Alcohol. Is this why women don't breastfeed?

[TheRealAmandaClarke]

Obviously its different for everyone.
But speaking to friends recently has left me wondering if their primary reason for either. It bf or stopping early is so they can drink.
Well, that's the subtext. It's not being said directly.
I miss drinking (and no "the occasional glass of wine" doesn't really cut the mustard for me) so I can understand why ppl make that choice.
Something I just read on another thread also made me wonder. Are we so looking forward to drinking after being pregnant that it affects our choice of feeding?
Tbh.i was a bit surprised about the advice to not drink when bf
I'd envisaged emerging from the birthing pool with a massive glass of tattinger

Sorry. It = not.

You can have a g&t!

I can't breast feed due to a medical condition. However I still can't go drinking as I have a small person to look after (and hangovers after a year of sobriety are BRUTAL ).

Thanks.
But I really want a few. IYSWIM. It's not the same.

Well quote cookie obviously having these little souls to look after means I can't get trollied.

Surely if you want a few you could just express and give a bottle for a couple of feeds? You're not going to want a few more than once a week with a baby surely?!

I'm breast feeding and also drinking. If having more than a couple of glasses I'll just pump that milk out, replacing with milk I'd previously expressed, or sometimes formula.

Are we really not meant to drink at all? I hadn't realised, but not sure it'll make much difference to what I'm doing.

I find that hard to believe. I did breastfeed and I drank. But I didnt get drunk and part of that was the feeding but in the main it was having this small baby I didnt want to leave with anyone. I was shattered. Drinking to excess didnt appeal until I felt id got some semblance of control ovrr my life

You can drink and breastfeed, unless you have a bottle refuser. You can express or give formula, on occassion. It is a choice, if you baby allows it. So not all Bfing women are restricted.

Not drinking wasn't my concern, although I did enjoy a cosmopolitan when I gave up!

BF has never really stopped me drinking, even with a bottle refuser. Bedsharing has though, as it's categorically not safe if you've been drinking and I prefer sleep to wine.

I've had a couple of nights out, one where DS would still take a bottle and one recently where he was cup fed/given solids until I could feed again. Tbh, I'm mainly too knackered to go out more than that.

I would (and have) quite happily have a small glass or two of wine and breastfeed as normal.

No, not to not drink at all fromage
But the official advice is much mo conservative than most ppl's consumption.

Regardless of whether you BF or FF, if you're going to drink properly (ie a lot) someone else needs to be looking after your baby until you are sober.

The issue with drinking and BF is not the alcohol getting into the milk (which is a very small amount anyway - as it's the blood alcohol measurement - not the total ingested) it's of having a pissed parent in charge of a tiny baby. The risks are exacerbated with BF babies because are more likely to feed often and also co-sleep.

You don't need to pump and dump by the way - alcohol passes out of BM as your liver processes it. If you have one drink only the tiniest amount of alcohol enters anyway.

It's very comforting to hear your spa counts though
Now dd is older (over a year) I've had a couple of glasses of wine, if I time them right to hopefully allow for minimal alcohol in milk at for the next due feed.
But no, when she was tiny it worried me too much.

Spa count??
Accounts.

God, I'd never get drunk. Those days are long behind me now I'm an old lady's nd a mum. I couldn't bear for my dcs to see me tipsy tbh, I think that wouldn't be nice for them.

I completely empathise - I miss drinking as well! I'd say I'm far from having an alcohol dependency (as I didn't drink at all during pregnancy) but spending all day with a screaming baby would drive anyone to yearn for a beer!

I've had the occasional beer/wine and when I do so I usually do it right after a feed so it has time to filter out of my system before baby needs another. Also it's how hard you want to be on yourself - my DH is firmly of the opinion that "having a drink or two won't give baby alcohol poisoning" and often tells me it doesn't matter if I have a few. It's a personal choice, IMO.

I had a sherry and a juicy rare steak for my first post hospital meal. It was glorious.

Yum blueberry you sound like an ideal eating -out buddy.

Suggestions like this make me a bit - they can be part of a pro-BF OR anti-BF 'propaganda' (i.e. either "BFing means you can never drink - you're just a milk machine" or "evil whores want to piss it up and use their boobs for sex so the ff" ... to a tabloid or interwebz extremist the same could be twisted either way).

Whereas in RL, the main experience seems to be you can't binge drink because you have a fricken BABY to look after but many women have a glass or 2 of wine.
Additionally, NCT and some other BFing sites have useful information for women who are going on a night out and leaving expressed milk (i.e. leave 12 hr and express/freeze enough for that)- so in RL babysitting or DP/DH must enable nights out whilst BFing for enough women for this advice to be useful.

PS. It may be worth mentioning I'm from a big-drinking-big-family culture (two ethnicities with similar take on things- both Catholic). It is seen as a huge kindness to babysit so mum can have a night out (with the milk of mum's choice left, whether it be expressed or formula) after the first few months.

I'm teetotal as are a large section of my friends (religious reasons). When talking about stopping bfing the reasons seen to be the same as when I chat to mothers at playgroup or baby weighing sessions. Things like being able to leave baby with others, the baby sleeping better, feeling tired/drained physically, needing to go back to work are normally mentioned.

Disclaimer: Im not saying formula would imperceptible any of these things, i have no idea just that these are things people say.

No I don't think so.

Most of my friends still drink a few glasses of wine per week during pregnancy, maybe 2-3.
Some of them breastfeed, others don't. Alcohol is not a factor, as far as I know.

squizita
No. I'm just making an observation based on talking to my friends and reading MN.
No whores or angels in my dialogue. I'm not anti ff.
Pre pgnant I would have a large glass of wine with lunch. I mean, not evy day, but if i was pit, or at the weekend or whatever. That's about four units I think. I wouldn't have done that (based on current advice guidelines) when my dd was very small and might have needed another feed any minute. I have no desire to get pissed but an "occasional" small glass of wine (I mean, an officially small glass of 125 mls is bloody tiny, and still has about 1.5units) seems so measly.
I'm also not anti bf, having fed my ds until he was two and attempting o offer the same to dd

It's a misconception that you can't drink and a misconception that you need to pump and dump. Read this from the Breastfeeding Network.

I agree that it is reason for some mothers to stop bf early. I know several who have done so for this reason.

I never could drink much as I was sleep deprived so I personally didn't want to add a hangover to this.