Can I drink alcohol if bf

[kbaby]

Hello,
Im due on Sunday and hoping to breastfeed, however, I was wondering if I am allowed to drink alcohol. I can only find info about not drinking during pregnancy. I know that I certaintly couldnt go out drinking all night but wondered if there was a safe limit.
Thanks

[hercules]

Yes you can. There is loads on previous threads. I think it's okay as long as you dont get really drunk. No need to express after drinkling.

[Coj]

In moderation (that word again!) I think less gets through to the baby but you still need to limit it to a couple of units. Watch out though because it goes straight to your head. Good luck

[jane313]

The breastfeeding expert at the hospital I went to said you could have a small glass a day. I took this as every day!! (and a few times I had a couple.) She also said if you wanted loads of spirits to just express and throw it away for 12 hours after your last glass. I did that a couple of times, Xmas day, New years, first time out in the eveing etc. She had a website but its not working at the moment

www.auntyvicky.com/

[jane313]

a small glass of wine I meant, I took that to mean one lager too.

[tiktok]

I cannot believe a breastfeeding expert told you that, jane....what a ridiculously bossy bit of advice!

There is a ton of stuff on here which gives chapter and verse on bf and alcohol (prob in archived threads by now - do a search, anyway). You have to be very pissed indeed for it to show up in your baby's behaviour.

Alcohol is processed by your body at the rate of about one and a half hours per unit of alcohol. So to be alcohol free, you just need to wait until your body has processed it - do the maths, and 12 hours is excessive (unless you drank nine units in one massive glug - and that would probably make you very ill indeed). Once you are unaffected by the alcohol, it is not in your system and not in your milk.

Oh...of course you are 'allowed' to drink alcohol kbaby - it's your body and your baby

Have a lovely birth and enjoy celebrating it

[Ghosty]

I have had a glass of wine every night since the day DD was born ... sometimes two
In the Maternity Unit where we stayed I was given a menu and asked if I wanted a glass of wine with dinner ..... heaven ....
I couldn't drink more than that if I tried ... would fall over ...

[Piffleoffagus]

I drunk to moderation, one or two small wines or beer when wanted... bit early to tell but both kids seem ok

[toddlerbob]

Yes you can, and a glass of wine with the before bed feed makes it very pleasant indeed. I think if more people understood it was okay then they would carry on for longer.

[Spod]

i'm about to sit down to a couple of glasses just now..... i didnt drink in the early days of b'feeding - actually till she was around 5 months,., but mainly becuase i was worried i wouldnt be alert enough and we were co-sleeping... didnt want to roll on her... i drink now as shes in her won cot till the wee hours....

[aloha]

Of course! Drink what you like. Have fun!

[highlander]

A rather nice bottle of champers is on my hospital kit list

Dh is convinced I won't be in the mood for it!

[Easy]

My father died just after ds was born, and we had the funeral when ds was 17 days old.
I had a couple of Gin and tonics, and wine at the funeral (my sister insisted on serving champagne, to turn the funeral into a celebration for my father's life and the birth of his grandson).

Anyway, I wasn't drunk, but slightly mellowed. Breastfed ds at teatime, and he went to sleep by about 6:30. he slept thru till nearly morning (wish I'd realised, I stayed awake expecting him to need a feed at around 11 p.m.)

He's now 4 and a half, very bright, very active. BTW I always had a gass of wine with dinner, every evening.

[Tommy]

yep - lots of wine in the breast milk here too! I'm going to a beer festival in a couple of weeks time as well - hoping DS2 will sleep like a log after that one

[jane313]

tiktok, I think the first time I went out I probably did drink 9 units very quickly; it was cocktail happy hour then red wine! I remember shocking my ante-natal group when I said I was drinking every day though. I think they thought my son was only so contented cos he was half cut all the time. I even shocked the ones who had been to the same breastfeeding talk.


By the way that expert is pretty high up in the field, advising NHS, government inititiatives etc. She was actually very entertaining ante-natally. But in the hospital she was no where to be seen when I had problems!

[Rhubarb]

I usually have around a bottle of wine on Fri and Sat nights. I last feed him at 6.30pm and I don't have to feed him again until 7.00am, so I reckon that the alcohol he will get, if any, will be minimal. I also drink lots of water just before I go to bed too - not because of him, it wards off a hangover! He seems bright enough, he is doing everything a baby his age should go, and weight wise he's over a bloody stone already! At 5 months! So don't worry, you can always give a bottle if you are really fretting.

[kbaby]

Thanks everyone.

I can look forward to a few drinks and not feel guilty then.

[hercules]

Does it help them sleep better? DD went to sleep on her own very happliy the other night after a nice glass of wine and slept solidly lastnight after another glass?

[motherinferior]

Oooh, can I just fuel the general anti-HV sentiments round here by saying that (on one of my incredibly infrequent visits to the baby clinic, ages ago now) I heard a HV sententiously lecturing a woman on how she couldn't possibly drink any booze, of course, because it went straight into the milk.