BF and alcohol

[kindersurprise]

My Sil-to-be is pregnant with her second child and was wondering today about alcohol when breastfeeding. She did not bf her DS but is keen to bf this one.

I presume that drinking while breastfeeding is not recommended but did not bf so am not sure.

What is the advice on drinking while breastfeeding? Is it ok to have an occasional glass of wine with a meal, or should she avoid alcohol completely?

Thanks

[StealthPolarBear]

it's fine
I drink as much as I want, bearing in mind that's not loads as I have a baby to deal with!
Although saying that I didn't drink more than say a glass of wine at a time until he was a few months old.
There are a few recent threads on this, advice tends to be that it's OK unless you go absolutely overboard

[StealthPolarBear]

bump, as I'm a bit worried I'm the only one who's replied!!

[StealthPolarBear]

If your SIL is worried she should talk to her HV or midwife. I don't like this - I like my advice backed up by lots of other people, preferably tiktok, hunker and moondog!

[VictorianSqualor]

You can drink hang on and I'll find you the pump and dump thread of recent.

[VictorianSqualor]

Here we go. the most in depth (though long) thread on alcohol and breastmilk

[kindersurprise]

Thanks SPB. I will tell her to ask her MW or HV, but from what I have read, they often have very conflicting views so I told her that I would ask the wise women of MN

My MW was absolutely no use when it came to breastfeeding advice, I gave up after only 5 weeks

[kindersurprise]

Oh, that is great, VS. Had a quick scan and it looks very interesting. I will go and have a proper read now.

[VictorianSqualor]

Tiktok knows the most about it, and one of her posts that stuck in my mind on that rather long thread was that it takes around 20(?) units of alcohol in your system to effect baby, so unless you've literally just crawled in after a mahoosive night on the tiles, there is no need to abstain from it.

It also goes out of milk at the same sort of rate as blood, so approx a unit and hour, so even if you had three glasses of wine before bed, if baby slept for 5 hours, the alcohol would likely have already gone from your milk completely.

[BurpyErnie]

I read somewhere (probably the Guardian) that drinking whist pregenat is nowhere near as bad as drinking whist breastfeeding. Apparenly the plasenta filters alot of toxins out whilst er your boobs can't. I only read this after happily chucking back the wine (not every day mind you) and breast feeding for 18 months. Didn't do my dd any harm BUT if you express after drinking red wine your milk is green

[dal21]

from my understanding (and the link to the recent thread will back this up) - if abstaining from alcohol would result in your SIL not bfeeding, then she is far better to have a few drinks and breastfeed then not to breastfeed. As other posters have said though - it takes a while to process alcohol out your system so your sil needs to bear that in mind.

ultimately she needs to do what works for her. I avoided alcohol completely whilst DS was teeny tiny (seems like such a long time ago, he is 4 months now) and now really only have the occasional drink after his 7pm feed. But to me it isnt a big deal and if I really feel like a drink, then i have one.

[kindersurprise]

Thanks everyone. I will pass on these comments to her, they are very helpful.

[tiktok]

BurpieErnie - you are wrong . Alcohol in pregnancy is not filtered by the placenta....and the fetus is affected more than a breastfed, out-of-the-uterus baby It's not 'toxins' that affect the baby, but the ethanol itself, anyway.

VictorianSqualor - I never mentioned '20 units'. It would not make sense. It would totally depend on how quickly you drank those 20 units.

My post on the thread you linked to is the one with the most facts in it!!

[RGPargy]

I'm glad i came across this thread. That's cleared things up for me and put my mind at rest.

[VictorianSqualor]

Sorry tiktok, not units, you mentioned milligrams I think, and it worked out at about 20 units of alcohol, obviously drinking 20 units of alcohol over a longer period of time would result in less milligrams of alcohol in the bloodstream, therefore less in the breastmilk.