To have a drink to fly

[SBelfast]

Hello,

Not sure this is AIBU but found it hard to pick a topic. I have a big fear of flying. Used to be so bad I would get a bus around the UK taking 19 hours to get from one stop to another instead of a 1 hour flight.
I've had different kinds of therapy for it and was managing the phobia quite well (ie could fly) with a decent dose of diazepam.
When I became pregnant I had a work trip I had to fly for and was my first sober flight in ages on a propeller plane, which I understand are very safe but which scared this shit out of me.
Since ive had my baby (7 months) ive taken a fear of flying course which included a short experience flight and that went ok. However in a week need to fly for a family holiday with friends to Geneva. Initially I planned to take diazepam and got a prescription for it but was told cant breastfeed ideally for 48 hours - so feel like that options off the table as ds is currently nursed to sleep at night.
So now im thinking two glasses of prosecco....to take edge off and feed ds hours later (formula in interim). My dh would do all the baby transporting etc. Im just worrying now about his ears popping and I know feeding is meant to help with that?
He hasnt taken a dummy and hes teething bad atm so I feel like anything other than the boob he will chew on instead of suck (this includes bottle which he chews on then sucks). But is letting him breastfeed for take off/landing with alcohol in system a complete no? Idk how much would cross over? Any advice welcome! Sorry for the long ramble!

You know you can drink and breastfeed?

I’m getting married in Spain & we fly tomorrow morning- I HATE FLYING- but my husband to be is Spanish & we chose his home town and all my friends and family are flying there. It’s going to be lovely, but the flying is bringing my build up down and I’m so annoyed with myself 😭

ill be with my 5 year old and 1 year old- and I’m just desperate to not show them fear… I personally feel being relaxed is more beneficial to the kids. I’ll be having a drink at the airport in my bridal gear to kill the nerves of the wedding and the flight! Xx

Where have you heard this? It's not at all recommended as the alcohol is passed through the milk! You're supposed to 'pump and dump' to avoid it.

OP, I'm not sure what I'd do in your situation but would speak to healthy family team and see what they advise.

I think the PP meant that it's not illegal to have a drink and breastfeed. Ofc it's not recommended or ideal, but if OP isn't drunk (would 2 glasses of prosecco be just about below UK drink driving limits?) then allowing DC some comfort sucks in the event they are in pain and distressed on the flight might not be the worst thing in the world.

Can you give a source for the pumping and dumping recommendation? I can only find references that say you don’t need to.
eg

https://laleche.org.uk/alcohol-and-breastfeeding/

You’re wrong about this
alcohol doesn’t go from your boob to the baby 🙄
a rule of thumb is if you’re paralytic don’t feed
a couple of glasses of wine is absolutely fine when feeding
but do not co sleep after drinking

I think my concerns would be around timing - if flight was delayed and the "edge-off" effects wore-off too soon what would the impact be? Might you have a panic mid-flight?
Have you spoken to a pharmacist or the doctor who gave the info about 48 hours for diazepam to ask if there was any alternative that was safe for breastfeeding?
I was being advertised CBD drinks a while back - do any of them have an impact on anxiety and are they safe for breastfeeding?

I had a very similar situation to you. I normally take diazepam but couldn’t as I was breastfeeding. I had a cocktail just before the flight and it helped massively with my nerves. I didn’t feed my baby on take off or landing as she wasn’t fussed about it. I did however feed her a couple of hours into the flight when she got hungry.

I have a fear of flying. Most recently I've used CBD oil just before boarding. I find it really helps - I was able to stay calm on Sunday despite our pilot advising us engineers had been called to look at a possible leak.
I'm not sure if it's okay whilst breastfeeding, sorry.
Good luck OP

https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/baby/feeding-your-baby/breastfeeding/can-i-breastfeed-if-im/drinking-alcohol/

This is the first thing that I clicked on. States that breast milk isn't safe and expressing milk between feeds (to relieve discomfort) is needed. The expressed milk will contain the alcohol traces and should therefore be tossed.

I've breastfed all of my babies and this has always been the advice given from all healthcare professionals.

I personally would not feel comfortable taking any risk around breastfeeding and alcohol, especially with newborns and young babies.

edited to add: I've looked at the quoted link briefly. It confirms that alcohol will be passed to baby but its effects aren't well documented. Again, not worth the risk imo.

God to the misinformation around alcohol and breastfeeding is shocking. Breastmilk is made from your blood not your stomach contents. For your breastmilk to have any discernible alcohol content you’d be dead, even paralytic your blood alcohol content would make your breastmilk no stronger than orange juice. Have the glasses of wine, don’t be so smashed you’re not allowed to board and let your partner look after your baby so you can concentrate on yourself and whatever you need to do to get through the flight. Good luck OP.

This is the second sentence on that page

"While it's safer not to drink alcohol, an occasional drink (1 or 2 units, once or twice a week) is unlikely to harm your baby."

A glass or two of wine or prosecco will do absolutely no harm OP, I hope the flight is bearable for you and you have a fantastic time once you get there!

This is incorrect.

If it takes the edge off and you have a normal relationship with alcohol I think that's fine to be honest.

My grandad (god rest his sole) used to have a stiff whiskey or two before a flight. (He did have a strong pull towards the old booze though , so probably not a great example 😁)

Enjoy the hols !

Just have a drink and breastfeed as usual! A couple of glasses of wine will do baby no harm whatsoever. I had that every weekend from my baby being about 4 or 5 months old.

Absolute nonsense! That’s totally disproven. Scientific evidence tells us only a tiny tiny amount of alcohol gets through to your breastmilk, basically negligible.

A couple of hours in would be when the alcohol was coming through your milk but as it would have made your milk less alcoholic than orange juice, it was no problem at all!

Did you actually read it? If you’re going to post a link to back up your claim, perhaps you ought to do more than ‘look at it briefly’.

You’re spreading disinformation. You should stop.

God we had a leak the other day! Bloody informative pilot could have kept it to himself 😂🤣😭 They fixed it quickly and we went (and returned!) fine. I normally have a glass of wine at the airport and I'm super relaxed on the flight (I'm a lightweight) but that one was a super early flight so I really couldn't stomach any wine at 5am 😂🍷 I was fine though, miraculously!

You’re fine - a couple of glasses is going to put you at ease and will not harm your baby!! Good luck and enjoy the holiday!

I find cabin pressure and air bad enough without adding alcohol to it so short or long haul i never drink before or during a flight juat plenty of water and juice even soft drink unsettles me

Contact The Breastfeeding Network as their website suggests a single dose of diazepam will be fine. It's only if taken long term that there could be issues as it can accumulate and cause drowsiness and poor feeding. Most doctors are pretty clueless when it comes to which drugs are safe to take while breastfeeding and they will generally be over cautious. The Breastfeeding Network has information from well informed pharmacists.

If you decide against diazepam, a glass or two of prosecco won't harm your baby. No need to "pump and dump" (outdated advice) or give formula. Just be aware that alcohol can affect you more at altitude.

No, you’re not.

OP - you’ll be fine with two glasses of Prosecco. Enjoy and have a lovely trip.

Just to be clear, I meant that OP would need to discard any pumped milk as it would contain the alcohol traces. You pump to relieve discomfort (which OP would presumably need to do as she'd miss feeds while H is formula feeding). Not sure exactly how this is misinformation.

And I recognise that the article says it unlikely to harm your baby. But, I was once given this analogy: When I was deemed 'ok' to smoke it public places, second hand smoke would be passed to those non-smokers in the same area. If you only visited a smoking-permitted bar once or twice a month, you'd most likely be ok but someone else, might develop serious health problems. However, no one can know for sure and that's the risk you'd take. This is exactly why medical professionals don't recommend alcohol. Because they can't identify a 'safe' limit and what is unlikely to harm one baby, could cause serious complications to another.

I can't stop anyone from doing what they're going to. At the end of the day, it's up to the mother to weigh up risk vs benefit. I just know unlikely isn't Impossible and that's not good enough for me personally.

This is spot on