It can be tough to wade through all the conflicting information out there.
After growing a human inside your body for nine months and then providing her with food (on little sleep and crazy hormones, no less), it isn’t unreasonable to want the odd drink.
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“After a long pregnancy without alcohol and many sleepless nights with a newborn, it isn’t uncommon for nursing mothers to ask if they can enjoy a glass of wine,” says pediatrician, Dr. Hillary Lewis.
But with so many mixed messages and conflicting advice on alcohol and breastfeeding, how do you know if you’re going about drinking and breastfeeding in the safest way possible — or if it’s even okay at all?
From the effects alcohol can have on your milk supply to the truth about “pumping and dumping,” here’s exactly what you need to know about alcohol and breastfeeding. Because having a glass of wine shouldn’t be this confusing.
Alcohol and breastfeeding: Is it safe?
In a nutshell, having a glass of wine or one beer a day is generally considered safe for babies of nursing mothers — but keep in mind, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s recommended. “Although drinking up to one alcoholic beverage per day has not been shown to cause harm to a breastfeeding infant, it is safest to avoid drinking alcohol while breastfeeding,” says Dr. Susan Crowe, clinical associate professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology-Maternal Fetal Medicine at Stanford University.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) echoes Crowe’s advice, saying that “not drinking alcohol is the safest option for breastfeeding mothers.”
However, they note, “drinking alcoholic beverages is not an indication to stop breastfeeding; however, consuming more than one drink per day is not recommended.”
If you’re going to drink, timing is everything
If you decide to have a beer or a glass of wine while breastfeeding, it’s important to time it right.
“Breastfeeding mums should wait between two and three hours before nursing from when they had a drink,” Crowe says. “If they have two drinks, they should wait twice as long, so at least four to five hours.”
Crowe explains that the alcohol levels in breast milk are essentially the same as the levels in your bloodstream. In other words, if you feel woozy from drinking, it definitely isn’t a good time to nurse.
The worst time to nurse after drinking? Between a half hour and an hour, because that’s when the alcohol level is highest in your breast milk.
“Alcohol levels in the breast milk will peak 30 to 60 minutes after ingestion and then will decline slowly as maternal blood alcohol levels decline,” says Lewis. “Time is the only factor that will lead to a decline in maternal blood alcohol levels. Similarly, only the passage of time will help eliminate alcohol from breast milk.”
Does ‘pumping and dumping’ help?
If you’ve been confused about drinking and breastfeeding, then surely you’ve considered pumping breast milk and disposing of it shortly after imbibing — aka “pumping and dumping.” Here’s the thing, though: Doing so isn’t going to eliminate the alcohol from your breast milk — only time can do that. That said, pumping and dumping can help keep your supply up if you were planning on skipping a feeding altogether because of alcohol consumption.
“​Pumping and dumping is not going to help clear alcohol from the breast milk, but it is an option to provide comfort to mums who are skipping a breastfeeding session,” says Crowe. “Pumping can avoid plugged ducts and other complications that people can experience if they skip a feed without emptying the breast.”
Does alcohol type matter?
Wondering if you’re better off drinking a glass of wine or a cocktail? When thinking about your drink of choice, Lewis advises taking alcohol content into consideration.
“This is especially important, given our understanding that the level of alcohol in the breast milk will be directly related to maternal blood alcohol levels,” she says.
In addition to alcohol content, it’s extremely important to be mindful of the amount of alcohol you’re consuming. Experts agree that “moderate consumption” — which is drinking up to one standard drink a day — isn’t known to harm infants, especially if mum waits about two hours before nursing.
Here’s a breakdown by the CDC of what’s considered standard drink size:
- Beer: 12 ounces of 5% alcohol
- Malt liquor: 8 ounces of 7% alcohol
- Wine: 5 ounces of 12% alcohol
- Distilled spirits or liquor: 1.5 ounces of 40% alcohol
Can beer increase your milk supply?
Reaching for a Guinness instead of your beloved rosé because you think it’s going to increase your milk supply? You may want to reconsider.
“Old wives’ tales certainly tell us that some alcohol, particularly beer, is potentially beneficial to maternal milk supply,” Lewis says. “But our scientific understanding of lactation physiology actually contradicts this age-old belief. In fact, it has been shown that alcohol consumption decreases both prolactin and oxytocin, the hormones responsible for breast milk production and breast milk let down.”
Things to consider when drinking while breastfeeding
If the lure of a cold beer on a sweaty nursing night is too much to resist from time to time, it’s important to keep a few things in mind when drinking while breastfeeding:
- Baby’s age: Babies up to 3 months metabolise alcohol at about half the rate of adults, so they’ll be more affected by alcohol. Because of this, you may want to wait until your baby is at least 3 months to have a drink.
- Your weight: How quickly you metabolise alcohol is affected by your weight. The heavier you are, the faster you’ll metabolise it.
- Alcohol can negatively affect supply: According to Infant Risk, drinking alcohol can negatively affect breast milk supply by inhibiting the oxytocin release from the pituitary, which inhibits milk letdown. They cite two studies, one that showed a 23% reduction in milk release while alcohol is present and another in which alcohol completely blocked the release of oxytocin.
- There are possible health risks for baby: “Studies on alcohol and breastfeeding are complex and the results are likely dependent on alcohol usage patterns, but they have shown potential effects on infant sleep patterns and neurologic development,” says Lewis. Crowe also adds that drinking while breastfeeding may cause a baby to be too sleepy to nurse or to sleep for shorter periods of time.
It isn’t just about alcohol in breast milk
When considering drinking and breastfeeding, it’s important to understand that it isn’t just about the level of alcohol in your breast milk, but about the fact that caring for an infant while intoxicated is a seriously bad idea.
“Infant safety should always be prioritised,” Lewis says. “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), infant injury and other accidents are high risk with intoxicated parents. Parents may put their baby at risk while intoxicated or may be so sleepy after drinking that they practice unsafe sleep habits.”
Precautions
In addition to only having one appropriately sized drink and waiting to nurse, there are a few things you can do to increase safety when drinking and breastfeeding:
- Have your drink with food: Food can help decrease the absorption of alcohol.
- Drink slowly: Slowly sipping on a glass of wine will also decrease the absorption of alcohol, compared to downing a drink in record time. Also, consider making a “spritzer” by watering down a glass of wine with sparkling water.
- Have milk on hand: If you know you’re going to have a drink and aren’t sure if your baby is going to want to nurse shortly after, have pumped milk on hand for them.
- Milk test strips: If you’re using precautions but are still worried about drinking and breastfeeding, consider using breast milk test strips which test for alcohol in your milk. Keep in mind, though, that they won’t remove all the guesswork. “After one glass of wine, the test strips completely changed colour for me, even though I pretty much felt fine,” says Jaclyn Santos. “Eventually, I decided it was better to go on intuition, how I felt, and, of course, responsibility.”
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