There is so much conflicting advice out there.
On one hand they say 1-2 drinks a few times a week is ok as long as your baby is over 1 month but then say it is better not to drink (but that goes for everyone anyway)
I enjoy a red wine or 2 max a few times a week. I feed then once the kids are in bed i'll have a wine. Is this ok? Did you drink while bf? sometimes bub wakes a couple of hours after i've had one but she seems fine. She is meeting developmental milestones and i don't get drunk.
thanks for that. i have seen that factsheet but i guess i just don't know many people who admit to drinking while bf. i never drank once while pg but as you said they are totally different.
Alcohol during pregnancy verses alcohol during breastfeeding – I think of it like this.
We all know that alcohol passes freely though the placenta, so essentially your baby drinks what you drink. If you drink a glass of wine, your baby drinks a glass of wine, if your blood alcohol is 0.02 then so is your baby’s. (And I will freely admit that I did have the odd glass of wine during all of my pregnancies fully aware of the facts and risks).
When you drink while breastfeeding the alcohol goes into your breastmilk just as it goes into your blood. Your baby then drinks your breastmilk.
A pregnant woman drinking a glass of wine is like the baby drinking a drink that is 13% alcohol.
A breastfeeding woman drinking a glass of wine is like the baby drinking a drink that is 0.02% alcohol, if that! Completely different.
Doesn't every woman need a pint of guinness a night whilst breastfeeding? I was told that by my mother and she kept buying me stout. (I like my alcohol so am not going to complain.)
I think that on average, 1 standard drink will be gone from your blood system after about 2 hours (for women). If you feed then drink, then give it a couple of hours per standard drink before feeding then she shouldn't be getting any alcohol at all. Bear in mind also that the % of alcohol in your milk is the same as in your blood. So, for example, I *think* that 1 standard drink takes the average woman to 0.02.
** standard drinks are often smaller than what we pour ourselves and we all metabolise alcohol differently.
A lot of alcohol is not good, obviously. It can affect milk supply as it dehydrates you.
I have an ocasional small glass of wine in the evening. DD's sleep is unpredictable so I daren't have any more than that. I figure it's about half a standard drink, so I have 1 hour
i don't drink often (i reckon there would be less than 5 times i have had any alcohol since DD was born), but i just haven't felt like it since she was born. if her sleep was more consistent, and i knew i had a couple hours to myself, i might be more inclined to have one.
I'd also like to say thanks for this thread. I wasn't aware of a lot of the info and believed many of the myths. I've been craving a glass of red and beer so it's nice to know I can actually have a drink or two on occasion
Goodness, it's been so long since my last drink but I can still remember it all Twas June 12th last year, I'd just started AF and was feeling incredibly sorry for myself. I went on chat and got a little tipsy
Completely off topic I know, but there we go. Now I know that when I go out at the end of October without Amelia I'm allowed a drink or two at the beginning of my night.
Alcohol and Breastfeeding
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