To think this is dangerous advice from a midwife?

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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?

My understanding is that this is the standard advice

I drank wine whilst breastfeeding, everything in moderation

The midwife is correct

You are wrong. It's fine to drink and breastfeed as long as you aren't so drunk you could drop or harm the baby.

You would have to be so drunk you would be hospitalised or dead before drinking your breastmilk would cause any concern to the baby.

Yep the alcohol dosent get in till the breast milk. As long as it’s safe to feed the baby physically then it’s fine. We were told that in our NCT class and by midwives

Second hand story, the things often suffer from Chinese whispers, unlikely the midwife told her to get wasted is fine, but alcohol is ok when breastfeeding.

You can drink when BF.

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.

You're wrong op. Miniscule amounts of any alcohol would transfer to baby via titty.

The midwife is correct. The line I was told in my first NCT classes was "if you can hold the baby, you can feed the baby". Granted one episode of looking after an infant with a hangover was enough to put me off ever drinking more than about 2 glasses of wine in a single evening again. So it's not really been relevant to me. 🤣

The amount in your milk is actually really low, as it's the same level as present in your blood.

If your blood alcohol content was as high as 0.5% you'd be dead. You'd have you drink a huge amount to achieve this.

A drink with less than 0.5% alcohol can legally be sold as alcohol free.

If you're not so drunk you're safe to look after the baby then you should be fine to breastfeed.

Midwife is correct though I’d probably explain it better - and not being too sloshed to care for your baby is good advice however you’re feeding them.

The amount of alcohol that gets into your milk is like a glass of wine thrown into a swimming pool, trace amounts that have no intoxicating or damaging effects on baby. The alcohol gets metabolised through your stomach before being absorbed into your blood and then milk is made from our blood, so it’s not straight from your mouth to the milk.

It’s absolutely fine to drink and breastfeed (all other factors of baby care in consideration)

When my son was a baby I donated to the milk bank. This was breastmilk going to the most vulnerable premature babies. The infant feeding specialist told me that It was absolutely fine to drink alcohol and that the amount of alcohol that goes into your breast milk is actually tiny. Further more - as the alcohol level in your blood stream lowers it filters back out of your breast milk

From Breastfeeding Network:

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

Obviously being pissed in charge of a small baby has a whole other set of safety issues though.

I used to have a glass of wine during the last feed of the evening, knowing it would take at least half an hour for it to get into my blood / milk and be clear by the time I next fed 3-4 hours later.

The midwife did not say she could get ‘wasted’, just that alcohol in moderate measures does not pass to the breast milk. The phrase is ‘if you can hold the baby safely, you can breastfeed’. This is scientifically backed now and is true. Mothers don’t need to deprive themselves of social drinking to breastfeed as long as they remain sensible, safe and capable of caring for their looking after their baby

You probs need to google before you get outraged over advice that you don’t understand. PFB by any chance?

"Alcohol can pass into your breastmilk and then into your baby when you feed them"

But the breastmilk will only be alcoholic in the way that orange juice is alcoholic.

The amount of alcohol transferring into your breastmilk is minimal, you would certainly struggle to care for your baby safely before it got to any sort of level

I wouldn't recommend getting wasted as I cant imagine a baby and a hangover mix well! But from a baby getting alcohol perspective the midwife is right

Yeah it's fine. You put a tiny amount of alcohol in a whole lot of blood. If your blood alcohol was so high you were dying, your blood, as a drink, would be as alcoholic as a non alcoholic cider. And since your breast milk is made from your blood, not your stomach content, it doesn't really get very alcoholic.

Guess this didn't go how you expected, OP?

The website Kellymom is an excellent resource for breastfeeding facts and tips though it is American. The NHS guidance is pretty good.
All the best.

Given that alcohol is a carcinogen on a level with smoking, I wouldn’t risk any going into my baby.

Yes, I agree with the above poster that Kellymom is a great website. And your hospital should have a infant feeding support person / lactation consultant hopefully so you can always ask them for advice once your baby is born. But yeah, more danger in dropping your baby from being drunk than the tiny amount of alcohol that gets through.

This is the advice I was given when pregnant with my teens too.

I don't think anyone should be told it's ok to get wasted but as others have said it is safe to have some alcohol when breastfeeding.

I was pregnant for 9 months. Then breastfed for 2 years (baby had cows milk protein intolerance so breastfeeding was easier than dairy free formula). Pregnant again for 9 months and then another 2 years breastfeeding.

That would have been 5 and a half years without a drink!