Thomas W. This does not necessarily mean the dose of alcohol in milk is high, only that the levels in plasma correspond closely with those in milk. The absolute amount dose of alcohol transferred into milk is generally low and is a function of the maternal level. Older studies, some in animals, suggested that beer or more likely barley may stimulate prolactin levels. While this may be true, we now know clearly that alcohol is a profound inhibitor of oxytocin release, and inevitably reduces milk letdown and the amount of milk delivered to the infant.
Thus beer should not be considered a galactagogue. Reduction of letdown is apparently dose-dependent and requires alcohol consumption of 1. Avoid breastfeeding during and for at least 2 hours after drinking alcohol moderate.
Heavy drinkers should wait longer. A good rule is 2 hours for each drink consumed. Chronic or heavy consumers of alcohol should not breastfeed. When a breastfeeding mother drinks occasionally and limits her consumption to one drink, the amount of alcohol her baby receives has not been proven to be harmful. The absolute amount of alcohol transferred into milk is generally low, and while we constantly review research, existing studies indicate that occasional moderate drinking is not considered harmful for nursing babies.
If you want to drink but are concerned about the effect on your baby, expressed breastmilk could be stored to use for the occasion. Alternatively, you can wait for the alcohol to clear from your system. If your breasts become full while waiting, you can hand express or pump, discarding the milk expressed, but this will not speed up the elimination of alcohol from your body.
If consuming alcohol while breastfeeding is something that concerns you, then you may choose to enjoy non-alcoholic drinks instead. However, many mothers already worry that breastfeeding is something that will not be easy to fit into their lives. Feeling their choices will be restricted, especially if they feel they will be committing an offence to have an occasional drink while breastfeeding, could possibly deter women from breastfeeding, thus denying both themselves and their baby the many benefits they would get from it.
If you have one drink, most of the alcohol should be out of your system in about 2 to 3 hours, although this can vary. Babies up to the age of 3 months metabolize alcohol at half the speed an adult does, according to the La Leche League.
Even older babies process alcohol more slowly than adults do. Your baby also has an immature liver and rapidly developing brain, which may be more susceptible to the effects of alcohol.
Daily consumption of more than one drink per day or excessive drinking by a breastfeeding mother likely contributes to poor weight gain, disrupted sleep patterns, psychomotor skills delay , and possibly even cognitive delay later in life. Babies may drink up to 20 percent less milk in the 3 to 4 hours after mom has had a drink. They also can have disrupted sleeping patterns after even one drink, and babies whose moms are light drinkers may sleep less than average.
A large study published in showed a connection between moms who drank while breastfeeding and lower cognitive scores when their children were 6 to 7 years old. They concluded that this means that the actual alcohol exposure through the breast milk was responsible for the cognitive changes, and not just other factors related to moms who drink.
Animal studies have also supported these findings. You may have heard that alcohol can help you relax and promote milk flow, and that beer in particular can increase your milk production. Having two or more drinks has been shown to decrease the letdown — milk ejection — reflex of nursing moms.
Over time, this can decrease your milk supply overall due to not fully emptying the breast with each feeding. An older study actually showed a temporary 23 percent reduction in milk volume after the participating moms had just one drink. Pumping — and dumping out — breast milk after you drink alcohol does not get rid of the alcohol in your breast milk.
If you have two glasses of wine, pump your milk out 30 minutes later, and then nurse your baby an hour later, the new milk you produced in that time will still have alcohol in it, because your blood still has alcohol in it. Certainly valid! A more effective option is to nurse your baby immediately before having a drink, and then wait 2 to 3 hours after a single drink to nurse your baby again. Rather than let this get you down, consider some alternatives. You'll need to make sure breastfeeding is established before you try this.
You may want to plan ahead by expressing some milk before a social function. Then you can skip the first breastfeed after the function and feed your baby with your expressed milk instead. Bear in mind your breasts may become uncomfortably full if you leave long gaps between feeds. You may feel the need to express for comfort. You do not need to express to clear your milk of alcohol.
The level of alcohol in your milk will fall as the level of alcohol in your body falls. Binge drinking, where you have more than 6 units of alcohol in 1 session, may make you less aware of your baby's needs. Get personalised emails for trusted NHS advice, videos and tips on your pregnancy week by week, birth and parenthood. Back to Can I breastfeed if I'm. Feeding your baby Breastfeeding Bottle feeding Mixed feeding. Share this page Facebook Pinterest Twitter Whatsapp.
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