Boozy brunch and breastfeeding

[Benandjerrysbonnoffeepie]

In a few weeks time I’m going for a boozy brunch, it’s my first time leaving baby. I ebf although he will take a bottle of expressed milk.

With the brunch you can get four cocktails (I’m not planning on having all four as tempting as it is). However how long would I need to wait before breastfeeding again if I had all four? I’m just making sure there is more than enough milk for baby but think he might get upset if I come home and he can’t bf!

(I know this should bd simple maths but I can’t quite seem to do it!)

4 cocktails would be well over the drink drive limit

Where are getting this guidance from? It's not the advice from the NHS, LLL or The Breastfeeding Network.

You have to be almost 4 times over the drink driving limit before there is any measurable impact on baby, and even then there is no evidence it does them any harm.

Please do not comment on these threads if you have no actual clue. OP the amount of alcohol in breast milk would be tiny. I wouldn't advise taking care of your baby alone but you'll be fine to feed him or her.

No, you don't need to wait until it's out of your system.

It's this kind of misinformation that can put women off wanting to BF in the first place, or stopping altogether before they would otherwise want to.

All that needs to be borne in mind after drinking is are you in a safe state to look after your baby, and that applies to FF mothers as much as BF.

Thanks for all the advice! Don’t worry my husband will be in charge of baby even when I’m home.

I’m thinking I’ll have four drinks but two will be something less strong than cocktails and I’ll wait till the evening until I breastfeed again (brunch starts late morning) and baby can take bottle until then.

You don't need to wait any time at all. If you want to wait till the evening fine but you don't need to wait 5 minutes. And you don't need to pump and dump either.

I've said this before on similar threads. When I was pregnant with my first DC, the midwife at the NHS antenatal classes I attended said, memorably, "If you're sober enough to sit up, you're sober enough to breastfeed."

You don’t need to wait. Here’s an actual study on it https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bcpt.12149

Main takeaways:

• The amount of alcohol presented to nursing infants through breast milk is approximately 5–6% of the weight-adjusted maternal dose, and even in a theoretical case of binge drinking, the children would not be subjected to clinically relevant amounts of alcohol.

• In conclusion, special recommendations aimed at lactating women are not warranted. Instead, lactating women should simply follow standard recommendations on alcohol consumption.

I.e. your milk is fine. Just don’t look after an infant when drunk (obviously)

Enjoy your cocktails!

Rubbish

If you are about to die from severe alcohol poisoning then your breast milk could still be packaged up and sold as a non alcoholic drink. It would have similar alcohol levels as a becks blue or a glass of fresh orange.

What we can't say for certain is what effect that could have on your baby, as your baby's body, digestive and excretory system are less mature than yours. And we can't, for ethical reasons, see what happens to the development of a load of babies fed breast milk with tiny amounts of alcohol vs those who are kept alcohol free. We can hypothesise that it is safe though from what we know about breastfeeding and babies.

So the advice to wait is a precaution.

What is more important to think about is your parenting capacity and especially your risk of falling asleep while feeding baby which could have devastating consequences while under the influence of alcohol.

Honestly though, you'll be having a boozy brunch so those drinks will be spread out so you probably won't even be all that pissed when you get home.

Remember to take your pump with you to express for comfort as if you are missing a couple of feeds while out you'll get very uncomfortable!

Remember to take your pump with you to express for comfort as if you are missing a couple of feeds while out you'll get very uncomfortable!

Agree, don’t underestimate how full and uncomfortable you will feel after missing feeds

Well if you think about it, it's best to bf whilst drinking!
The alcohol takes a while to metabolise, so it's not instantly in your milk.
If you can drive you can bf.
Meh once isn't the end of the world. See how you go.