Alcohol whilst breastfeeding! Am I a bad mum?

[BurlingtonBertie]

I think this might be a regular question but what are the guidelines ... and what do people actually do? I have a small glass of wine. Most nights. Is that really bad? Feeling guilty but I love it! Oh, my dd is three months and exclusively breastfed!

I did that. NOt sure if it was wise, but I did. It was the only thing that got me through I think. . I look back now and think maybe I shouldn't have, but it is done now.

There are lots of threads on this. It is fine as long as you aren't caning it, alcohol leaves your milk at the same rate it does the bloodstream, ie around one unit per hour. So no harm in a small glass of wine once LO has gone to bed, it's what keeps me going through the day!

yes i drank gass of wine in evening after BF made me feel like an adult and had missed it when pg.

so long as you are not steamin no problem

besides you need some me activities some adult time

On my birthday I had a double Tia Maria down the pub (went out for a meal with the girls) and coke, then a very generous glass of Bailey's when I got home. Ds woke up an hour after and I fed him as normal.
I did feel a bit squiffy because that was the most alcohol I'd had in months. So that might explain why ds was drunkenly ambling around his cot with a silly smile and gargling like mad.
No, I'm just kidding, he was absolutely fine! Made no difference to his sleep (thought he might have slept a bit longer but no!).

The odd glass of wine now and then can't do any harm. but I'd avoid anything more than this.
I don't tend to drink very often, might have the odd (small) glass of Bailey's once a week if I can be bothered, the above was very exceptional!

did it have any impact on nappy contents?

It's perfectly fine to drink whilst Bfing, I've had a couple of beers a few times since I started bfing DS2(4weeks).
If you think of BM as similar to blood, in the way that it doesn't just get produced and sit in your breast, but rather constantly reproduce and cleanse itself so alcohol leaves your BM at a very rough guide of approx a unit an hour, it's pretty impossible to work out exactly how muich and how quickly, but it has been shown you'd need to be pretty bloody drunk (or close to comatose!) for the little alcohol that goes through to your BM tyo affect baby, however if you are desperate nopt to let it go through to baby at all, they suggest an hour a unit from the time you start drinking.
The only time it could be mreo of a problem is if baby is ill or premature.

Hello. I went out last night salsa dancing and had 3 mojitos. It was nice to let go after 14 months without drinking. However this morning I am not sure what to do with my bm. After reading victoriansqualor I'm toying with the idea of not tipping my expressed milk down the sink and giving it to the baby. mmmm I'm sure I'll feel guilty whatever I do...

It's true the alcohol flows freely into your milk - but it peaks at around 60 - 90 mins after you've drunk it and only a small mount of the stuff you've drunk will make it through to your baby.

As long as you aren't drunk it's fine! Just one a night at bed time will mean it is fully absorbed within two hours or so, and breastfeeding your baby after a while will mean absolutely none makes it way through..

FWIW, I don't think any mother should be steaming drunk however she feeds her baby!