Alcohol and male fertility

Ugh I've been reading up on it. My DH is a HUGE beer drinker. HUGE. That's his weekend...loads up on beer. Rarely drinks during the week, though. And they say alcohol reduces testosterone levels and sperm count...and raises levels of abnormal sperm.

I'm starting to get very nervous that it's going to be difficult for us. He's been drinking like this for a looong time.

And what scares me the most is...I think he's even more anxious to have a kid than I am. It's all he can think about right now- things are really rough in his family right now, and this is the one bright light he can look forward to. Last thing I want to bring up is that he could make it more difficult for us. I did mention it this weekend but I'm not sure he took it seriously. I'm not about to send him articles on it. He just doesn't need this right now. And the last thing I want is him to be heartbroken that we can't get pregnant for a while.

Anyone else's DH a big 'weekend' drinker? I'm sure I can get him to lay off of it while we're trying to conceive, but I guess I'm worried we may not be able to 'reverse' what's already been done. I'd love to hear your thoughts. TIA

Message edited 7/14/2008 9:09:13 AM.

Re: Alcohol and male fertility

My dh is a big beer drinker too. Even has some during the week after work. When I was ttc I worried about this too. I thought about asking him to cut back or stop but I really don't think he would. I do have friends who have made their husbands stop and it didn't make a difference. I think that it would be a last resort for me, depending on how long I was trying. I did get pregnant though without having to ask him to stop. Good Luck!

Re: Alcohol and male fertility

My husband drinks and recently had a sperm analysis done. All counts were fine.

Re: Alcohol and male fertility

tara my DH was a HUGE weekend drinker - we both were! he owned a bar for three years actually - and worked there for two years prior! we had no problems getting pregnant at all. i wouldn't worry about it at all

Re: Alcohol and male fertility

Tara -

Dave had a VERY severe alcohol problem when we first met - FM me if you would like some info...

He now only drinks socially, and occasionally at home on the weekends. I got him an engagement present of the 'microbrew of the month' club thingy (every OTHER month) and i'm proud to say that if we don't have people over, the beer sits there for months on end.

I did explain to him that it would mean a lot to me if while I was ovulating, he wouldn't....and he agreed. It does 'slow the boys down'....according to what i've read...

Re: Alcohol and male fertility

Not so much beer, but DH has a gin and tonic every night before bed.

Re: Alcohol and male fertility

My Dh likes to drink. We have aFULL BAR in our house...like 200+ bottles of liquor....its sortta his hobby.

DH actually did a lot of research on his own when we decided to TTC and based on all of the information he gathered, which he shared with me, he decided to abstain from drinking alcohol at all 1 month before we started trying ( to clear out his sysytem) until we got a BFP which luckily was our first month.

There isn't enough research done on the effects of alcohol and male fertility. We both felt why take a risk. I stopped drinking alcohol and caffeine months before we started trying.

Sure people get pregnant after nights of crazy drinking but that wasn't a risk we wanted to take. But it was our choice!

Maybe it did play into why we got pregnant our first month trying, that and everythign else we were doing to increase our chance of fertility.

To DH it made him feel like he had a more active role in the health and well being of our child than just a "sperm donor"

JMO

Re: Alcohol and male fertility

thank you all sooo much for shedding some light on this!

Re: Alcohol and male fertility

Tara, James drinks on the weekends all the time, he drinks beer and rum and cokes and he didnt have a problem with his sperm count. i hope that helps