what do you think about drinking while you are breastfeeding?

[CinderToriella]

Hi All

Just wondering what your views are on drinking Alcohol for the period you choose to breast feed for ?

[Pip82]

I think it is okas long as you are sensible about it. If you are looking for information the ABA has produced a brochure recently with a lot of information and also has a table to work out how long it takes to eliminate alcohol from your breastmilk. It is on their website. Pumping and dumping does not eliminate alcohol from your breastmilk btw, time is the only thing that works, howeveryou might still have to pump and dump to avoid mastitis and maintain supply.

Pip

eta I don't think that a woman should drink in the newborn phase though as the feeding pattern is variable and bf is still being established, for the first 6 weeks or so.

[alioops]

The percentage of alcohol in your blood is the same as the percentage in your milk. For milk to be defined as an alcoholic beverage you would have to be dead. The biggest issue is being coherent enough to care for your baby.

Orange juice has an alcohol content of 0.1% and is considered a non alcoholic beverage. A non alcoholic beverage is anything up to 0.5%. So for breast milk to be alcoholic your BAC would have to be 0.5, which is 10 times the legal limit for driving and is also lethal.

So have a few drinks, and make sure you are coherent and you should not have any problems. Go, Drink and be merry.

[~clover~]

I've done it. I preferred to wait til DS was asleep, or while he was with someone else, but I've had a few with him around too. I just do prefer not to feed if it can be helped. Or only have very few over time. I did the pump & dump when DS was younger, but the alcohol doesn't leave your BM til its left your blood stream, which could be 24 hours later anyway.
I think its your choice

[MantaRay]

Shell, new guidelines on drinking and bfing were released late last year. The basis of the guidelines is that abstaining from alcohol is always the "best" option, but that drinking in moderation and continuing to bf your baby is safer for your baby than formula. As someone else raised, the issue of being able to care for you baby safely when you drink is really a bigger issue.

[Floweryfields]

Not judging anyone - just a question if anyone can answer - if what you say about the amount of alcohol in the blood and the milk being the same and therefore not dangerous unless you are pretty well dead -
Why then is it considered dangerous to drink before baby is born - if the amount in the blood then would be the same as the amount in the milk after?
Seems a bit odd to me that it would be considered okay after birth.

[Tinks]

That makes total sense ausgirl! I wonder.

[MantaRay]

Ausgirl, drinking while pg is a very different situation. The alcohol gets to the baby through the placenta and has been definitely shown to be harmful to a developing foetus. Alcohol gets into breastmilk by a different mechanism and the amount of alcohol that gets in there is less than what goes through the placenta. Also, I'm sure it makes a difference that a baby is not still a developing foetus.

[alioops]

In pregnancy baby is getting your blood too, so baby's BAC would be the same as yours. Drinking that percentage is nowhere near as strong as it being transfused straight into the blood stream.

[sloane]

when DS was sleeping for 4-6 hours for his first sleep of the night, i had a couple of glasses of wine. now that he's back to 2 hourly wake ups & he wants to be fed back to sleep, i'm not drinking alcohol. i've never had more than 2 glasses of wine/champers though because of the risk mentioned above of being in a good state to care for your baby. not to mention that they have no idea if you have a hangover & won't sleep in to let you sleep it off!

[Frangipani]

I don't have a problem with drinking while breastfeeding. I did it with my 1st son and will do it again this baby. Though I'll only have 1 or 2 and there not strong drinks either (like a westcoast coolers or shandy's have been favourites for the last few years). I also try do it immediately after a feed when I know I don't have to feed again for a few hours (like with my 1st son he slept through from 9weeks so I usually do it after his last night feed cause I knew that would be it til 7am).

My mum's paediatrician with me recommended it (I know this was over 29years ago and alot has changed since then) but he said to her to have one when the DH gets home, sit and relax with him, and talk and relax with it. And I think I've turned ok.

Also I had a friend recently who was actually given a glass of wine with her dinner in hospital when she had her baby. So it must not be that bad.

I would just say drink in moderation, maybe just enough to relax and enjoy it. Obviously not to be incoherent.

[HotI]

this is how i understand it-

When you are pregnant, bub shares your blood and so if your blood alcohol is 0.05, then bub's is too. 1) they are going through massive development and this level of alcohol in a little person has greater impact than a grown adult. 2) certain periods of time are when greater development is occuring, or greater development that may be affected by alcohol consumption, and these vary somewhat betweeen babies- so it's hard to predict on which day a drink will have an effect and when there will be no effect to the bub.

When you are breastfeeding, and your blood alcohol is 0.05, then your milk would be 0.05, and so bub is having a drink that contains 0.05% of alcohol. This amount of alcohol is then filtered through all of the blood volume of the baby which means the babies blood alcohol level is much lower than 0.05.

[MrsFabuloso]

I have one or two when DS is sleeping his longest sleep of the night. I will only have a few in case something were to happen and I had to drive somewhere.

I had a thought, with the drinking during pg too, besides the fact feotus' are still developing in the womb and can develop abnormalities as a result of alcohol poisoning, bubs organs (liver and kidneys in particular) aren't developed when they are in the womb, so I would think their bodies just can't cope with the influx of alcohol. Maybe when they are born, they are well developed enough for their bodies to cope with a little bit of toxins to filter through their bodies??

[Junglemum]

What Kate said. :yeahthat:

So if you had, for example, an alcoholic drink that was say 400ml at 7.0 alcohol your BAL might be 0.05. If your baby then had 400ml of breastmilk with the alcohol content at 0.05 their BAL would be around 0.00035. They are obviosly very rough figures but gives an idea.

A baby would probably get more alcohol from rescue remedy.

Sure no alcohol is best, but i do have a glass now and then.

[briggsy's girl]

i decided when DD was a couple of months old, that denying myself alcohol altogether wasn't smart - as with everything, if you can't have it at all, you crave it and then when you DO have it, you tend to binge (well, a lot of the time you do!). anyway, i decided i'd have a drink after DD went to bed one night (her first sleep for the night was about 5 hours at the time) - and after one, i just thought yup, i've had it, don't want any more now! and that's how it's been ever since. if i feel like a drink, i have it. i've not had a day where i've wanted more than one yet! i will have a sip of DH's beer at anytime without worrying about it getting to DD - some days i'll have an beer myself - but i work on the theory that if i want it, i have it, then i don't crave it. craving it makes it into something more than it really is, and it's more the "forbidden fruit" thing that makes you drink lots

funny thing is - knowing that i can allow myself to have a drink without worrying about it, i don't seem to want it! was going to have a drink after DD went to bed last night - and once she went down i thought about it and decided i'd have water instead! lol

[NaeNae]

I have a very very weak black russian every other night while feeding DD with DH and while I am hanging out for a red wine I reckon after not drinking for over 12 months a sniff would be enough to send me flying .

I read on the aba flyer it takes 30-60 min for the alcohol to reach your bm so if you timed it well you could have a drink and there would be non in your bm for bub itms.

Nae x

[alioops]

this is how i understand it-

When you are pregnant, bub shares your blood and so if your blood alcohol is 0.05, then bub's is too. 1) they are going through massive development and this level of alcohol in a little person has greater impact than a grown adult. 2) certain periods of time are when greater development is occuring, or greater development that may be affected by alcohol consumption, and these vary somewhat betweeen babies- so it's hard to predict on which day a drink will have an effect and when there will be no effect to the bub.

When you are breastfeeding, and your blood alcohol is 0.05, then your milk would be 0.05, and so bub is having a drink that contains 0.05% of alcohol. This amount of alcohol is then filtered through all of the blood volume of the baby which means the babies blood alcohol level is much lower than 0.05.

Precisely, exactly what I was trying to say.

[Jas]

I am bf'ing and I have an occasional drink. I just follow the aba guidelines.

I never touched a drop until ds's feeds were very consistent and I knew that I knew that it was ok to have one, I always have at least 1 feed of ebm in the freezer too so if something completely out of the ordinary happened and ds wanted a feed there would be one for him.

One huge huge thing I think is to remember it is about standard drinks, not 1 glass, so I would work it out and get out the measuring cup etc when ds's feeds were closer together so I knew I would be ok. Now if I have a wine at night, ds goes about 13hrs between feeds so if I'm drinking something I know out of a cup I have used before I will just pour from memory, knowing I will only have 1 or 2 and have a lot of time for it to leave my system.