Breastfeeding and drinking?

Dani318 · May 2013

Good morning ladies, Im a FTM curious about drinking alcohol and breastfeeding. I took a breastfeeding class and our instructor said one alcoholic drink takes about 2 hours to get out of your system, so ideally you'd plan to have a drink right after breastfeeding so you'd have 3 or so hours before the next feeding. I was always under the assumption that I would wait a couple months until I had a stash and just pump and dump if I had a couple drinks. I've just read a lot of post of moms having their favorite drinks soon after delivery and I'm wondering how they pull that off as you can tell I'm dying for a margarita but would never want to put my babys health at risk. My mom said one time she remember having a strawberry daiquiri with me and I puked all night she still feels bad about it. Do any STM have any advice on what they did or FTM what your planning on doing? Im ready for a cold one lol

RileighsMom1224 · May 2013

You can have a drink if you want. Your body will metabolize some of the alcohol before it goes in to the breast milk, so one drink is not going to effect the baby. There is also testing strips available if you are super worried about it. I only used them if I was drinking all night and wanted to test my breast milk in the morning to see if I had to dump it or not.

Dragonfly1226 · May 2013

It takes an hour to get into your milk and then an hour to get out. My DS's pediatrician said the best time to have a drink is while you are BFing or right after. Some say a beer a day helps with supply. If you are not feeling drunk or tipsy at all then I wouldn't even worry about it getting into your milk. Just be careful b/c your tolerance is probably lower than it was. Enjoy!

Jtaxson · May 2013

https://www.beststart.org/resources/alc_reduction/pdf/brstfd_alc_deskref_eng.pdf

Can't clicky, on iPhone.

Lil Kate · May 2013

I really didn't have a desire to drink after either of my boys came. The c sections wiped me out and for a while was on pain meds so couldn't drink. Get the test strips so you can see how quickly it comes out of your system... Then you will know for the future.

melissa0726 · May 2013

Ditto everything IrishCoffee said.

And, truly, in the beginning, I was so tired that one glass of wine was MORE than enough. I had very little desire to drink because it just made me want to sleep!

But, a small glass of wine right as or after she finished her bed time nursing session was a perfect.

+Preppy+ · May 2013

I know i definitely waited at least a couple months before I had my first drink. DS ate ALL the time, like hourly for the first 6 weeks, plus he liked to clusterfeed in the evenings. Drinking was the last thing I wanted to do then.

Once he was about 2 months old, he started spacing out the feedings by 2-3 hours, I'd have a beer. I'd drink the beer right after nursing him, so that by the next time he needed to nurse, it would be a few hours.

I pumped and dumped maybe a couple times. I really hated to throw away milk, so I never drank more than a couple drinks in an entire evening, which is fine. I was such a lightweight, I knew I couldnt handle any more than that!

Dani318 · May 2013

Thanks for your advice, as a FTM I feel clueless but it seems like everyone just figures out what works for them and their supply and feeding schedules. Thanks for the link and tips !!

jennkg3 · May 2013

With dd I would have a beer or glass of wine at night when she was litte, probably not a margarita until she was older. I never worried too much as long as I felt okay.

skio · May 2013

I didn't drink for a couple weeks while DD and I were learning and establishing somewhat of a schedule.

Maybe about two months pp, I became pretty relaxed about drinking. I had an oversupply and plenty of breastmilk stored by then, too. If I wanted to have a few drinks, I would have someone give DD a bottle and pump/dump at the same time.

It's fine to have a drink while BFing or shortly after. I would often have a glass of wine during DD's last feeding before bedtime, then another once she was asleep, because I knew by then that she would sleep a good 6 or more hours.

Just learn your baby and have a backup; I don't think I would've been as lax about it if I didn't have a freezer stash as backup in case she needed to eat sooner than anticipated.

Eleventy11 · May 2013

I didn't drink for several weeks with DD. PP are right...alcohol is usually the furthest thing from your mind right at first. I stuck to a single beer or glass of wine, which I would have during the bedtime feeding. The alcohol doesn't have time to get in your system and usually baby will sleep for two to three hours by then. I don't know if I would try any hard liquor and still nurse...my tolerance was totally different and a margarita would have knocked me on my butt!

duffmaker · May 2013

I *believe* the rule of thumb is if you feel tipsy then you shouldn't BF... so like one or two drinks is okay (depending on your tolerance and what they are).

I'm going to buy some strips because I can "feel" tipsy off of one beer or one glass of wine, so after a couple of months I'll grab strips just t see exactly what level of tipsy equals BM contamination for me. I'm not a big drinker though so this isn't even really on my mind.

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