Drinking while breastfeeding?

A friend of mine mentioned on Myspace she couldn't drink alcohol b/c she was breastfeeding. Maybe I missed that in OB, but is that true?!

(I know a lot of what we drink/consume can end up in breast milk, but I wasn't sure if you can end up with a drunk baby or something!)

um, YEAH. You're in nursing school? Ask your instructor that.....

Uhhh, you are joking aren't you? That would seem as obvious as shooting up heroin while pregnant to me !!!

Uhhh, you are joking aren't you? That would seem as obvious as shooting up heroin while pregnant to me !!!

A lot of websites I've looked up say it's ok as long as you aren't going overboard:

"Most experts agree that the amount of alcohol transferred into the breastmilk from an average glass of wine or beer will not harm a baby. ",

"Although these experts disagree about the length of time between drinking and breastfeeding, one thing they all agree about is that mothers who drink while breastfeeding should only do so moderately and "moderate" means no more than two drinks per day.",

They also mentioned avoiding drinking while actually in the PROCESS of breastfeeding and for a certain amount of hours after you've had a drink.

(BTW, Maybe I need to clarify my original question... I didnt mean breastfeeding the baby at the same time as chugging down some beers!)

http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1170.asp

small amounts of alcohol do get into breastmilk and are passed on to the baby. one study found that breastfed babies of women who had one or more drinks a day were a little slower in acquiring motor skills (such as crawling and walking) than babies who had not been exposed to alcohol (10). large amounts of alcohol also may interfere with ejection of milk from the breast. for these reasons, the march of dimes recommends that women abstain from drinking alcohol while they are nursing. similarly, the american academy of pediatrics (aap) recommends that breastfeeding mothers avoid regular use of alcohol. however, according to the aap, an occasional alcoholic drink probably won't hurt the baby, but a mother who chooses to have a drink should wait at least two hours before breastfeeding her baby (11).

i think it's safe to say: if you shouldn't consume it while pregnant, you shouldn't consume it while breastfeeding.

A lot of websites I've looked up say it's ok as long as you aren't going overboard:

"Most experts agree that the amount of alcohol transferred into the breastmilk from an average glass of wine or beer will not harm a baby. ",

"Although these experts disagree about the length of time between drinking and breastfeeding, one thing they all agree about is that mothers who drink while breastfeeding should only do so moderately and "moderate" means no more than two drinks per day.",

They also mentioned avoiding drinking while actually in the PROCESS of breastfeeding and for a certain amount of hours after you've had a drink.

(BTW, Maybe I need to clarify my original question... I didnt mean breastfeeding the baby at the same time as chugging down some beers!)

You are right about taking a break with breastfeeding while drinking - you have to pump and dump for a period of time, can't remember how long. And, now to contradict myself, drinking a beer can increase your milk production.....

Yes, alcohol can definatly be passed in breastmilk. Anything that you put into your body can be passed to breastmilk. You could however, pump before consuming the alcohol and feed the baby the pumped breastmilk while/after you are drinking. I saw in Parenting magazine there are like, test strips you can put in the breastmilk to see if you still have any alcohol in your breastmilk.

I don't think you have to pump and dump though. My understanding is that when the alcohol is fully metabolized, it's also no longer in the breastmilk. I only add this because there are times when you do not need to pump and dump (and waste all that liquid gold!) and ETOH consumption is not a reason to.

Regardless of whether or not alcohol enters the breast milk -- common sense tells me to NOT drink while breastfeeding. Why risk it? If the alcohol is that important to soemone, then they obviously have a problem.

The problem with that line of reasoning is that by forbidding nursing mothers from indulging in the pleasures of life (which for some people is having a few drinks now and then), you run the risk of reducing a) the number of mothers who are willing to breastfeed and b) the length of time mothers are willing to bf. As more and more research shows, breastfeeding is good for both moms and babies, which in turn is good for everyone else. So instead of forbidding moms from partaking now and then, we should be educating on how to consume alcohol safely.

I've heard the same theory about "pump and dump" from a W.I.C program consultant. SHe didn't go into detail as to how long you should "pump and dump" but I'm sure the longer the safer.

You don't need to pump and dump after drinking alcohol. You just need to give it time to fully metabolize and then it will no longer be in the milk. So when you are no longer feeling any effects from the alcohol, you can resume breastfeeding.