If you’re breastfeeding, experts recommend cutting out drinking completely or limiting your alcohol consumption. If you have a drink, avoid nursing or pumping milk for your baby for a couple of hours afterwards. There’s no need to pump and dump – that is, pump and then discard your breast milk – when you drink. That won’t clear the alcohol from your milk any faster; alcohol in breast milk will diminish over time as the level in your bloodstream falls.
IN THIS ARTICLE
- How much alcohol is safe for a breastfeeding mom?
- Should I pump and dump after having a drink?
- How much wine can you drink while breastfeeding?
- Can I drink a beer while breastfeeding?
Drink. It’s probably safe to drink very moderately while breastfeeding, if you take a few precautions. Having one drink a day hasn’t been found to be harmful to a nursing baby, especially if you wait at least two hours between drinking and nursing or pumping.
The Pediatrics recommends avoiding alcohol if you’re breastfeeding, though, because alcohol does reach your baby via breast milk. While the amount that’s transferred if you drink a glass of wine, for example, is relatively small, your baby is tiny and has an immature liver. That means they can’t process and eliminate the alcohol as quickly as you can.
Research shows that drinking alcohol regularly may decrease breast milk production and affect how much milk your baby drinks. Alcohol has been shown to affect babies’ sleep patterns, disrupting their sleep after even a small to moderate amount of alcohol. And though more studies are needed, some researchers have concluded that repeated exposure to alcohol in breast milk could cause long-term harm to nursing babies.
How much alcohol is safe for a breastfeeding mom?
If you time it right, having a drink or two is likely safe. But not all drinks are the same, so make sure to consider the alcohol content of what you’re drinking. One serving is typically a 5-ounce glass of wine, 12 ounces of beer (one bottle), or 1 ounce of hard liquor.
You’ll want to wait for the alcohol level in your breast milk to drop before you nurse or pump, and this usually takes about two to three hours. But the amount of time it takes alcohol to leave your body varies from person to person, depending on your weight, how much you drink, how fast you drink, whether you eat food while you drink, and how quickly your body breaks down alcohol.
Keep in mind that the more drinks you have, the longer it takes for the alcohol to clear your system. Your blood alcohol level – and the level of alcohol in your milk – is usually highest 30 to 60 minutes after you have a drink. (The alcohol doesn’t instantly hit your bloodstream.)
If you have a drink, time it for right after you breastfeed. Or you can pump and store your breast milk before having a drink, then feed your baby expressed milk from a bottle if they’re hungry in the hours following your drink. Another option is to feed your baby formula in the hours following your alcohol consumption.
If you drink enough to impair your judgment or ability to safely care for your baby, ask your partner or another trusted caregiver to step in. Don’t co-sleep with your baby if you drink – it isn’t recommended because it increases the risk of SIDS, and it’s especially hazardous if you’ve been drinking.
Should I pump and dump after having a drink?
It’s not necessary. You may have heard that if you pump and dump (pump and discard your breast milk) after having an alcoholic drink, you can rid your breast milk of the alcohol. This isn’t true.
Pumping and dumping doesn’t reduce the amount of alcohol in your milk – only time can do that. Alcohol will stay in your milk for as long as it’s in your bloodstream, and the levels in both will fall over time. (Again, one drink will probably metabolize out of your bloodstream in two hours.)
If you feel buzzed or drunk, you can count on the alcohol still being in your bloodstream. If you feel back to normal, chances are it’s out of your system.
If you want to be certain your breast milk no longer contains alcohol, you can purchase alcohol test strips for human milk over the counter at most drugstores or online. The strips are easy to use (simply saturate them with milk and follow the directions to interpret the color change).
You may want to pump and dump to keep up your milk supply, though, if you’re skipping a nursing session while drinking.
How much wine can you drink while breastfeeding?
If you’re drinking wine, you can pour yourself enough for a good toast. Stick to one glass, time it right, and be aware that some wines have more alcohol than others.
Most table wine is about 12 percent alcohol, and one standard drink is about five ounces.
But wines vary in alcohol content, from about 5 ABV to about 18 ABV – or even as much as 21 percent for fortified wines. For example:
- Red wines, which have more alcohol than whites, range from 12 to 15 percent
- Pinot noir and Boudreaux contain 13 to 14 percent
- Malbec wines contain 13.5 to 15 percent
- Some Californian zinfandels and Australian shiraz wines can reach as high as 16 to 18 percent
- White wine averages about 10 percent but ranges from 5 percent to 14 percent.
- Moscato white wines range from 5 to 7 percent
- Pinot grigio wines usually contain 12 to 13 percent
- Chardonnay may have 13 to 14.5 percent
- Fortified wines such as sherry, port, and madeira range from 17 percent to 21 percent ABV.
Can I drink a beer while breastfeeding?
Yes. One alcoholic drink equals 12 ounces of beer (5 percent alcohol), about the amount found in one bottle. A pint poured at a brewery, however, is more likely to be closer to 15 ounces.
Beer varies greatly in alcohol content, too (from about 4 to 7 percent ABV), so pay attention to the percentage. Beer that contains 9 percent alcohol will count as two drinks, for example. And don’t assume that all light beers are light on alcohol. Many are lower than the typical regular beer, but some contain over 4 percent alcohol.
By the way, there’s no scientific evidence to support the popular wisdom that drinking beer – or any other type of alcohol – boosts your milk supply. For one thing, alcohol dehydrates your body and makes you lose body fluid, which can negatively impact how much milk you make. Also, drinking alcohol disrupts hormones – oxytocin and prolactin – that are involved in milk production.
It’s true that a polysaccharide found in barley and malt may increase prolactin levels (which aids milk production). But the alcohol in beer interferes with the oxytocin release necessary for breast milk letdown. So beer isn’t a galactagogue (a substance that increases milk supply).
Read more about
Add a Comment