Wine and Breastfeed- extreme guilt

[OlivesTree]

My 8 month old ebf DD has recently started sleeping through the night so I have been treating myself to the occasional glass of wine in the evening. Last night I went all out and had 2 largish glasses (so rock n roll) and was feeling quite tipsy. Then DD woke at 11:30 and would not settle with DH for love nor money and of course as soon as I went to her she dove for the boob. In the end the only way I could settle her was to bf. I am now feeling really guilty and worried I have given her brain damage or something although brain seemed fine when she woke at 6am. I wouldn't be so concerned if it was just the usual small glass but went a bit wild last night. Please reassure me that DD doesn't belong in care.

Back in the day, mothers would drink brandy then breast feed in order to get baby to sleep longer!
Im sure shes fine!

There is no reason to worry, and certainly no risk of brain damage or an other kind of damage.

I read, recently, that the level at which alcohol in your body would have any ill effects on a baby is so high that you'd be in hospital with alcohol poisoning first!

it's absolutely fine. Me too, I'm sure

My NCT teacher told me if you are sober enough to hold the baby you are sober enough to breastfeed the baby. I drink wine sometimes more than 2 glasses and don't worry about it. I also researched mn a lot and it seemed drinking whilst breastfeeding is pretty mainstream :)

Dont worry you will have done your DC no harm.

She is 8 months old. She will be absolutely fine. Two glasses will make little impact on your breastmilk (used to know the link for this)

I forgot and had a beer and a curry when DD was about 3 weeks old. Twas just the one beer but the curry was spicy. Poor little mite was very grouchy with wind all night . She is absolutely fine now

Don't worry, you won't have done her any harm :)

The alcohol level of your milk is the same as that of your blood and alcohol leaves your milk just as it leaves your blood stream. There would have been a tiny amount of alcohol in your milk. Babies and young children cannot process alcohol like an adult but an amount that tiny will not have done her any harm.

Hope that helps you relax a bit.

OneTwoorThree- that's not quite right, heavy alcohol use can cause problems but 2 glasses will not do any harm.

Here's the Lactmed page on alcohol if anyone's interested.

Thanks all. It was the wobbly feeling (fed her lying down) and fuzzy head this morning that really got me worried. Was concerned she was feeling a bit fuzzy too, but as she is currently shouting MAMAMAMAMA at me from her activity centre I think is feeling pretty sharp.

On another note, do you know how ashamed I am to admit that TWO GLASSES made me wobble? This, from the girl who up until 18 months ago single handedly maintained the profits of countless breweries/wineries and distilleries.

EauRouge this is what concerns me. If the alcohol in my milk is the same as my blood and I am wobbling, then surely teeny tiny 8 month old DD is wobbling too??

no because alcohol level in your milk does not = alcohol level in hr blood

I've only pumped and dumped when absolutely trashed, so twice since ds was born 19 months ago (still feeding). If I'm just merry I have no worries about feeding him at all. Doesn't bloody help him sleep any better though

Well if your blood alcohol was about 0.05%, then your milk would be about the same- that's the same as non-alcoholic beer. Now I'm NOT saying it's OK to give non-alcoholic beer to a baby but she'd have to drink more than one BF's worth to get drunk.

Don't worry, your DD is not hungover!

God, I am really thick aren't I. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Not thick, just cautious Better to be sure than sit around worrying.

Pumping and dumping is pointless. If you are really drunk then the milk you make to replace what you have drunk will be equally booze laden - tho I think we have established that blood alcohol does not equate to milk alcohol.

If you pump, your body makes more milk, immediately, and it will contain alcohol.

FWIW, I fed DD a few times when quite tipsy and she was over 6 months. It wasn't a regular thing because a) I needed lots of good quality sleep with two small children to look after and b) I don't like being tipsy and looking after babies because of potential accidents etc

I wasn't in charge of my son when drunk, no worries . I was away for several hours and he was with his very capable father.

OP - well done on exclusively feeding your dc for 8 months! You deserve your two glasses of wine so next time enjoy them without any guilt!

Ds was prescribed medicine at 6 weeks old that was 1% alcohol. I did a bit of maths and then stopped worrying about a couple glasses of wine!

Thanks Lobster. I do feel quite proud. In the extremely painful early days I never imagined coming so far, now I don't know how we will give it up.