Breastfeeding and alcohol - confused.com!

[MrsMc]

Hi all - sorry if this has been covered before but can I ask - how much alcohol can I drink safely whilst breastfeeding?

I'm sure I remember being told at the breastfeeding workshop at Dulwich hospital that drinking anything up to two BOTTLES of wine is safe. Can't say I've tested that to the limit, but I've never seen anything in writing to back that up and now I'm unsure.

Advice gratefully accepted!

[ClareC]

Hiya, I was told the same at the King's breastfeeding work shop, that it would take the equivalent of two bottles of wine before your milk was effected! Seems rather excessive to me but I liked the stat;-)

I have a friend who is a GP, spoke to her about it, she hadn't heard the two bottle stat, and also agreed sounded excessive, however her view was you can drink, but not to feed if you felt tipsy. Basically sensible non excessive drinking! Would love to know more about the Kings research re the two bottles!!!

[littleEDfamily]

I literally had two sips yesterday and, after months of abstinence, felt affected!!! Two bottles is outrageous - I'd probably give myself alcohol poisoning my tolerance is so low nowadays, not to mention I don't think you'd be fit to care for a young baby aftre drinking that much.

But on a more serious note, did anyone else read the article about a year ago saying that most of the advice about what not to eat and drink while pregnant is generally overly cautious, but that people should have some (not much though) concern about boozing while breastfeeding......? I am going to try and find it.....

[charlottep]

ooh, i like that, two bottles sounds like just the thing i need after a day with my two year old and my nine week old. i'm sure that i read that it takes 2 hours to 'process' one glass and that something like only 2% of the alcohol consumed passes into your breast milk.

I felt quite guilty about enjoying a glass of wine in the first couple of weeks after my daughter was born, but I got over that pretty quickly and now like to share a glass or two with my husband once the little ones are in bed - life is too short and the weather is too nice. I notice no change in her (i.e. she's not more gassy, she doesn't sleep any more or any less, etc).

Everything in moderation is my view.

[Smiler]

Two bottles! Ha ha!

The most I ever drank while feeding might have been around that much, much cava and wine at my friend's 30th house party, after a long time of total abstinence, drinking til 2am, fed the baby at 3am and she was definitely hungover in the morning! I was fine though, reckon that sleep deprivation creates the worst hangovers with or without the booze.

Haven't repeated the experiment though.

[Pickle]

I'd be in hospital after two bottles these days :-S

Having breastfed for around 2.5 years in total (2 kids) there is no WAY I would have got through it without the occasional (nightly, stress of raising kids and all that) glass of vino. My kids never seemed to suffer, but that said probably the most I ever had was about the equivalent of one bottle of wine.

I remember being told the two bottles thing at the workshop too, made a complete fool of myself by doing a little celebratory "whoop" in an otherwise quiet room!

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

TWO bottles?!::o I got tipsy on just one bottle of Bulmer Pear Cider ( classy I am!).

I was told two units and no more than that and only now and again.

[ClareC]

I think the "research" result are a ploy to keep us all B/F longer :-)

[MrsMc]

Glad I'm not the only one who remembers the stat - even if it's a load of old cobblers. The tipsy measure makes sense, from a baby carrying pov as well as alcohol absorption. Will lay off the special brew ;-)

[ClareC]

Can't see King's giving advice that is old cobblers, there must be research to back it up. That said, although I wouldn't go so far as drinking two bottles, it is nice to know that you can drink in moderation. Would be good to find out the basis for the advice :-)

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

The NHS website says one or two units a week which is what I was told:

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/958.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=135

http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/features/family/alcohol-and-breastfeeding

http://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/pdfs/Alcohol_and_Breastfeeding_March_2009.pdf

I cannot find anything that says anything over 2units is safe.

[GinaG3]

2 Bottles? Thats far too much, I would be verrry drunk. I just refrained from having anything more than a glass of wine for the first 12 months or so, now my daughter is 17 months (still feeding) I still don't drink much, but a little more than I would have before, maybe 2-3 glasses.

If I consult my breastfeeding bible it tells me.. It takes a 8.5 stone woman 2-3 hours to eliminate the alcohol contained in one small glass of lager or wine, yet this can be up to 13 hours if the 'one' drink contained high amounts of alcohol (such as a cocktail). Any alcohol consumed by the mother will reach its peak in breastmilk after 30-60 mins.

My advice, do NOT drink 2 bottles of wine, drink 2 units :)

[Ruth_Baldock]

I remember the MW running the workshop telling us that she'd breastfeed her children whilst watching 'Enders with a G+T nightly. Brill!

But then at a weaning workshop, the soppy lady running it told us not to drink any alcohol at all whilst BF. (She also told us to only use jars or baby food in a 'genuine emergency, like if you're stranded somewhere and thats all you can get your hands on...) and also told us Rusks were literally works of the devil. I did literally have to Laugh Out Loud)

Personally I have a few glasses of whatever a week, and Son seems to be fine.

[Smiler]

Oh to be 8.5 stone!!!

But presume that means that if heavier can process more alcohol!

[fairylamb]

I read/heard somewhere alcohol is not stored in breast milk unless you drink a very large quantity (I guess this is where the 2 bottles of wine figure comes in). Which makes sense as you don't generally excrete alcohol through other means i.e. sweating unless you have a very heavy night. However I also read it can make breastmilk taste a bit funny. But I guess this applies to all food groups/drinks etc.

[MrsMc]

Think you may be on to something there fairylamb... sounds vaguely familiar and logical. I also got the g&t anecdote from the lady who ran my session Ruth!

Think moderation wins the day for me, which is the norm anyway (excepting the rare night out). Also comforted by the fact that, as the boy sleeps through now, there's a good 8 hours between drinking and the next feed!

[The Nappy Lady]

With you MrsMc, though I have to say that I was a light weight before having children, and now even more so. Two glasses of wine and I'm pretty tipsy, then ready to sleep - not much danger of me drinking huge quantities on that basis!

I've always been quite relaxed about the odd glass of wine when breastfeeding, all things in moderation I say.

Molly

[ClareC]

I too was given the G&T anecdote :-)