Drinking while breastfeeding?

Wicked Wahine · Jun 24, 2008

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.

scattycarrot, BSN, RN · Jun 24, 2008

I think we have had a lot of personal feelings get in the way of facts here! The American Acadamy of Pediatrics does not contra-indicate alcohol and breastfeeding as long as alcohol is consumed in moderation. The occasional drink will do no harm to a baby and its alarmist to say otherwise. Less than 2% of the alchol the mother consumes will reach the baby so if your sober enough to drive your sober enough to breatsfeed. Also, alcohol does not accumulate in breastmilk so the average mom will metabolize alcohol in about 1 hour (1 unit per hour) so when blood levels are back down, so are alcohol levels in beast milk. Now, babies livers are more vulnerable to alcohol but if mom consumes a drink(one unit) and then waits 2 hours to breast feed there is very little chance of passing on the alcohol to her baby. As a pp said, its important that mothers are encouraged to breast feed and are given accurate information about this. To be honest, the mothers who are seeking information on the amount of alcohol that is safe whilst breastfeeding are not the mothers anyone needs to be worried about! If a mother is consuming more than the recommended amount (1-2 drinks a week) then it is likely there are more issues going on then just alcohol consumption.

leslie :-D · Jun 24, 2008

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.

i don't drink so yeah, i do have to wonder...

is alcohol so important that one can't abstain while breastfeeding?

leslie

TazziRN, RN · Jun 24, 2008

I'm sorry, I do not consider 2 drinks a day (I'm assuming every day?) to be "moderate".

DDRN4me · Jun 24, 2008

dd's physician told her that she should feed the baby then have a drink .. by the time the baby needs to be fed again the alcohol will have metabolized and it is perfectly fine.

Not necessarily a NEED to drink; but sometimes we like to have wine with dinner.

luvmy3kids · Jun 24, 2008

Slightly off topic... but I've heard of mother's who have breastfed drunk (lying down) and then have fallen asleep while nursing. They ended up smothering the baby.

I think if you want to breastfeed, you should take a lot of consideration into what you are putting into your body. People are very careful about spices and dairy, etc. Alcohol is not that great for an adult, imagine what it would do to an infant?

A drink here and there is fine, but why risk it anyway? JMO

Take care, and good luck to you.

Wicked Wahine · Jun 24, 2008

Oh for pete's sake. Just because a woman becomes a mother doesn't mean that she's suddenly mother theresa and expecting that kind of behavior from her isn't fair. Wanting to have a few drinks now and then does not make someone a drunkard and if we treat women like this, why on earth would they be honest in sharing their drinking habits with us? This demonization of ETOH is not helpful and isn't accurate. Nursing moms deserve factual information, not finger wagging about how she must not be a good mother because she wants a couple of drinks. Sheesh.

Wicked Wahine · Jun 24, 2008

Also, if a mother is expected to not take any "risks" for the sake of her child, then she should never, ever get in a car. That would be more beneficial for the health and well being for her child than anything else.

RhodyGirl, RN · Jun 24, 2008

Oh for pete's sake. Just because a woman becomes a mother doesn't mean that she's suddenly mother theresa and expecting that kind of behavior from her isn't fair. Wanting to have a few drinks now and then does not make someone a drunkard and if we treat women like this, why on earth would they be honest in sharing their drinking habits with us? This demonization of ETOH is not helpful and isn't accurate. Nursing moms deserve factual information, not finger wagging about how she must not be a good mother because she wants a couple of drinks. Sheesh.

A few drinks now and then is great, and I agree with you that it does not make one a drunkard. A few drinks when you have an infant depending on you as its sole source of nutrition, however, is downright wrong. I don't rely on statistics for anything....and I really wouldn't risk it if it were my child. :twocents:

leslie :-D · Jun 24, 2008

Oh for pete's sake. Just because a woman becomes a mother doesn't mean that she's suddenly mother theresa and expecting that kind of behavior from her isn't fair. Wanting to have a few drinks now and then does not make someone a drunkard and if we treat women like this, why on earth would they be honest in sharing their drinking habits with us? This demonization of ETOH is not helpful and isn't accurate. Nursing moms deserve factual information, not finger wagging about how she must not be a good mother because she wants a couple of drinks. Sheesh.

oh for crying out loud-

why don't you chill?

to ask why one can't abstain while breastfeeding, to me, is reasonable.

same as with smoking.

if someone can't give it up, i can't help but wonder why?

but if the experts say it metabolizes, wonderful.

i just don't understand taking these chances.

and i won't feel ashamed of that either.

if you don't like it, tough.

leslie

Otessa, BSN, RN · Jun 24, 2008

Anyone heard of "pump and dump"?

otessa

Wicked Wahine · Jun 24, 2008

Great, of course you are welcome to your opinion. What I'm saying is that the risk you are referring to is not based in fact and a nursing mom should not be educated that she needs to abstain from alcohol completely because it's simply not true. We should be supporting nursing moms, not putting up social roadblocks for them all over the place.