With so many opinions, I'm looking for real answers from real, breastfeeding mamas. NO JUDGEMENT here!
I'm certainly not talking about really having a wild & crazy night out on the town, but rather when after giving birth did you first allow yourself a glass of wine or 2 with dinner or a beer on the deck enjoying a summer evening?
Re: When Did You Have Your First Cocktail?
LO is four months now, and I drink a beer several evenings a week after he is down for the night.
I drank an occasional glass of wine while pregnant, slowly and with a meal. Once DD was born, she was eating every 2-3 hours for a while, so I didn't drink at all. As soon as it got to where I could put her down in the evening and know she'd be out for at least 4-6 hours, I would have a glass of wine at dinner again. that's really all I want to drink - a glass of wine with dinner.
That said, alcohol appears in breastmilk in the same percentage as it does in your blood. So you know how the legal limit for driving in most states is .08% or whatever? Right. That's not 8%, that is 8 hundreths of a percent, or 0.08/100. And that is the concentration it will be in your breastmilk. For reference, beers are typically somewhere between 6-12% alcohol, as is wine, and liquors vary but average is probably 40-60%. If you casually had one beer that was 8% alcohol, your blood alcohol level would be well under the legal limit, which means your breastmilk would also be underneath that concentration. Your baby's organs have the ability to metabolize small amounts of alcohol. Unless you are getting trashed and then immediately breastfeeding, cut yourself some slack. If you want to have a beer or two, it is fine.