BFing and alcohol

lalaith50 · April 2014

Hi! So I don't lurk around here much, so I apologize if this gets discussed all the time, but I know that it's kind if controversial about how much alcohol is ok to drink and bf with... Some people say if you can drive then you're safe to BF, and some say not at all. So a couple times over the past few weeks I've had a small amount to drink (one small drink or less), and I'm observing that those nights seem to be the roughest with LO. He is most likely to cry long in the middle of the night or not fall asleep. Has anyone else experienced this? The most recent that I found strangest- I pumped in the day and had several ounces, then with dinner at 5:30 I had two small glasses of wine. I fed him the pumped milk til I could no longer "feel" the alcohol in ,my system; around 8:30pm? The night started normally, but then he was awake solid from 3-5am, which is totally unusual for him! I guess I wonder if this is just a coincidence, or has anyone els experienced something similar? Also- if my baby won't sleep normally when fed pumped milk then waiting hours for the alcohol to get out of my system...ugh that's depressing! What am I supposed to DO besides being resigned to never having a single drink for the next year?!

lalaith50 · April 2014

Ugh sorry if the formatting didn't show up...I really do know how to type in paragraphs!

vvvvvfee · April 2014

i personally feel comfortable with moderate drinking and breastfeeding. the amount that is actually passing into your milk is miniscule. still, i would recommend having a drink immediately after you nurse, which you seem to be doing. if your LO consistently doesn't sleep well after you have a drink, though, maybe you want to avoid it. however--- your LO is so young that i think it's just a coincidence. a 4 week old is generally not going to be a great sleeper and not going to be sleeping for long stretches. there are also periods of growth spurts or developmental phases that can affect baby's sleep. if you haven't heard of the wonder weeks, give it a google-- there is a "leap" right around now at 4-5 weeks, that can cause fussiness and sleeping troubles.

lilies&orchids · April 2014

That happened to me as well in the early days - if I had wine, baby didn't sleep well, but beer was ok

(and I was only drinking one small glass) There are some stories out there that say babies won't sleep well if you have a drink, but i also agree with PP that it could be a coincidence... it doesn't bother my LO anymore, so there's hope for you, lol! Definitely check out the wonder weeks.

88sharonlee · April 2014

I'm in the one drink is fine camp as well, meaning one glass of wine or one beer- I am avoiding hard liquor for now.
I have never experienced my drinking with LO staying awake. In fact a nurse friend of kind told me it can often have a drowsy effect and she 'jokes' that one of her nurse friends used to pump when she was drinking and reserve that milk for rough days when she wanted to get more sleep!

But you can only go by your own experience, maybe like pp said it's not that it's alcohol maybe it's the type if drink that is bothering your LO.

lalaith50 · April 2014

I'll definitely be looking into that book!

lilies&orchids · April 2014

lalaith50 said:
I'll definitely be looking into that book!

They have an app, too!

eggmankate · April 2014

I barely have time to drink, haha! The times I have I was told anecdotally that you can start drinking when there is 20 minutes left of the nursing session you're currently on and that the last drop you have will be out of your system about 2 hours later. Also, that your milk is a drunk as you are. I had a glass of wine last weekend and by the time I nursed I didn't even feel buzzed. I've never noticed odd behavior due to me drinking wine. Of course these "rules" will vary person to person depending on your tolerance and ability to metabolize faster than others. And I'm not even sure what I learned was just rules of thumb or backed up by research. I do know that research on breastfeeding and alcohol is inconclusive, but that small amounts are probably OK. I agree with what the PPs say about it.

I'm curious if when you had the drink was when you were out with family or friends in the evenings and perhaps your baby's routine and bedtime got pushed back? My LO is almost 4 months old and I'm just now noticing a pattern that if her bedtime gets delayed or if she goes a really long stretch during the day without a nap (due to being too stimulated at family functions, for example) then she will be a little more erratic in her sleep at night time. We recently pushed her bedtime up by 45 minutes because I felt like she was too crabby in the evenings and was probably trying to tell us she wanted to go to bed. I was worried it meant she'd wake earlier in the MOTN to feed and wake earlier in the morning, but the opposite happened--the MOTN feed lengthened and she still woke up at the same time of the morning. That to me says a lot about how what she does or does not do with napping during the day will influence what she does at night.

mamasoup030 · April 2014

I have no science here but an observation, you didn't mention if you were always drinking wine or sometimes beer too. I'm wondering if it is always wine, could the sulfates be bothering your LO? My best friend from college used to be bothered by sulfates from wine and could only have homemade or sulfate free wine.

Thankfulforwine · April 2014

my LO used to have horrible nights if I would drink anything in the beginning. By 6 months she was fine with it though. I never drink more than one glass, but her nights are no different now if I have a drink. Maybe just give LO a little while longer for her gut to mature.

lalaith50 · April 2014

somerandomchick said:

If you are sober enough to hold your baby safely, you're sober enough to nurse. Otherwise you should have somebody who IS so we feed her a bottle. When you're too drunk to drive, your blood alcohol concentration is .08% and so is your milk concentration. Vodka is about 40% alcohol, beer is 3-6% usually. .08% is nothing. That's about the same as the naturally occurring alcohol in ORANGE JUICE. Plain ol OJ. If you can hold her safely you can nurse

that doesn't really have anything to do with my question, but thanks anyhow. :-)

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