How much alcohol when breastfeeding?

[iloveberries]

Been exclusively BF for 3 months and in this time have had a couple of glasses of wine now and then. (In line with NHS guidelines).

I have a few Christmas dos coming up and would like to drink a bit more (in volume and frequency) but don't want to impact baby's health. I only drink wine so it would be drinking a bottle of wine across 5 hours.

I wondered what other people's views were and if anyone had any access to information about how much alcohol gets into breast milk.

With my first DC i abstained throughout pregnancy and BF and this time inansyained through pregnancy but not so sure it's necessary to abstain through BF.

Thank you.

Really hardly any alcohol gets into breast milk at all. Honestly, after a bottle of wine your milk will be less alcoholic than orange juice. So crack on! Enjoy yourself.

I've read for each drink...wait 2 hours before breastfeeding.

I'm in Australia...so different guidelines.

It's really a personal choice - some people don't want the merest trace of alcohol in their breastmilk and so avoid it completely. This is not clinically necessary though. It takes a large amount of alcohol, consumed over a very short period of time, to actually affect the milk and the baby. You can get evidence-based information here:

www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/wp-content/dibm/alcohol.pdf

I'd maybe pump and dump one feed after a whole bottle, but I wouldn't wait hours and hours. If I'm going on a proper night out, I wait 12 hours from my last drink

In terms of the alcohol content of your milk I came on to say the same as previous poster about orange juice, you could drink a bottle of vodka and still not have a high % alcohol in your milk, so pumping and dumping is madness (IMO)

Just make sure you have someone else to look after the baby if you're a bit drunk and do not co-sleep. That's the only real danger.

Agree with tiktok (it's good to see you, tiktok - you helped save my bf (I was under another name) over a decade ago now ). I'd never manage to drink a bottle of wine in an evening, so i think i would probably be concerned going back to feed after that amount, but I have certainly had reasonably regular glasses of wine with all 3 of my dc - dc1 and 2 bf for 4.5 and 3 years respectively, incl 2 years of tandem feeding, and now 14 months and counting with no. 3.

The alcohol concentration in breastmilk is the same as the alcohol concentration in your blood - which makes your breastmilk less alcoholic than orange juice, as a pp says.

So basically, as long as you're sober enough to care for your baby when you need to, you're fine. And avoid co-sleeping if you've had any alcohol.

Oh good lord. The scientific evidence shows that the amount of alcohol passed on through breast milk is completely minuscule. I breastfed for two years and had a glass of wine most evenings, often two.

Clearly if you've had a night out with a lot to drink it is a different story but you shouldn't fret over a few glasses spread over several hours!

I will find linkage to some research.

I wouldn't have breastfed for 2 years (dc1) and 12 months (dc2) if I hadn't resumed my usual drinking habits, i.e. a fair bit of wine whenever I fancied it I've got 2 extremely bright and healthy primary aged children now ..so I don't regret a glass!

(Hi, hay bales. Glad I helped :) )

After reading this, I'm ditching the pump and dump!