Expressing milk/drinking alcohol

[LuckyOwl28]

Although I don't plan to hit the bottle as soon as baby's out, my husband asked when I'll be able to drink and I'm a little unclear on the whole subject.

I know I can have the odd one glass without too much to worry about, but we'll be attending a wedding reception when the baby's around 2 months old, so...

If I am planning an evening which involves drinking say 3-4 glasses of wine, I would intend to express in advance to feed the baby until the alcohol is out of my system.

I know it can differ from one woman to the next, but generally if I manage to express enough will I keep leaking throughout the night?

I was told the more I express the more will keep on coming. I have visions of turning up at the wedding with a milk stained dress.

I expected the odd leak but does it actually just keep on producing after you've expressed?

Sooo confused!

[ThreeWheelsGood]

Have a read about it on La Leche League's website. One or two glasses really isn't a problem. Will the baby be with you at the wedding? You won't both be drinking a lot as you'll need to be sober enough to look after baby! By 2 months you shouldn't still be leaking lots, and you can keep changing your bra nursing pads if you're worried.

[LuckyOwl28]

No the baby will be with Nanny and Grandad. Will be the first time he/she will be left with anyone so doubt I'll be out late anyway.

Thanks for that will check that website out! x

[rubyslippers]

surely you will have your baby with you if you are breastfeeding?

a 2 month old will probably need to be fed every 2 - 3 hours IME

anyway, you will need to pump quite a lot at this stage 3/4 hours i would have thought

i would honestly think about bringing your baby with you

and as a PP said you will be knackered and only a few weeks post birth, so not up for a bender i would have thought!

[ThreeWheelsGood]

I can't work out what you're asking actually..., if it's just about leaking then don't worry, your supply will have settled down by then, you can wear breast pads to absorb minor leaks. If you're out for hours you'll need to express for your own comfort, but personally I'd just have the baby nearby and pop back to feed.

[blushingmare]

At that stage your baby will probably be feeding about every 2 hours, so your boobs will be used to being used every 2 hours and if they are not then you will get quite full and uncomfortable and yes probably leak. You can wear breast pads, but I'd take your pump with you to pump for comfort if you need to. It doesn't matter that you will have expressed beforehand - that is only the equivalent of one feed iyswim, so after two hours your boobs will expect to be in use again.

Tbh at 2 months I was still too knackered and dazed & confused + worried about leaving my pfb to have a big night out, but I'm a big wuss

[Poppet45]

Hmmm I think this is sounding a bit too optimistic for a 2-month old. Many like to clusterfeed (ie feed on and off for hours) of an evening and may want to be feeding from 7pm til 11ish (so most of your evening). Others have colic and again really need you of an evening. If you're hoping to bf its unlikely you'll be able to leave the LO this young... and tbh you're probably not going to want 3-4 glasses of wine. Life is going to be v different for a fair while.

[StarsAboveYou]

I went for my first proper night out when DS was 6 weeks old.

I fed him just before I went out then pumped when I got home. It was fine and although my breasts were full afterwards they were not uncomfortable. I made sure I had enough milk to do the nighttime feeds too. I changed my breast pads regularly in case of any leaks but had no problems.

I would probably take your pump with you in see you need it. I went to a wedding when DS was 4 months and used a hotel room to pump a couple of times throughout the day.

Do whatever feels right at the time and have fun!

[blushingmare]

Goodness Poppet I'd totally forgotten about the cluster feeding - it was only a few months ago - how could I forget?!! OP, yes that's totally true - for the first few weeks I was sitting on the sofa feeding nonstop from 5 til 11pm ish. Mind you, at 9 weeks we managed to get into a decent bedtime routine and she was in bed asleep from 7pm, but it would take 2 hours of feeding and settling to get her there and if she woke up the only way she would settle back to sleep was with feeding, so don't know how that would work with having a night out. Tbh it's only now at 7 months that I can confidently leave her for the evening and know that someone else would be able to settle her down if she wakes up. But I never expressed or used formula, so it would probably have been sooner if I had. And all babies are different - hopefully you'll end up with a brilliant sleeper, but I'd just say from experience don't make too many plans because once your LO is here you'll realise that they just aren't possible.

I've made it sound awful - it's not, it's lovely, but just means adjusting your expectations a bit for a short time

Congratulations and good luck!

[LuckyOwl28]

Thanks for all your comments! Like I said I am just so clueless on the whole issue. We are attending antenatal classes from next month and one covers breastfeeding so plan to ask lots of questions then too!

I think in my nieve, uninformed mind the plan was to breastfeed initially, then start to express once the baby was 'established on the breast'. This was at the suggestion of my midwife, as I said I liked the idea of expressing so that hubby could get involved with feeds. I'm aware the period of time this 'establishing' will take is anyone's guess until baby's here!

But I suppose with this wedding in June I was hoping to have started expressing by this point, so was planning to express enough in advance for the baby to be fed while i'm out. The wedding is fairly local but not really close enough for me to nip home and back again to feed. Someone today suggested I start saving an extra bottle's worth a day leading up to that weekend that I can keep chilled/frozen until they're needed rather than do one epic expressing marathon in one go.

3-4 glasses was just an estimate. I haven't touched a single drop since getting pregnant so 2 may be plenty!

Thanks again

[MrsHoarder]

Epic expressing marathon wouldn't work. Expressing is generally less effective than baby.

No need to pump and dump, breast milk looses its alcohol back into the blood as you sober up. And yrs to frequent pumping and pads being necessary if you are away from baby.

Being honest though I think you'll struggle to go for any length of time at 2 months. And expressing is a faff, I was going to do it so dh could help with feeds but in the evening/at might all ds wants is boob. Its a lot of effort for little reward until you're looking at going back to work.

[GrandPoohBah]

Um. My dd is breastfed all day and night, bar one bottle of formula she gets before bed to settle her as the cluster feeding she was doing in the evening wasn't doing it for her.

She's 10 weeks old and I've been out on a few occasions. My suggestion would be to either give expressed milk in a bottle or formula if your baby will take it. You will want to express for your own comfort whilst out, but if you're happy with the baby being with its grandparents then there shouldn't be an issue provided they're happy with a bottle and whatever you're planning on feeding them.

Don't underestimate how twitchy you'll get while they're not around though - I was having a great time on Saturday night (I was out for BIL and SIL's birthday) and it still got too much after about 7 hours.

[BrainGoneAwol]

Definitely practice giving the baby bottles from relatively early on as s/he may or may not take them. My ds simply refuses and screams if presented with one so I'd suggest having a back up plan in mind.

Have plenty of breast pads with you just in case. I still leak ridiculously (through a pad and three layers last week!) at 23 weeks. Taking your pump is a good plan.

Also be realistic and gentle with your expectations of yourself. If you can go, that's great, but be aware you may not be able to or may not even feel up to it. While it's annoying when people aren't be clear about attending (drove me crazy when we were trying to plan tables etc at our wedding), maybe warn them that you might not be able to go so you don't feel under pressure. There are so many unknowns that you simply can't be certain about anything at this stage.

Good luck wth everything