, its her baby.... just becasue she is a celebrity you people should not make feel you can judge her.... talk about more important things and leave G alone....

Alex 4-01-2006 @ 1:41PM

Let's hope that everyone here who has bollocked Gwyneth for her Guinness has not indulged in any GM foods during a pregnancy or any foods that have had any pesticide residue ... oh and I read somewhere once that eating potatoes while pregnant increased the risk of the child developing diabetes ...

Let him (or her) who is without sin ...

Helen Atha 4-02-2006 @ 7:32AM

I was having a good morning, until I started reading your comments. I'm actually sick to my stomach.
OH MY GOD GWYNETH HAD A BEER, WE SHOULD STRING HER UP.
There is to much bad going on in this world right now, and you people going on about Gwyneth having a beer. Sounds like a bunch of imature kids.

C 4-02-2006 @ 8:29AM

I am 9wks pregnant and I wouldn't take the chance and drink any beer or alcohol at any time during my pregnancy. I don't care if I sound judgemental. I think it is stupid and risky.

Even if it is a small amount of alcohol(like a half a beer) it is a 100 times magnified in the little life that is growing inside me. So while I might not be buzzed, my little fetus could be. Why f*ck up a life before it's even begun.

And if you are stressed you are stressed. Many women have given birth in highly stressful environments like warzones and the babies have come out perfectly healthy. So I'm not sure you can say that stress would hurt the baby worse than alcohol consumption.

allie leckie 4-02-2006 @ 10:09AM

Get over it!!! One beer is hardly going to cause brain damage to the fetus,multiple beers perhaps. Beer is also recommended while nursing as well to help with the milk supply. Did anyone watching her eat see her leaving the restaurant drunk?? I don't think so...
I think it is so sad that one can not go to a restaurant in America with out it being reported in the news the next morning. This is my first comment ever online, but I just had to say something..America get a LIFE>>>

Roxanne 4-02-2006 @ 10:16AM

Why is it that celebrities are immune to everything & receive prferential treatment? I have (2) babies of my own & I never even once thought of having a sip of alcohol during any of my pregnancies. I know if that was me & it happened here in my state, I'd be thrown in jail for Fetal abuse. Gwyneth, IT MUST BE NICE!

Michael 4-02-2006 @ 10:28AM

Someday if god forbid we read that Gwyneth Paltrow child is dealing with alcohol and drug related issues lets not blame money and lifestyles on the poor kid. Lets remember those innocent good for your pregnancy, feel good Guinness drinks mate.
One thing we do know for sure, the child wont be addicted to Sushi. Thank god Paltrow's "person" clarified that she only ate cooked food, not sushi. For a minute there i thought Gwyneth was being irresponsible.
I assume the other bottles of Irish Stout Guiness was for Paltrow's husband Chris Martin. Dont tell me, he's saving those for the baby's first bottle. Must be 1 doctor out there that recommends this as well.

rick 4-02-2006 @ 10:42AM

Are Americans really that bored, that they can spend thier time worrying what Gwyneth Paltrow drank at a bar. You losers should should look in the mirror and worry about yourselfs. The price of gas is at a all time high, Jobs are being outsourced to foriegn countries, your President started a war that could cause world war three (for nothing), Middle class America is losing on all fronts. And all you losers can worry about is some movie star had a guiness at a suisi bar. Does anyone know if Brad and Jen have gotten back together? I stayed up all night worrying about it. Please write about important issues, not meaningless crap!

Xenia 4-02-2006 @ 10:43AM

I agree with Lauren...i recently had a baby girl and i was a pretty avid drinker before i found out i was pregnant..i didnt drink anything for my entire pregnancy. I believed that if there was even a slight chance in harming my baby in any way, to abstain from it, i didnt want to take ANY chances with my baby. That has absolutely nothing to do with culture...only with brains...i personally dont care which doctor is correct...if there is a slight chance...im not taking it...My pregnancy was stressed..prob more so than others...considering my husband was on his way to iraq, and i was also in the military...although i wished and craved alcohol...it wasnt imperative that i had a drink...i slept, read, breathed....there are plenty of things out there that are def more relaxing than a tall glass of guiness.

Yeehauser 4-02-2006 @ 11:26AM

I had two very big babies (both over 9 lbs and 22 inches) and was EXTREMELY uncomfortable during the last month of each pregnancy. My Dr. did ok an occasional glass of beer or wine during the last month because I was not sleeping at all. From what I've read Gwyneth is due in 5 weeks which makes her well over 5 months pregnant, she is usually extremely healthy, so I doubt she would intentionally do anything to harm her baby and also, Apple was a large baby (close to 10 lbs.) so she might be experiencing some pain. Finally, the one thing I've learned from being a mom is that we all do things our own way and we should support each other, not judge each other. Life's too short and sometimes a bit stressful for us to be worrying about someone else's actions. I'm not condoning her actions, but come on everyone give her a break!