Drinking and breastfeeding?

Question

I’m a new mom, my son is 2 weeks old. He had his 2 week check up this morning, he’s doing fantastic, putting on great weight, overall very healthy, hasn’t had any medical issues. I don’t remember how it came up but his pediatrician told me not to be drinking while breastfeeding, and if I do, I need to pump and dump. He also told me not to drink much coffee: I don’t drink much for alcohol or coffee anyways but I’ve always read that breastfeeding and drinking coffee or alcohol is safe for the most part. I’ve already had a drink or 2 since coming home from the hospital, is it actually unsafe for me to breastfeed and drink??

Answer

Your doctor need to update him/herself!!  Sorry this will be crazy long but it's copy/paste from Dr. Jack Newman: Alcohol and breastfeeding.  Happy holidays all from our breastfeeding clinic in Toronto - www.ibconline.ca .  
Since the holidays are imminent, even started, many of you may want to have a couple of alcoholic drinks. You do not have to "pump and dump" (a terrible expression) afterwards and you don't have to wait a certain time after your more recent drink in order to restart breastfeeding. The amount of alcohol that gets into the milk is tiny and will not hurt the baby.
Think of it this way, in most jurisdictions, you are too impaired to drive if you have 0.05% alcohol in your blood. Alcohol appears in the milk in the same concentration as in the blood. Thus if you have 0.05% alcohol in your blood you will have 0.05% alcohol in your milk and as it decreases in your blood, it will decrease in your milk. Even de-alcoholized beer sold in my local store has 0.6% alcohol, more than 10x more than the breastmilk will contain if it contains 0.05% alcohol.
I am not saying it's fine to get falling down drunk because if you are breastfeeding, you must not drop the baby, but the problem is your coordination not the amount of alcohol in the milk.
Also from last year:
The following is from a blog by a mother who tested her milk for alcohol. Not one of those useless kits that you can buy at various stores, but tested at a toxicology laboratory. I will copy from her blog the method she used and the results. I think this puts the lie to the notion that women should not drink while breastfeeding or need to "pump and dump" (an appalling term) after having even one drink. The following is an exact quote from her blog:
Method:
First I took a sample of my milk (about 1 mL) prior to drinking any alcoholic beverage. I expressed the milk mid-nursing session to ensure I had a goodly portion of fore & hind milk. After completing the nursing session, I mixed myself an alcoholic beverage consisting of 2 oz of 80 proof (40%) vodka in 10 oz of soda (Sprite). I proceeded to drink the entire 12 oz in about 30 minutes. About 30 minutes after finishing (1 hour after beginning to drink), I expressed some milk (about 1 mL) and labeled it 'immediate'. I then waited 1 hour and expressed more milk (about 1 mL) and labeled it '2 hours'. In the 2 hours (from the beginning), I did not drink any more alcoholic beverages, drink other beverages, or eat any other foods. Another day, 1/2 of a beer (4.3% alcohol) and 2-6 oz glasses of wine were consumed within 1.5 hours. About an hour from the beginning of the last drink, a milk sample (about 1 mL) was taken. This sample was labeled '1 hour - 3 drinks'. Another sample was taken about an hour after that (2 hours after the beginning of the last drink). This sample was labeled '2 hours - 3 drinks'.
The samples were stored in the refrigerator until processing. An Agilent headspace instrument was used to run the tests. Propanol and ethanol standards were also tested to ensure the instrument was within limits. The instrument is maintained by the KSP Lab Toxicology Section and used in forensic determinations of blood and urine alcohol content.
Results:
The sample labeled as 'immediate' registered as 0.1370 mg/mL which correlates to 0.01370% alcohol in the sample. The sample labeled '2 hours' registered as 0.0000 mg/ml which correlates to 0.0000%. The sample labeled '1 hour - 3 drinks' registered as 0.3749 mg/mL which correlates to 0.03749% alcohol in the sample. The sample labeled '2 hours - 3 drinks' registered as 0.0629 mg/mL which correlates to 0.00629% alcohol in the sample.
Conclusion:
The alcohol content in breast milk immediately after drinking is equivalent to a 0.0274 proof beverage. That's like mixing 1 oz of 80 proof vodka (one shot) with 2919 oz of mixer . By the way, 2919 oz is over 70 liters. Two hours after drinking one (strong) drink the alcohol has disappeared from the sample. Completely harmless to the nursing infant. Drinking about 3 drinks in 1.5 hours resulted in higher numbers, but still negligible amounts of alcohol would be transferred to the child. One hour after imbibing in 3 drinks, the milk was the equivalent of 0.07498 proof beverage. That would be like adding 1 oz of 80 proof vodka (one shot) to 1066 oz of mixer (1066 oz is over 26 liters). Two hours after imbibing in 3 drinks, the milk was 0.01258 proof. That would be like adding 1 oz of 80 proof vodka to 3179 oz of mixer (over almost 80 liters). So, even though an infant has much less body weight, any of these percentage of alcohol in breast milk is unlikely to adversely affect the baby.

Answer

Drs are NOT NOT NOT educated in breastfeeding at all!  And your dr proves that.

Answer

Get a new doctor. 🤷‍♀️

Answer

I don’t agree with all the other posts and here’s why. 
I believed this nonsense about a little alcohol being ok. I then had half a small glass of white wine one evening. Fed baby and we both slept. 
She was six weeks old and normally would wake up at least four times per night. This night, nothing. Her sleep was so deep it was like she was in a coma. I could move her and manipulate her body and she wouldn’t wake up. I was terrified. She slept 13 straight hours at six weeks old. 
This is typical behaviour for a baby that has drunk too much alcohol from breast milk. All these women are saying doctors know nothing? Well, there’s an article on the La Leche League website about it. And they know quite a lot. 
Luckily she had no signs of liver damage from this night. I watched her breathing til she was awake. I have been tee-total ever since.

Answer

My LC and our pediatrician said if you aren’t feeling the effects of the alcohol it is fine. I would always nurse before I drank just in case. 
Coffee/caffeine is a toss up. It effects some babies and others aren’t. It made my son a terror and as soon as I stopped drinking caffeine he totally changed.

Answer

I always allow myself a 2 drink max and it’s enough for me personally and it’s what makes me comfortable while breastfeeding. I usually have one beer while breastfeeding then drink the other one after feeding.

Answer

You won’t find an actually reputable medical source that will say it’s okay. Only moms online. Better safe than sorry. I can have the smallest amount of dairy and it will make my daughter vomit. So I’m not gonna risk even the smallest amount of alcohol.

Answer

Yes you should be testing your milk before you start giving it to the baby after drinking

Answer

My LC told me if I want to drink, do it while breastfeeding lol. The alcohol won’t be in the milk yet and will be out of my system by the time of the next feeding. the alcohol can also relax you and help with letdown. obviously don’t be slamming them back but I enjoy a glass of wine while breastfeeding. I told if I’m not sober enough to drive, I’m not sober enough to feed. I do use the test strips if I’ve gone wild, but even with those I’ve only had to actually pump and dump twice and I was DRUNK. so the strips weren’t super necessary. I knew I had had to much at that point.

Drinking and breastfeeding?

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