Can anyone tell me about breastfeeding and drinking alcohol?

[Chequers]

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no need to give EBM if only a couple of glasses of wine!!!

I often drink a small glass of wine or prosecco in the evenings. If ds2 needs a feed soon after or even during that, so be it. He's fine!

It's more like 1 'unit' every 1-2 hours, btw.

See here for some great info on bfeeding and alcohol, I was really surprised when I first read it!

Its a popular discussion here if you do a search- but the consensus is that the safe to drive=safe to bf is perfectly good, even a little on the conservative side.

Kellymom says:In general, if you are sober enough to drive, you are sober enough to breastfeed. Less than 2% of the alcohol consumed by the mother reaches her blood and milk. Alcohol peaks in mom's blood and milk approximately 1/2-1 hour after drinking (but there is considerable variation from person to person, depending upon how much food was eaten in the same time period, mom's body weight and percentage of body fat, etc.). Alcohol does not accumulate in breastmilk, but leaves the milk as it leaves the blood; so when your blood alcohol levels are back down, so are your milk alcohol levels.

The majority of us here seem to see nothing wrong in a couple of glasses of wine when bfing. Which TBH is enough to get me pretty merry these days !

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Unless you were really going on a bender (in which case you shouldn't be in charge of a baby), then no, you don't need to express.

The odd small glass of wine from early on should be fine unless your baby was sick or prem.

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You don't need to express at all, bender or not...unless you need to for your own comfort. The alcohol diffuses out of the milk, perfectly naturally - and we must say this every week on mumsnet so there is loads in the archives including references for it if you need them.

Expressing does not hasten the process of alcohol-free milk.

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