To think the occasional glass of wine while breast feeding is ok?

[beansbananas]

Just interested to hear if people generally abstain completely from drinking alcohol when breast feeding, or if you do have the odd glass of wine. I'd like to have a drink in the sunshine today, but obviously my baby is my number one priority. I'm not able to pump yet as my supply is still only just coming in, and my baby feeds pretty much constantly as a consequence. Therefore should I resist having an alcoholic drink, or would it be ok to have a treat? How much of the alcohol passes to the baby through the milk?

So refreshing to hear actual science here, as opposed to "I wouldn't risk it, hun"!

My mw practically prescribed it

Treat yourself, you're doing a great but often hard thing, give yourself a little reward.

Drinking and breastfeeding is not an issue; the limiting factor is avoiding being too drunk to safely care for a baby, not how much alcohol will pass into your milk.

As it was explained to me, the level of alcohol in your milk will be similar to your blood alcohol level. A drink is legally considered alcohol-free if it contains less than 0.5% ABV (a glass of fruit juice could approach this level if an open carton has been hanging around for a while). If your blood (and therefore breast milk) alcohol level reached even half this you'd be considered to be suffering from alcohol poisoning and could well become unconscious.

You can google anything you like, doesn't mean it's true!

Twice I've had a drink while breastfeeding, and both times DS has slept a little better...

I tried a few times but dd vomited every time. She thinks this is hilarious now and tells me she's been ruining my fun for years... which is true, lol

Of course it is fine to have a couple of drinks when breast feeding. But I am of the generation who believes it is ok to have a couple of drinks when pregnant. Remember this was on medical advice of the time!

Word of caution here though - none of my babies/toddlers have been happy when I've had alcohol above about 1 unit. I think it stops my letdown, or at least greatly reduced it. I've therefore only started drinking when they've been of an age to fob off with treat food instead - or just put up with a very long grumpy feed .
I fed dd1 to >4, dd2 to 2.10, and currently feeding ds (9 months)

Honestly Jupitar, there is a ton of mis info about diet and bf. You could live on lemons for a week and neither your milk or your blood would be more acidic, you could eat a bag of sugar a day and it wouldn't even any more sugaRy

I just thought pregnancy and breastfeeding were a great time to be more healthy and to eat well and not drink. I love a drink but wouldn't have been comfortable drinking and feeding.

I don't really drink but that's not because I'm breastfeeding, it's because I don't enjoy drinking alcohol. It's fine to drink while breastfeeding though. The only issue is getting too drunk to care for the baby-same as if you're formula feeding.

The amount in your breast milk is exactly the same in your blood (very little), here is a link to a rather fun explanation of why that will have little to no effect even if you where drunk to the point you might die from alcohol poisoning. what-if.xkcd.com/98/

I am one of those women who drink not a drop during the pregnancy (as close to 100% goes through to the feral blood stream) but drank 1-2 glasses/night a few days a week whilst breastfeeding. The amount that's in milk is fuck all. I fed for a long time - 8 years in total (4 kids) and it would have been tedious if I couldn't have had wine when I wanted.

For some women the issue might be emotionally comparable to drinking whilst pregnant but they're physiologically completely different.

*fetal, not feral. Though my 5 year old is pretty feral today

Breastfeeding drove me so nuts I had to have the odd small glass of wine. It chilled me out and helped take the edge off c-section recovery.

Drinking and breastfeeding is fine as long as you're sober enough to safely care for a baby, and make sure to avoid co-sleeping.

Although I've generally abstained - my current levels of sleep deprivation are such that it can be hard to stay awake while feeding baby in the evening as it is without adding alcohol making me more sleepy to the mix.

But on the bright side, I've drank plenty of fruit juice - a variety of types - while breastfeeding, and not had a projectile vomiting baby once.

It's fine. Enjoy your wine, and also enjoy the judgy looks of the ignorant.

evolutionaryparenting.com/guest-post-breastfeeding-and-alcohol-consumption/

Totally fine to have a drink and breastfeed. Enjoy!

My baby was another one that reacted whenever I drank orange juice in the early months. My baby book had orange juice down was one of the things that might affect a breastfeeding baby along with caffeine, some spices, dairy etc.

I have a drink or two a week and I'm breastfeeding. I didn't when DS was new born though but that's mainly because I was on a lot of different medications and I didn't need anything else making me tired!

It's fine. Strangely though i produce more milk after I've had a drink. After two glasses of wine I pumped three times as much and was very engorged.