FROM BOOZE TO BOOKS

Giving up alcohol was the best thing Leeanne Slade, 38, could have done

- ELAINE HAYWARD

As I opened a bottle of wine, I felt a wave of relief at my first sip. It had been yet another long day in December 2017 looking after my newborn son, who was now asleep, and I felt ready for a drink. In actual fact, it was the thought of my evening glass of white wine that got me through each day.

I'd started drinking like most typical 18-year-olds did in the mid-2000s and as I got older, my drinking shifted from nightclubs to client dinners in my job in sales and marketing.

I was purely a social drinker but everything changed in 2017 when I had my first child. Social media was full of memes about 'mummy's gin time' and 'wine o'clock' which normalised having a deserved glass of wine or two after a long day of nappies, feeding and washing.

INNER STRUGGLE

After putting my son to bed, I'd close his story book and head downstairs to pour myself a glass of wine. It felt like my reward and my 'me time'.