Planning a day out (alcohol)

[Savannah11]

Hi girls

So it'll be my first girly day out since getting pregnant with LO we are planning on doing lunch and then drinks for the day. I'm planning to pump milk for that day and for the night feeds... Do I need to pump for the following day? How long will it take for the alcohol to not go into my milk? This is obviously a very very rare occasion for me as I usually only go out once a year anyways and never drink alcohol except on that one occasion x

 

[bbbbbbb811]

It depends on how much you drink on average I think it is 1-2 hours per unit to leave your milk (and your blood stream) but just to make sure you can buy strips that test if there is alcohol in your milk! There are also online calculators where you put in how much you had to drink and when you started/finished drinking and it estimates when your blood stream would be alcohol free, but it varies slightly with weight, if you had food with your drink etc. Have a good time

 

[noon_child]

Alcohol leaves your milk at the same rate it leaves your blood. If you've had a lot to drink and therefore wouldn't drive the next day for fear of still being over the limit then I wouldn't feed baby directly. However if its just a few glasses of champagne spread through the day you might even be OK for some of the night feeds, but if the drinks are clustered together in to the evening it will take longer before your milk is clear. Also remember that a large glass of wine is 3 units (so between 3 and 6 hours to clear your system).

However also bear in mind that when you drink a glass of 11% wine your blood doesn't become 11% alcohol. Much less than that is absorbed in to the blood (and therefore milk) - it has a huge effect on your brain by being in your blood, but when drunk as milk by baby they will only absorb a small percentage of that small percentage.

Of more risk to babies is when people are under the influence of alcohol while being in sole care of a baby. Falling asleep with a baby while having alcohol in your system or having impaired judgement while caring for one (stumbling/falling, driving, increased aggression etc.) is a bigger risk than the tiny amounts in the milk in my opinion. (Not saying you'd do that - but just putting the risk in to perspective).

 

[princess2406]

It depends really on how much you're planning on drinking, if it's a a couple of glasses of wine then typically its approx 3-4 hours for the alcohol to leave your body. But if you're planning on really letting your hair down I would express again the following morning.