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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

EBF - can I have a glass of fizz after the birth?

66 replies

randomquestions87 · 22/02/2020 07:29

I gave up alcohol after discovering I was pregnant and have been tee-total ever since. Before getting pregnant I did enjoy a glass of wine with my evening meals towards the end of the week and a lunchtime glass at weekends. I’d say I drank about 12 units in total per week.

My first baby is due this summer and I want to EBF ideally, but the thought of giving up alcohol for another six months to a year is really putting me off!

I read another thread on MN recently asking people what they did the first night they arrived home from hospital with their newborns, and someone said that once the baby was asleep, they ordered a pizza with their DH and enjoyed a couple of glasses of fizz.

If I EBF is that something that will be completely off limits? I just want to enjoy the occasional glass of wine in moderation once the baby arrives basically, as I do miss it!

Also if I do EBF and don’t drink, then decide to try for another baby and get pregnant again, it could be years before I can enjoy a glass of wine!

Any thoughts welcome...

OP posts:

Mysocalledlifexx · 22/02/2020 11:36

I wouldnt im breastfeeding just now,i wouldnt even drink around my children.
Its down to personal choice. No right or wrong i just know id worry if i did,i wont even eat any sause etc with wine so maybe when your baby is here u will feel totally different.

FlowerArranger · 22/02/2020 13:04

i wont even eat any sause etc with wine

And what, pray, will you do about all the REAL risks that your children will be exposed to over the years?

Darkstar4855 · 22/02/2020 15:17

It’s perfectly fine! I am still breastfeeding my 15mo and often have 1 or 2 glasses of wine a couple of nights a week. There is no risk from alcohol in breast milk. The risk is about being safe to care for your baby i.e. not falling asleep with them on a sofa or similar, hence you may want to stick with just one small glass in those early sleep deprived days.

Just make sure you keep well hydrated as a previous poster said. In the early months I used to drink a pint of water at bedtime and take a second pint to bed and drink a bit at every feed to keep my milk supply up, plus plenty through the day.

Iliketeaagain · 22/02/2020 15:28

While I was pregnant, I was convinced all I'd want after I gave birth was a big glass of wine and a rare steak.
After I gave birth all I really wanted was the biggest cup of tea I could find and toast and marmite.

It was about 3 months before I felt like drinking anything alcoholic, and dd was FF from the very start!

megletthesecond · 22/02/2020 15:31

I did.
Pasta and small glass of champagne when I got home. I figured I'd been doped up to the eyeballs in morphine, volatrol and paracetamol then a small amount of alcohol wasn't going to be the end of the world.

missyoumuch · 22/02/2020 15:31

DH brought champagne for me in hospital after each birth. Tasted like heaven

P1nkHeartLovesCake · 22/02/2020 15:33

Yes you can!

I have breast fed 3 dc and always had a glass or 2 of fizz/wine/cider when I fancied

SinkGirl · 22/02/2020 16:00

I couldn’t EBF as my twins were in nicu but I was pumping. The day after I got discharged and they were still in hospital I couldn’t bare to sit at home in the evening so dragged DH to a bar up the road for a pizza. Drank a mojito, best tasting beverage of my life 😂

Barely ever drink though - sleepless nights and early mornings are far worse if you’ve had a drink. Probably drank on two occasions last year.

Cacaca · 22/02/2020 20:19

You might not really feel like it. I formula feed and even then drinking is just not something that really appeals to me and I never ever thought I’d feel like that.
Drinking in hospital though - do they even allow that?

123456kent · 22/02/2020 23:22

What is wrong with these poisonous trolls who sit behind their keyboard spurting out rubbish to other women asking innocent questions. Imagine if a colleague at work casually asked ‘do you think I can have a glass of fizz after I’ve given birth?’ And someone replied ‘you seem a bit preoccupied with alcohol tbh’ they would be laughed out the building?!! So because a woman is going to/has given birth she isn’t allowed to consider/enquire about having a glass of alcohol?! Please. And as for ‘I’ve never had any trouble giving it up’ ROLLS EYES what a barrel of laughs you must be IRL pp, with your self righteousness and over inflated sense of achIevement.
Anyway, rant over. Enjoy your fizz op, as will I, whenever I feel like it (which as pp have said, will probably not be straight after birth due to being all over the place with tiredness, dehydration etc)

jdy123 · 23/02/2020 07:39

@123456kent well said ! Infuriates me reading those types of answers ! Just don't reply at all if you've got no advice or anything positive to say.

Enjoy your fizz OP ...I know I'll have a bottle in the fridge ready in 5 months lol

99problemsandthecatis1 · 23/02/2020 07:45

I would, but I couldn't as DS wouldn't sleep unless on me, and you can't drink and bed share.

With DD I could and I did as she would happily go in her cot.

Cantchooseaname · 23/02/2020 07:47

It’s fine, for all the excellent reasons above.
One note of caution- I just didn’t want it.
I love a glass of fizz, wine, gin. Was convinced in pregnancy that it would be first thing when I came home.
Had some lovely bottles stashed.
It was a good 18 months before I really enjoyed it. I had the odd glass, but it didn’t feel the same.
Nothing to do with not wanting to drink infront of child, or anything. I just changed, and didn’t want it.
3.5 yrs on, I still don’t drink like pre- pregnancy.

LittleCandle · 23/02/2020 07:49

I had a single glass of champagne at DD1's christening party and she slept for about 14 hours. Lots of things I was told would not cross into my breast milk did, but DD1 has lots of allergies and reacted to what I was eating and passing on to her through my breast milk, although I had weaned her before this was realised by the health professionals. I did not have the same problem with DD2, who has far fewer allergies.

Peapod29 · 23/02/2020 21:31

Littlecandle the reason why you would have been told this is because the best available evidence shows that allergens don’t pass through breastmilk in enough quantities to cause reaction in most babies, including cows milk. There’s also no compelling clinical evidence that a mother restricting her diet helps ‘symptoms’ (which are often vague to start with). It’s a big frustration to me that every other breastfed baby I see as a peer supporter supposedly has some allergy or another and mum is massively restricting her diet. It’s just not evidence based (The formula industry actually run the main website in the U.K. devoted to CMPA). Basically, unless you have one of the absolute tiny percentage of Babies (less than 1%) that are allergic enough to react through breastmilk you don’t need to alter your diet to breastfeed.

EstebanTheMagnificent · 23/02/2020 21:43

They used to say that the alcohol in your milk is the same as the alcohol in your blood but I'm pretty sure this has been disproved. Because if you think about it you could get leathered, express your breast milk and sell it on as alcoholic milk!

Do you know how alcohol levels work in your bloodstream? The concentration of alcohol in your blood is the same as in your milk. A blood alcohol level of 0.08% puts you at the legal limit to drive in England and Wales - this is less than the amount of alcohol which can naturally occur in orange juice. A blood alcohol level of 0.5% will literally kill you.

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