Breastfeeding and alcohol

[ladywotlunches]

As there seem to be a lot of threads about BF, I think many of us are at the 'very young' baby stage. I'm in two minds even now posting this, as it could be an emotive issue (and I remember the furore on the smoking when pregnant thread :~) )but here goes:

The official advice now for alcohol when feeding is 1-2 units, 1-2 times a week. This is new since my first baby, when all sorts of levels were deemed 'safe' even up to 2 bottles of wine (in one sitting!!!). But this official advice is followed by the guidance that as long as you leave 2-3 hours before feeding, all the alcohol is gone.

So does this mean that effectively you can drink more often than the guidelines, as long as you have long enough before you have to feed again, and a couple of times a week you can feed and drink at the same time??

This is where I'm not sure I want to hear other opinions, but lets see!

[Fuschia]

I think i'd agree with your interpretation

[cuppa tea]

Personally I tend to use my own judgment on this and ignore the specific advice. With my first baby I was probably more conservative with regards to drinking, but I really haven't worried about it as much with the second. I really didn't much feel like drinking much certainly the first 3 months when the babies were really little. But I breastfed my first child until 27 months and plan to do the same with the second. It's very difficult to abstain from alcohol completely when feeding for that long and I feel that the benefits of breastfeeding probably outweigh the negatives of moderate drinking. To be honest after a hard day with 2 kids I really look forward to a glass of red and a sit down and the de-stressing has to be a good thing. I am sure as long as you are not really downing pints then the baby will be fine.

[littleEDfamily]

Apparently 'La Leche' (sp?) recommends as much as you would drink if driving... which is disappointing as I can't drive even on half a pint. But I think it's the most sensible, easy-to-apply advice I have heard. Didn't stop me drinking half a bottle last night....

[pebbles]

I'm a believer in if you can drive you can breast feed? Not sure whether right or wrong buy my little ones seem fine :)

[supergolden88]

All I know is the other night I had a glass of white wine and a glass of Prosecco and woke up with massive headache. I would say stick to what you enjoy within reason and you cant go too far wrong. By the way was anyone else asked by midwifes at Kings whether they had alcohol while pregnant? They asked me and I said yes (not to excess obviously) but found odd question to ask someone who had JUST given birth.

[EmilyE]

I don't know where I got this from, but I seem to remember hearing that even having drunk a bottle of wine (yes, a bottle) it was still better to breastfeed than not.

Please don't get cross with me, I'm not saying I advocate that, but personally I would cheerfully drink a couple of units very regularly (most evenings).

[ClareC]

My daughter is 10 mths and when I did the BF workshop at Kings last December, the two midwives that ran it said that you would need to drink the equivalent of 2 bottles of wine for your breastmilk to be effected!! Seemed rather excessive and I couldn't drink that at the best of times but it was a nice fact! I spoke to a GP friend about it, she hadn't heard the 2 bottles statistic (and thought it excessive), her advice was it's fine in moderation, not to BF if feel tipsy. Seemed sensible advice to me and far more realistic than the 1-2 units 1-2 times a week!

[ladywotlunches]

Thanks Ladies - you all seem to have the same opinion as me. So it was the BF workshop I got the 2 bottles stat from! Like you Supergolden, 2 glasses is my absolute limit anyway (and borders the headache territory anyway) so I shall continue to enjoy a glass when I feel like it rather than thinking "this is the 3rd one this week - should I?"

[Pickle]

I remember being told the "bottle of wine is fine" thing in both the breastfeeding workshop and my NCT class.

In fact, embarrasingly, at the end of my NCT course the teacher went round the room asking what thing we had learnt had really stuck in our mind, and the only thing I could think of was that I could drink a bottle of wine and still breastfeed :-$ You can take a girl out of New Zealand...

When feeding both of mine I did have the odd glass of wine, but like others found that one, maybe two glasses was my limit before I either got a headache or fell asleep on the sofa! Even now, 2.5 years after having my youngest, I can only manage a glass or two.

[littleEDfamily]

My tolerance was very very low for the first 2 months PP, but I am happy (and slightly ashamed) to report that as much as half a bottle (rare, though) produces only a very mild and fleeting morning hangover. If having wine, I have it immediately after baby goes to bed, and then sober up before (my) bedtime....Or - I have a pint while feeding her (if out for lunch on weekend) - I read alcohol in milk is at its max about 1.5 hours after drinking it, so I figure if she feeds quickly I may just be ok. I do get some disgusted stares from pub goers, though.... I just have the one!!

ladywotlunches - I definitely think you should enjoy one when you fancy it and not keep a week long tally. Having said that, I'm going to try and restrict alcohol to the weekend in future though... it's just become too much of a crutch in the evenings....slippery slope and all that....

[Knomester]

I was surprised about how little of what we consume makes it through to our breastmilk...

Like littleEDfamily I will have a beer if I'm out for lunch at the weekend (often whilst feeding) and will have a beer or two or a couple of small glasses of wine after baby Knomester has gone to bed in the evening so that by the time I feed him again around 3am or 4am I doubt there'd be much left in my system.

[alieh]

I would agree with your interpretation too. Personally, in the early months when my son was feeding a lot through the night I couldn't really contemplate more than a small glass of wine in the evening (too knackered!). But once he'd dropped all of the night feeds, or at least wasn't feeding until at least 3 or 4 am I figured having a few drinks in the evening wasn't a problem.

[Keef]

My missus went to a thing at St Thomas', and was told that there was no evidence that drinking did no damage, so you shouldn't drink at all. Wish she'd gone to Kings!

That said, on the very few occasions that she's had a couple of glasses of wine in the last 18 months, she's woken up feeling rotten. And this from a lass who used to be able to have it large!

[radnrach]

I'm so glad you started this thread - it feels like such a taboo thing to ask/talk about to me. There is so much conflicting information about this on the internet, and I've been unsure what to believe!

I've been feeling guilty for indulging in the second glass of wine, and have also felt guilty if it's more than 2 nights a week! But I definitely think that if little one is asleep for at least 4 hours in the evening, if I have a couple of glasses after he's just eaten then surely that should be okay? It's good to read other people think the same thing.

[ladywotlunches]

radnrach - I'm glad that the thread has gone the way I hoped!! :) Like you say, lots of conflicting info, and like the St Thomas' 'double negative' advice just to keep us feeling really guilty about everything, no medical professional would dare give a straight answer.

Bottoms up!

[cuppa tea]

I did read 'the new birth experience' by Sheila Kitzinger and she reckons that you just need to drink plenty of fluid while you are breastfeeding...water, juice, tea, coffee, beer, champagne!!! I'm going with that one ;)

[melindastone13]

Breast-feeding and alcohol don't mix well. There's no level of alcohol in breast milk that's considered safe for a baby to drink. For info about alcohol and breastfeeding please visit http://motherhow.com/alcohol-and-breastfeeding-how-much-can-you-drink/

[Mick Mac]

The blood alcohol percentage for driving in Northern Ireland for example, is 0.08% - couldn't find UK one on wikipedia

If the pro rata amount of alcohol to breast milk ratio (0.08%) was passed on to a baby I (personally) very much doubt this would have any effect. Layman's logic applied.

You would have to multiply the drink driving limit by 10 for your baby to be drinking anywhere near 1% alcohol in its tiny "bottle" of milk size measure. This may be where the two bottles of wine being ok comes from.

But what the scientists are saying is that they cannot prove it has no effect (which is extremely difficult to do) - hence caution in a litigious society.

Obviously I'm not a doctor, or I wouldn't be writing this - so take it with a pinch of alcohol.

[Convex]

this thread is so old!!!

[Saffron]

Has anyone else noticed recently an increase in posters joining the Forum then immediately posting on old threads, with links to various commercially associated websites as their contribution to the thread? Could be genuine, but seems a bit odd to me. xx

[Pickle]

Wow, 2010. I'm happy to report that I'm now able to manage more than 1 or 2 glasses of wine in one sitting, and all three children have survived me drinking the odd glass of wine while breastfeeding with no obvious signs of damage 😀

[Angelina]

Isn't it a bit odd that alcohol is such a common way to relax? It's not good for you and can't be good for your baby.

Why not find other ways to relax?

Is it too hard to just not drink alcohol at all? If you're asking the question, surely you know something's not right....

[Pickle]

What an odd response, Angelina! Notwithstanding the fact that this thread is 6 years old, where does anyone say they're using alcohol to relax?

[Angelina]

I read this above - "To be honest after a hard day with 2 kids I really look forward to a glass of red and a sit down and the de-stressing has to be a good thing."

isn't it more "odd" to want to justify how much you can actually get away with drinking around children?