are you allowed to have a glass of alcohol if you are breastfeeding?

Question

Would like to know

Answer

Alcohol is one of the most commonly used drugs in the world. Many authorities, relatives, friends tell mothers they have to interrupt breastfeeding if they drink alcohol: two hours for every ounce of alcohol taken is a typical recommendation. 
Let’s look at this a little more closely. Whisky is 40% alcohol, beer 3% to 5%, wine 10% to 13% alcohol. Even de-alcoholized beer contains approximately 0.6% alcohol. Depending on the jurisdiction, you are considered too drunk to drive with more than 0.05% to 0.08% alcohol in your blood. Alcohol behaves differently from other drugs. The concentration of the alcohol in blood and in your milk is about the same. So, if the mother has 0.06% alcohol in her blood, she will have 0.06% alcohol in her milk, one tenth the concentration in de-alcoholized beer! This is not a concentration of alcohol that is going to make your baby sick or cause brain damage (as some have suggested). This over-cautiousness with regard to alcohol reflects the emergence of neo-puritanical attitudes. 
Of course, if the mother is so impaired or drunk much of the time that she is unable to take proper care of her baby, this is another story, but the milk alcohol level in itself is not the concern.  Whether we accept this or not, the primary person responsible for taking care of a young baby is, in the vast majority of cases, the mother.  And she needs to be able to take care of the young baby who cannot take care of himself.
It should also be pointed out that alcohol moves back and forth between blood and breastmilk as if it were water.  Thus, if the blood level of alcohol drops, alcohol in the milk will move back into the blood, lowering the alcohol concentration even more.
-taken from dr jack neuman's page. There is no need to wait after having a couple drinks. 😊

Answer

Yes I have. Just time it right. 1 unit takes one hour to be out of your system. So I have a drink straight after a feed in the evening. 
I don't pump and dump.

Answer

Yes. Alcohol leaves your breastmilk the same as your bloodstream so after an hour it's out of your system. Also if you're ok to drive you are ok to nurse. Not need to pump and dump.

Answer

I've heard some doctors even recommend a glass of wine to help you calm down if you're nervous or just getting started breastfeeding. My thinking is that the amount of alcohol baby would get from mom having a couple drinks is probably less than the amount of alcohol I've seen in some children's cough syrups. 😊

Answer

Yes. No need to pump and dump. If you're safe to drive you're safe to feed. 
Checkout KellyMom.com for all things breastfeeding.

are you allowed to have a glass of alcohol if you are breastfeeding?

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