Drinking alcohol - while breast feeding - what are your thoughts?

[Flumpreviouslybutwhatdoiknow]

I used to drink loads.

Got pregnant - had the odd glass of wine but v. little.

Fully breast fed but now baby weaning just do morning and evening b feed as I work full time.

I also drink a bit at weekends and have a glass or two of wine in the week.

What do you think? Baby seems to be thriving but...............

is it bad?

Perhaps not read the entire thread but Pixiefish, I didn't drink while pg either (except one glass very occasionally, like new years)
However, not sure I would tell my ds's that my drinking was the cause of their 'problem' (if they had one, and I had drunk like a fish) (no offence!)

Aloha - for future reference, do you mean the first three months?

no but this child was in care. There is a horrible family history of abuse and from what I can gather social services are fairly open with kids these days about things. This child did know though that it was as a result of its mother drinking that the child had SEN. I cried.

Can understand that you would cry. TBH, I would cry both at SEN and at brutal honesty of SS. Perhaps I'm and ostrich.

Sorry- didn't mean to suggest that FAS can be caused by drinking while bf. The name itself implies not- the fetal. I do however remember the newspaper ads about it during pg. As I'd stopped long before getting pg I haven't restarted until I finish bf.

Great. Ok what about crack then?

J O K E !!!!

006 that's exactly what I was going to say at having to explain the stains on DS2's babygro when he was little I was rather partial to a glass of red wine during the marathon evening feeds. Doesn't appear to have done him any harm, also meant that we kept on feeding until he wanted to stop (16 months) rather than stopping because I got fed up of never being able to have a glass of wine.

The window for causing FAS is thought by experts to be tiny - can't remember the exact period but it is measured in days. It's because it affects the structure of the face, and that forms at a very specific time. that's not to say that heavy drinking in pregnancy cannot cause other problems than full-blown FAS (it can), just that FAS is a very, very rare but of course utterly devastating condition, but not one that affects women who have a few drinks.

I personally think a glass or two of red during those evening feeds on a winter night was absolutely essential for me.

And it's true about heroin. It doesn't appear to cause any damage, but babies can be born addicted, which is pretty hideous. It's worse for most women to try to come off it than to stay on it. Crack cocaine, however, is extremely toxic.

Surely there must have been tests done on the breastmilk of mothers who've drunk alcohol? They must know how much 'gets through...?'

I keep on and on having "1-2 units" despite misgivings... I really can't see any evidence of it affecting DD but logic persists in reminding me that she's only little so can't handle her drink the way I can. I have always been able to mop up fairly large quantities without much effect, which I think is rather misleading.

Yes, there are studies. Brief summary; the best thing would be to BF and not drink. Drinking in moderation and when the baby's exposure is low is a close second. Formula feeding so you can drink is a net loss for the baby unless you habitually feed the baby while paralytic. Since you are training the baby to enjoy alcohol, it might be better to avoid drinking while BFing if you have a family history of alcoholism.

From "What's Going on In There?; How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Year of Life": When a nursing mother has a drink, alcohol can be detected in her milk after 30 minutes, and it peaks at one hour postingestion. By three hours, it is nearly gone... The amount of alcohol that actually makes its way into milk after one drink is quite small... correcting for body weight, a dose no more than 3 percent of what the mother consumed... Babies sleep less following such modest alcohol ingestion, and one study found that babies whose mothers darnk one or two drinks a day during nursing scored some four points lower on tests of motor skills at one year of age... Mental development scores, however, were not afected by maternal drinking.

There are also other studies - I quote tiktok
"Here are the facts (courtesy of Medications and Mothers Milk by Dr Thomas Hale) - 'the bsolue amount of alcohol transferred into milk is generally low'. and further: 'maternal blood alcohol levels must attain 300mg/dl bfore significant side effects are reported in the infant.' Do the maths. Current drink driving limits are 80mg per 100 cl (which is 1 dl)...so in order for a baby to show significant side effects you need to have drunk more than three times the drink driving limit"

personally I don't think its on - its like smoking during pregnancy - thats a no, no too.

I drank little during pregnancy but as normal when b/feeding my kids and they are all fine! About 2 or 3 glasses of wine a night I think. Still didn't make them bloody sleep

I agree with aloha, I don't think I would have got through those newborn weeks without the odd glass of red wine!

The breastfeeding expert at my hospital said it was fine to have a small glass of wine a day. I think she was part of a government breastfeeding initiative. I decided to go with her and not listen to anyone else. Although sometimes I had a couple as it didn't take long for one glass to not seem enought despite 9 months without.

I drank moderately throughout my pregnancy (very little at all at the begininning and another unit or two per week towards the end when I was getting cranky and tired). I drink 2/3 glasses most nights and DS has been purely bf for 4 months, his development is pretty much the par the course and he charms the buttons off everyone he meets.

He is beginning to sleep pretty well too, last night was 10pm - 7.30am - but perhaps I shouldn't have said that . . . . .

I made the decision not to drink at all through pregnancy or breastfeeding, which I did for two years, and now can't stand alcohol! I would agree though that in moderation it should be fine - and in fact my dh's cousin was recommended by her hv to have a glass of wine a night to help her bfed son sleep!

JoolsToo, it isn't like smoking in pregnancy. Smoking in pregnancy is shown to be harmful to the developing foetus - though of course the level of harm is dose-dependent. The same is not true of a glass or two of wine when breastfeeding. Two totally different issues.

JoolsToo, it isn't like smoking in pregnancy. Smoking in pregnancy is shown to be harmful to the developing foetus - though of course the level of harm is dose-dependent. The same is not true of a glass or two of wine when breastfeeding. Two totally different issues.

Regarding Californiagirl's post, there was a more recent study in the UK that tried to replicate the findings on motor deficit, but couldn't - ie they found that moderate drinking during breastfeeding did not have this effect. I'm not saying people should drink and breastfeed, but that there is no confirmed evidence of any harm in a glass or two of wine. And a lot of women, IMO, wouldn't breastfeed if they thought that had to be teetotal to do it healthily.

as aloha and prufrock have said, there is no evidence that moderate drinking while b/f harms your baby. as tiktok mentioned below, there are many previous threads on this - i have searched them all and followed the links... and as she said the info is very reassuring. not only do you have to be well over the drink driving limit for your baby to be in any way affected by your alcohol consumption, you have to be in that condition while feeding your baby.

aloha - you may well be right, I'm no expert but my dd was told not to drink fresh orange juice whilst bf cos it gives the wee one the runs so I can't see how drinking alcohol can be good either?