Pints & breastfeeding

[Bashinthecattick]

Was in the pub and this mum walks in. Really cute tiny baby. Got chatting and she told she me had baby 4 days earlier.
Frankly I was astonished she was in the pub and not comatose but good for her if she's happy and can manage. It wasn't a mad rave, but middle of the day, family pub and she clearly felt able.
Sat down, mum on next table. She then went onto order about a pint (at this point I was just in earshot).
But over the next two hours she ordered three more (all alcohol - I was earwigging) and drank them all while breastfeeding.
Ok, yes, I judged. I said nothing, of course. She seemed pretty steady, not slurring etc. Was I an arsehole? Do people do this?

Haha. I'm a pure extrovert. I love chatting. I probably annoy people. Promise I don't monitor your bin though! Can barely be arsed to check my own.

So true!! I’ve also had a shit week, but if my life got to the point I had to go to a pub to work and have a glass of wine and then eavesdrop on a happy group of friends celebrating a newborn, detailing their orders to an extent I would know whether the beer was alcoholic or not. Then gossiping about it with people… makes me think of the classic Come Dine With Me Quote, ‘what a sad little life Jane’!!

I wouldn't be worried about the alcohol content of the milk. AIUI the alcohol content of milk is at the same order of magnitude as the mother's blood alcohol content. The mother would be passing out drunk long before her milk would be appreciably alcoholic.

A blood alcohol over 0.4% is potentially lethal. Drinks below 0.5% aren't subject to any controls on sales in law: you could buy a can of Bass shandy for a child, no problem. Fruit juice that's been open for a few days can approach this level, or an overripe banana.

All that being said, I'd have been silently judging her too. The baby may not have been in danger from alcohol in the milk, bit there are plenty of other ways a drunk caregiver could harm a child.

I totally got the taste for no alcohol beer when pregnant and still drink it now. Are you sure it was alcoholic? You can get becks blue on tap now in lots of places so no one needs to know you are not drinking if you don't want to advertise it.

@Bashinthecattick so are you able to tell us exactly what type of beer was being ordered? There's a difference between 4 pints of say Coors light and 4 pints of craft IPA.

If it was 4 pints of lower alcohol beer over two hours along with snacks or food then there's a good chance there will be no I'll effect at all.

This is a good point. Even if non-alcoholic stuff isn't on draught, If I'm not drinking I'll often buy two Beck's blue and ask for them in a pint glass.