Booze and the breast: Drinking with a nursling so that everyone has fun
Tempted to drink on the holidays while nursing? Here’s my recommendation for booze and the breast.
Dr. Jack Newman, breastfeeding guru, states, “Prohibiting alcohol is another way we make life unnecessarily restrictive for nursing mothers.” Studies show very little alcohol gets in breastmilk and he says women shouldn’t worry about drinking.
That said, other mothers swear it upsets their baby. Time for a little trial and error!!
Simply “test” a glass or two ASAP to see if your baby gets an upset tummy. Make sure you are well rested and do so as early in the day as possible to try to avoid an upset tummy at night.
Many babies have no reaction whatsoever. I think mine did, but my baby has a very sensitive tummy (and I generally abstained as I didn’t want to complicate our little sleepless lives). I have one or two drinks every week or so now (this week I was trying 4 oz of red wine after dinner, but it was a bit too much for me–my body doesn’t handle booze well). With Bodhi at 21 months I don’t notice any difference, but he is much more resilient in his old age.
Kellymom has a list of some science on booze and nursing. They say if you wait two to four hours alcohol will be out of the system. Great if you can pump, but I couldn’t so that doesn’t work for me.
When in doubt, LLL!! http://www.lalecheleague.org/faq/alcohol.html
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