Question for BF moms: do you have the occasional drink??

[aliceinwonderland]

What do you do in terms of nursing afterwards?? I had one beer last night, and what do you know, Erik slept 12a-5a!!! I did cluster feed him in the evening,just because he is more needy in the evening and wants to nurse more, so he wasn't starving when he woke up at 5...
I remember at our nursing class, the LC said the occasional drink is fine...

THANKS!!!

[llcoddington]

Everything I have read says an occasional drink is fine but it is best to wait a couple of hours after the drink to nurse. I have really been wanting a nice glass of wine, so I hope others answer your question!

Lana
mommy to Lauren 12/5/03

[aliceinwonderland]

yea, i did wait a while to nurse...

[jbowman]

I've also heard that an occasional drink is fine!

That said, I am overly cautious (about everything!) and frankly I don't enjoy alcohol that much, so I rarely drink. I had one beer a couple weeks ago at a party and I "pumped and dumped" that evening. I also had some drinks when DH and I were in NYC about 6 weeks ago, but DD wasn't with us, so I was pumping and dumping anyway.

[Jeanne]

The occasional drink is fine. I thought I remember reading that the strength was suspected to pass into the milk by 1% (but don't quote me on that). A light beer is practically water anyway. Also, I do have a colleague who's children have terrible allergies and the family sees a top Allergist in NYC. This allergist had no problem with two light beers everyday. I suspect that one glass of wine is also fine.

Not sure how long you have to wait to nurse but I didn't wait. I am not a daily drinker so when I did have a few drinks (only beer or wine), I didn't feel the need to dump the milk. Neither of my girls had adverse reactions from nursing after I had a glass or wine or two light beers.

[alkagift]

I didn't know what the "right" answer was either, so I was super cautious and waited until Matthew slept through the night regularly and had my glass of wine or beer after he went down for the night. It was amazing how much it went to my head, too. So, I guess my first glass of wine was in February.

Caffeine, though, I started drinking in January--one cup of coffee in the am. Couldn't get myself going in the morning without a very small jolt! I do drink decaf otherwise, though.

Allison
Mommy to Matthew Clayton, 5/19/03

[jec2]

Yes, and in fact on some cases I have nursed immediately after having a drink. Not that I intended to, but the baby awoke and was hungry and so essentially had to.

I have never worried too much about nursing immediately after drinking and here's why. If one is "allowed" to drink later in pregnancy then having a drink and then nursing probably has a lot less effect. The alcohol, as far as I know, goes more directly to the blood stream and therefore hits the fetus quicker/stronger but with the breast, my understanding is that because of the filtration system there the baby gets much less alcohol.

Now, whether any of this is true or it is my own justification for a little elixir now and again, I don't know.

[aliceinwonderland]

well, I must be the bad mommy! I do have half a cup of coffee in the morning...I need it for my sanity...I also time it so I have fed him already. I read caffeine maximises in breastmilk an hour after consumption!

[lizamann]

I have the occasional glass of wine or beer, about once every 2 or 3 weeks or so, and don't worry about it at all.

Here's the way I see it. The breastmilk has the same percent alcohol as your blood does. So even if you are legally DUI drunk at 0.1%, then that is what is in your milk, right? Compare that to a beer or glass of wine that is like 12% alcohol. A huge difference. I don't worry about the tiny percentage that is in my blood. If anyone has evidence to the contrary, though, I would love to see it!

[Jeanne]

No I think I might win the prize for being the bad mommy! I drank two very strong Starbucks small coffees per day all during my pregnancy and all during nursing. I could not get through the day with a toddler, working, and a major construction project at home without them!

[etwahl]

yes, i do now. started having occasional glass or half glass of wine around probably 10 months. a good friend here recommended a big glass of wine before nursing when lauren was really teething. apparently that helps!

Tammy,
Mom to Lauren Genevieve
03/12/2003
www.evantammy.com

[kristine_elen]

I drank one glass of wine or beer here and there when I was nursing. It's hard to try to time it so that your baby won't nurse for a while, since the little ones nurse so often.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

http://www.kellymom.com/health/lifestyle/alcohol.html

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[jbowman]

Thank you for posting that link, Karen. It was very informative!

[aliceinwonderland]

Thanks for the link. My baby slept MORE, not LESS though...funny boy :)

[ShayleighCarsensMom]

Hi Eri!!!
Glad to hear that you are doing well!
As far as drinking this is what my WONDERFUL Dr. had to say about it (and quite frankly I think she is the BEST Dr.!)
Drinking in moderation is fine. You can basically have one drink per nursing session...waiting to nurse is all a myth as it takes 2-3 hours for it to even appear in your milk supply, but it is also so diluted that you would have to be rip roaring drunk for it to affect the baby.
I had probelms relaxing and getting my milk to let down, so I would actually sit down with a glass of wine while I nursed in the evening to help me relax (and I would sip on this glass for 2 -3 hours...)
Oh and caffeine..could not survive with out my daily mocha!!!

[flagger]

Ms. Flagger had a margarita in the hospital after giving birth. It was her first during the whole pregnancy. I don't think it is a big problem as long as you are not a lush.

[ShayleighCarsensMom]

That would have been my dream come true!!!
My DH brought me a venti mocha from Starbucks...I shouldnt have had it because I was shaking so bad after 9 months and no caffeine and I got totally sick!!!

[jec2]

Oh, explain! I'm in teething hell right now and would love to know how to help this process along.

[murpheyblue]

I recall reading an article that indicated very limited studies had been done or alcohol and BF. One of the few studies I read about showed that moms who consumed 2+ alcoholic drinks per day had children who at the 1 year mark showed impaired motor skill development compared with their peers.

I have a glass of wine or beer about once a week, usually on a weekned night right after DD eats.

[mharling]

I do. When ds was younger, it was trickier, but I would have wine occasionally. Now that he's older, I usually have wine 1-2 times a week. Most times it's after he goes to bed. Every once in a while, I'll have it before he goes to bed if I know I can wait at least 2 hours to nurse him before he goes down.

Two weeks a go, dh and I went out for Mexican and I had 2 (!!) margaritas. I felt like I was totally splurging!

And I agree and not needing to pump and dump. I never did that.

Mary & Lane 4/6/03
[link:www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b370a2992536|Birthday Pics!!]

[houseof3boys]

Absolutely! I will have a glass of wine a few times a week after I have nursed Ryan to sleep and won't be fed for a while. Even in the beginning (maybe 3 months when I wasn't as sleep deprived), I had a glass of wine but tried to time it so that it was right after a nursing session and knew he wouldn't eat again for 2 hours!

[lukkykatt]

When I was in the round-the-clock nursing phase, I didn't drink. But more because that I had become such a lightweight during my pg that even a glass of wine would have knocked me out and I was too afraid that I wouldn't be able to respond well to the baby.

But once there was a block of nighttime sleep, I did have an occasional drink. I tried to wait until DS went to bed and then had it afterwards. If there was an occasion where people were drinking during the day, I would just give EBM.

[hez]

I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've had a drink since I got pregnant... Like someone else said she was, I'm such a lightweight I can't handle more than one drink at a time right now. I like the link Karen posted on the subject. If I felt like drinking more often, I probably would without worrying about it. I just don't seem to feel like it much right now.

Oh, and my mom had a doctor who told her to have a beer with each nursing session to relax her and help her letdown, so she did on quite a few occasions! It's so funny how much things change over the years with research and so forth.

[marinkitty]

Ms. Flagger was very restrained - LOL! I had about half a bottle of champagne in the two hours after giving birth! It never tasted so good!

(fyi - my dr. and the hospital LC said it would have absolutely no effect since I was only producing very small amounts of colostrom at that point)

Holly
Mom to Mia (3.17.03)

[marinkitty]

Not sure things have really changed. My LC recommended on more than one occassion that I have a beer while nursing to help reduce my stress and ease let down (things were not going well for us). I never took her up on it, maybe I should have?


Holly
Mom to Mia (3.17.03)

[parkersmama]

Some LCs and peds still recommend this. It really helped me with ds #1 when I was beyond uptight about nursing. I am not a heavy drinker but have a couple of beers or glasses of wine a week and do even when nursing (but not when pregnant). We haven't seen any ill affects from it and I like not feeling so deprived! :)

[sntm]

I have a couple of drinks a week. I can't remember where I read it, or if it was a reputable source, but I read that one drink will cause an alchohol level in your BM equivalent to that of a NON-alcoholic beer at most. So I've never pumped and dumped. I have BF after or during consumption of a drink. I've only had more than one drink at a single occasion a handful of times.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03

[votre_ami03]

My Dr (who is actually Mormon/LDS) told me to have my H sneak in a beer b/c it would help my milk come in! Boy did it ever! Although, I waited until I got hime. ;)

I have max 2 light beers in an evening & am still nursing Nolan.

Christy, mommy to Nolan 7/22/03

[Jen in Chicago]

I had a small glass of champagne after delivering, and a margarita the next day.

I think I am the lush... I drank .5-1 drink every few days after delivering while nursing. I had milk production issues around 4 mos. and the Ped told me to drink a dark beer a day. Those were the best Drs orders I ever received. It either helped my production, or reduced my stress and helped with let down, either way it worked.

[RwnMayfair]

I've had an occasional glass of wine, and even a glass of port here and there. Nothing regularly, since I've discovered that several wines that never bothered me before give me an upset stomach now sometimes, but occasionally. (The port hasn't bothered me at all though.) And I've never scheduled any of Taran's feedings around any of them. According to my mother, who is a LC, an occasional glass is fine. Obviously a lot of people have posted things that support this and more, so you should be fine. :)

-Melissa

Taran Reed - Nov. 20, 2003