breast feeding and alcohol?

[MyL&S]

Im a bit confused , please help :confused:

I have heard that you can have the occasional drink while breast feeding, and other people say that you should not.. i need some advice and i know this is proberly the best place to get information from!

I would love to have a glass of wine maybe once or twice a week after my girl has gone to sleep,she usaully sleeps from 6 pm till 12 or 1am if i had a drink after she has gone down when i feed her next would this affect her cause if it did i wouldn't have a drink at all

Any advice please

[JanetF]

I have an occasional glass of wine and have done almost since he was born. Maybe once every month or a little less. If you drink it can lower your supply so it's wise to drink very little. She's not going to be consuming pure alcohol as your body absorbs a lot of it. You may find her wee changes colour or smell. I'd have glass and see what effect it has on her over a 36 hour period as any problems would show up in that time and make it an easy decision for you ;)
Good luck!

[draught]

I think the rule is that the alcohol level in your blood is the alcohol level in your breast milk. Working on that rule, after I have given my daughter her "last" drink for the evening, I then have a glass of wine. Now that she is older she doesn't have her next feed until about 5am so I am well and truly safe, but when she was younger I worked on the theory that 3 hours after a small glass of wine was enough for the alcohol to have metabolised and left my system - I figured that if I would blow "0" on a breathylser then she was safe! If you do miscalculate and there is still some alcohol in your system, the baby is getting the dliute alcohol, not the strength that you have drunk. Obviously it is preferable that they get none, but that is worst case scenario stuff.

Some people may not agree with this rough guide but it has worked for me and I have not seen any adverse side effects with my daughters.

JanetF - I am interested that you say that alcohol can lower your supply - I was told by a midwife that one drink a night can in fact increase your supply! I have never had any supply issues (other than over-supply) so have never tried it, but am still interested in the different opinions.

[jonesso]

Hey Aliciamaree

One of the midwives showed me how to nurse bub in one arm while breastfeeding so that I could hold a glass of wine in my free hand!! Funny! I took that to mean that it was OK to have a drink!

Theresa's theory is similar to what I have heard, which is that it's OK to drink while bub is feeding or just after as it gives time for it to clear from your system. The other thing is that if you do have a few (or several) drinks and your bloody alcohol level gets high, the milk won't let down - it basically stops the alcohol from passing through to bub if it is an unsafe amount. Clever bodies we have! Janetf, is that what you mean by reduced supply? I guess if you got ****ed every night, then your milk would not let down at night, thus your body would produce less.

I have a glass of wine every second night or so and bub seems fine. I guess it depends what you are comfortable with personally. I haven't tested the "no letdown" theory though, and wouldn't want to. Besides, I'm such a lightweight now that two glasses of wine and I'm gone!!! At least us new mums make cheap dates!

:) Sonia

[JanetF]

I think it depends what you drink and how much to affect supply one way or the other LOL. So if you drink Guinness, which contains galactagogues (things which increase supply) it will go up. But if you drink a lot of other stuff, it can go down and in the time it's in your system you just won't produce as much. I must locate where I read that stuff!

[MyL&S]

thankyou for the help.. reading your advice makes the decision easier to have the occasional drink thankyou I might have a glass tomorrow

Since i have had a drink in over a year does anyone have any suggestions and a nice bottle of wine? :D

[jembelina]

The other thing is that if you do have a few (or several) drinks and your bloody alcohol level gets high, the milk won't let down - it basically stops the alcohol from passing through to bub if it is an unsafe amount. Clever bodies we have!

Wow... that is clever! Very glad for this thread, I have been wondering the same thing myself, specially since bub now goes most night without a feed b/w 6pm-5am. Looking forward to having the occasional beer. I'll probably pass out after half a glass - havn't had a drink in 15 months!

[draught]

Aren't our bodies amazing things!
JanetF - the Guinness increasing supply rings a bell - the midwife may have said a guiness or stout a night increases supply and I may have interpreted that to mean a beer, a glass of wine, a G&T, a champagne etc........as you do! As I said - not an issue for me atm but if you do find the article that you read it in I would be interested to know what makes supply increase and what makes it decrease (in the alcohol family anyway!!)

And I am with you ladies - I used to be able to function quite well after the best part of a bottle of wine - now one glass every few days does me! I don't get social, I don't get amorous - I get sleepy!

[Mumof2+1]

My child health nurse also told me that the alcohol level in your blood is the same as in the milk. But you do let down milk even if you have been drinking. I went out to a wedding without my bub and when I got home and heard her crying I got soaked. So don't think that if your milk comes down, that it's got no alcohol in it and it's safe to feed. It might not be. My child health nurse put it this way. If your alright to drive, then your alright to breastfeed.

Trish
Taylah 8yrs
Jacob 6yrs
Ellah 17weeks

[xkwzit]

How's this, DD1 was actually breast fed while I was wine tasting. I think that as long as your drinking only moderately and occasionally, the odd glass of wine and breast feeding shouldn't be a problem. I've never noticed any affect on either of my girls.

Cheers

[Maggiesmum]

I was just about to post this thread!! So glad we all think the same! :D I have been going by the therory of, Mumof2+1 - if your ok to drive then your ok to BF. I have had the occasional wine and last Saturday I even went out! First time in 12 months - I felt like I was 17 in the Pub under-age it was so exciting! However I was home by 11pm as I was sooo tired, :p think it was more like 4 or 5am when I was 17! :D

[kimmy]

i have a drink every now & then i dont think thers anything wrong with it ive heard that its good for you. :)

[JessandKirra]

I went to see a lady called Robyn Noble. Supposedly she teaches all the midwives how to be midwives. When I asked her if I could have 3 bourbons without guilt. She said yes.

Problem Solved.

oh.. she was also fantasticly knowledable in other areas.....


Every friday I would enjoy the end of my week, with my partner and have a few drinks.