Breastfeeding and Alcohol

[leash27]

I had my first night out last night since DD was born. Had a lovely meal with a few glasses of wine (3 small glasses I believe) and then went to a concert where I had 2 Smirnoff Ice and 2 bottles of beer. My last drink was about 10.30pm so I'm just wondering when would be safe to feed again? DH has been giving get EBM from my freezer stash while I've been away and I have had to pump a couple of times since I got home just to relieve the discomfort really.

I was hoping to start feeding again around lunchtime as it will be about 15 hours since I drank but not 100% certain this would be safe??

X

 

[Spudtastic]

Hi. I googled this a while ago when I wanted a couple of glasses of wine. I found a calculator where it took your body weight into account but on average it said that one standard drink takes two hours to leave your breast milk. Hope this helps.

 

[noon_child]

If it's gone from your blood then it has gone from your milk. If you still feel a bit tipsy then there will still be alcohol in your milk. You need to feel completely sober to be sure your milk is alcohol free. 15hours sounds like easily enough time!

I know people who drink a small glass of wine just as LO is taking their last few minutes of a feed, then they are ready to feed them again 3 hours later. I never did that myself but I have fed LO at 4am after having three drinks between 8 and 10pm.

 

[leash27]

I added up the alcohol units of all the drinks I had and it is round about 14, I have read that it takes an hour per unit of alcohol you have consumed for it to leave your blood so I think 15 hours was fine. Fed her at 1.45pm and it was honestly the best feeling in the world, seems strange to have missed feeding her so much lol. She has had two good feeds this afternoon and now she is fast asleep in her chair.

X

 

[purplecupcake]

I've had up to 4 drinks and fed my baby within a couple hours. I did my research and found its really not a big deal. If you think about it, milk is made from blood, so if you have a few drinks and you BAC is 0.08, your breastmilk can only be AT MOST 0.08% alcohol. That's less than orange juice!!

 

[SarahBear]

Some people will be over-cautious and tell you to "pump and dump," but the reality is, your body is processing the alcohol out of your body, so there's no need to do that. I've been told the standard of "if you're safe to drive, you're safe to breastfeed."

 

[noon_child]

Some people will be over-cautious and tell you to "pump and dump," but the reality is, your body is processing the alcohol out of your body, so there's no need to do that. I've been told the standard of "if you're safe to drive, you're safe to breastfeed."

Yeah pumping and dumping is pointless. You'll either still have it in your blood and immediately start producing alcohol tinged milk again or your body will have cleared it from your milk at the same time it cleared it from your blood.