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Original poster

To think this is dangerous advice from a midwife?

81 replies

CookieCrumbleCrumbs · Yesterday 21:44

Hi All,

Caught up with one of my friends earlier today. She told me she is pregnant. Earlier than the 12 weeks, and I confessed I am too! Lovely stuff.
Then she told me she had already had an appointment with her midwife and it didn't go well, mostly because my friend told her she would like to breastfeed her baby and then made a joke about it being years to wait for a glass of wine. The midwife told my friend that the guidance has changed, she said she didn't need to wait, as soon as the baby has been born she can drink. Infact, she literally said she can drink and drink and drink until she is wasted. The caveat was though that she would need to be not too far gone so that she couldn't hold her baby - holding the baby seemed important, being drunk whilst breastfeeding her baby was completely fine. But being wasted was ok because it didn't affect the milk, was absolutely fine to be off her face.
I have my first appointment next week and I'll be asking my midwife the question. But I was always under the impression any drink would enter your bloodstream and into your milk as well as potentially affecting your milk supply.
Are we both being unreasonable to think this is not only dangerous advice but completely unacceptable?

OP posts:
MDDR · Today 01:24

CookieCrumbleCrumbs · Yesterday 21:44

Hi All,

Caught up with one of my friends earlier today. She told me she is pregnant. Earlier than the 12 weeks, and I confessed I am too! Lovely stuff.
Then she told me she had already had an appointment with her midwife and it didn't go well, mostly because my friend told her she would like to breastfeed her baby and then made a joke about it being years to wait for a glass of wine. The midwife told my friend that the guidance has changed, she said she didn't need to wait, as soon as the baby has been born she can drink. Infact, she literally said she can drink and drink and drink until she is wasted. The caveat was though that she would need to be not too far gone so that she couldn't hold her baby - holding the baby seemed important, being drunk whilst breastfeeding her baby was completely fine. But being wasted was ok because it didn't affect the milk, was absolutely fine to be off her face.
I have my first appointment next week and I'll be asking my midwife the question. But I was always under the impression any drink would enter your bloodstream and into your milk as well as potentially affecting your milk supply.
Are we both being unreasonable to think this is not only dangerous advice but completely unacceptable?

I mean the medical advice and research about the miniscule amount of alcohol that passes through breastmilk says otherwise.

When drinking in moderation, obviously.

Copperoliverbear · Today 03:39

It maybe correct but I don’t think they should be promoting it.

LifeOnEnceladus · Today 04:19

MarthaBeach · Yesterday 21:51

NHS guidance

Alcohol can pass into your breastmilk and then into your baby when you feed them.
The Royal College of Midwives recommends that for the safest approach, you should avoid alcohol completely when breastfeeding. But an occasional drink is unlikely to harm your baby especially if you wait at least 2 hours after having a drink before feeding.
Regularly drinking above the recommended limits can be harmful for you and your baby.
Aside from the known health risks of excessive alcohol to yourself, drinking too much may decrease your milk supply. It may also cause sleep, growth and developmental problems with your baby.

If that is the NHS Guidance then it is factually wrong. Scientific studies have proved that alcohol does NOT transfer into breast milk in any quantity that would have any impact on the baby at all. So no, it will not “cause developmental issues”. It’s utter nonsense. Obviously nobody should get drunk when caring for a child but there is no reason whatsoever why a breastfeeding mother has to abstain from alcohol.

LifeOnEnceladus · Today 04:22

Itsdarkateight · Today 00:20

levels of alcohol in your breastmilk is about the same as that in your blood, the following is taken from a fact sheet on alcohol from the breast feeding network

  • Alcohol passes freely into breastmilk. Levels of alcohol in your breastmilk reach approximately the same levels as your blood. Your blood alcohol levels have to reach around 300mg/100ml (or 0.3%) before causing mild sedation in your baby. This compares with a level of 80mg/100ml (0.08%) needed to fail the police blood test in England, Wales and N. Ireland; or 50mg/100ml (0.05%) Scotland.

How utterly shocking for them to be publishing such unscientific nonsense which has been proved categorically to be false. One would think this merits a formal complaint about deliberate misinformation. Why do people want to make things difficult for new mothers, especially organisations that are meant to support them! Appalling.

wontsomeonethinkofthechimdren · Today 04:32

Itsdarkateight · Today 00:20

levels of alcohol in your breastmilk is about the same as that in your blood, the following is taken from a fact sheet on alcohol from the breast feeding network

  • Alcohol passes freely into breastmilk. Levels of alcohol in your breastmilk reach approximately the same levels as your blood. Your blood alcohol levels have to reach around 300mg/100ml (or 0.3%) before causing mild sedation in your baby. This compares with a level of 80mg/100ml (0.08%) needed to fail the police blood test in England, Wales and N. Ireland; or 50mg/100ml (0.05%) Scotland.

That's absolute bullshit.

I remember having a few rows on here when i was breastfeeding 7 years ago. I did a lot of research and concluded the NHS advice was rubbish and seems I was right!

LifeOnEnceladus · Today 04:33

Basically OP if you do the maths with the actual data from scientific research on this someone would have to drink several bottles of spirits before alcohol in their breastmilk was aby higher thn than the trace alcohol levels found in fruit juice, or could have any effect on their baby at all.

Obviously by that point the mother would have other problems such as being so drunk they’d be unlikely to be conscious and probably be in hospital with alcohol poisoning.

Alcohol in breast milk is simply not a valid concern and it’s pseudoscience to pretend that it is. It’s good the midwive gave accurate information even though it appears the NHS is publishing incorrect guidance on its website! Then mothers behaving perfectly safely and appropriately will be subjected to ignorant busybodies giving them disapproving looks if they have a glass of wine with a meal in a restaurant etc.

Can the midwife who posted and also confirmed the scientific fact that having a drink while breastfeeding does NOT affect your baby explain why the NHS still has incorrect written information on its website, which will stigmatise breastfeeding mothers for no reason for doing something perfectly safe? Shocking that patients are deliberately misled by NHS published “guidance”.

It’s a bit like with those horrendous leaflets manipulating statistics to try to encourage women into having “natural” births and not giving an objective comparison of risks between vaginal births and caesarians. The way women are treated by the NHS in pregnancy and post-birth is shocking.

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