bf'ing and booze...it's that season

[islawhitechristmas]

ho ho ho merry mumsnetters,

sorry if this has been a topic before, but with the christmas party season looming, am wondering just how much i can drink when breastfeeding and expressing.

and how long i'd have to wait between having a couple of glasses of wine and then being able to bf ds again.

am out for one night and hoping to be able to feed him again mid morning, with a couple of bottles of EBM in between.

ds is just 3 months old if that makes any difference.

thanks all

[TheBlonde]

you don't need to wait

from kellymom "Less than 2% of the alcohol consumed by the mother reaches her blood and milk. Alcohol does not accumulate in breastmilk, but leaves the milk as it leaves the blood; so when your blood alcohol levels are back down, so are your milk alcohol levels."

[islawhitechristmas]

thank you blonde, will try to be less paranoid
xx

[TheBlonde]

my rule of thumb is if I am too drunk to look after a baby I am too drunk to feed one

I would recommend dioralyte for the morning after to reduce the hangover

[Shell001]

Really you can drink ? .. ive avoided alcohol and with christmas coming i wasnt even going to have one glass of champers! defo sure ?

[Ledodgy]

They are selling breast milk dipsticks on amazon I noticed the other day so you can see if your milk still has alcohol in. Hang on i'll try and link.

[Ledodgy]

here of course they aren't really necessary but will set your mind at rest and I am thinking of bulk buying them for when this one has popped and i'm breast feeding.

[LadySnotsalot]

mil (who is a consultant at great ormond st) says you can drink as much as you like as long as you aren't too pissed to get up and feed baby.

honestly don't worry

[monkeybird]

ha ha ha ha aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaha - which dipsticks invented the dipsticks?! another product broke mums don't need!

Anyhow, FWIW, I did an extensive search and consumer test of alcohol free products while pregnant, and can confidently advise: avoid ALL alcohol free wine since it's DIIIIIIIISGUSTING (unless you are a Blue Nun type wine drinker anyway). But alcohol free beer is actually quite drinkable these days - well some of them are. So if you like beer, while you're BF, it works quite well to have a couple of real beers and intersperse with these. After my extensive consumer testing I can confidently recommend Cobra alcohol free as the best tasting, followed by Becks (a bit more bitter but still not bad...)

I find I can drink one reasonable sized glass of wine with no probs; if I have any more than this the baby definitely reacts. but if I drink real beer there is much less reaction (obviously I only have a couple of small ones anyway).

Now that he is cluster feeding till about 8-9 and then sleeping till about 3-4, I'm much less worried about having a bit of alcohol once or twice a week after he's finished...

[TheBlonde]

They now do low alcohol stella (0.5%)

[Stefka]

I was just coming to post the same thing. I would love to have a glass of wine tonight but my LO is only six weeks old. If I have it right after he feeds so that there is a gap before he feeds again would that be ok?

[Ledodgy]

Yes have a glass of wine!

[Stefka]

Yehah! I bloody need it!

[islawhitechristmas]

hallo everyone,

thanks for the replies!

well, since this will be my first night out since ds was born, it's a free bar thanks to work, and i have no tolerance since i gave up drinking a year ago, i think it's likely i will be plastered and poured into a cab to get home..

however, will make sure there's an adequate supply of ebm for ds in the freezer then, and dh can take care of the feeding as well as wiping my no doubt sweaty, fevered, hungover brow.

ladysnotsalot (nice name btw) thanks for setting my mind at rest, and monkeybird, thanks for the advice re alcohol free beer, sounds like a good way to go some of the evening. (hopefully will help avoid some embarrassing social faux pas at any rate)

shell and ledodgy, hopefully this means we're all on for a (slightly) merry xmas!

xx

[islawhitechristmas]

stefka, enjoy your wine! i will be thinking of all you tonight when i sit down with my glass of red.

[monkeybird]

Oh Stefka - YOU, if anyone, need a large glass of wine! Will help you relax and can count as pampering in your case! Get a bit docking great bar of chocolate while you're at it...

[Shell001]

Sounds like i may have a few at christmas!

[Stefka]

I had one and it was lovely. DH and I also munched our way through a box of chocolates