Alcohol and breastfeeding

[blondie87]

Hi there,

I have a 6 week old baby and am exclusively breastfeeding on demand. Didn’t drink at all throughout pregnancy but I would like to have a glass of wine with dinner on Friday/Saturday/Sunday evenings. This would not impair my ability to care for my baby in any way but my question is, it is safe from a breastfeeding perspective? As I’ve said, I’d not exceed a glass in one evening. Thanks.

I breastfed both my DC. I did have the very occasional drink but it was that very low alcohol stuff, something like Lambrini (oh the sophistication!), or a half of Guinness.

Not an issue for breastfeeding but you cannot bedshare after alcohol consumption.

We don’t bedshare as we have a bedside crib so that’s not an issue! Thank you for your comments.

The NHS advice is, "An occasional drink is unlikely to harm your breastfed baby" - but obviously do not then fall asleep with your baby or attempt to co-sleep or share a sofa.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/breastfeeding-alcohol/

Totally fine to have a drink while breastfeeding. An analogy I heard is that it is somewhat akin to tipping a bottle of wine into a swimming pool - anything that does get through to your milk will be so diluted it’s negligible.

There’s loads of research on this area. I breastfed until a couple of months ago and understand that for your baby to be ingesting harmful levels of alcohol from breast milk you’d actually need to have alcohol poisoning.
I didn’t drink to excess but I did have a glass or two.
It’s actually best to drink whilst feeding, as it won’t be in your bloodstream and thus breast milk then.
I actually did this at the pub a few times-nobody batted an eyelid. If they did I didn’t notice!

A couple (or even a few) occasional glasses will be fine. Enjoy!

Thanks- I shall!