Help! Alcohol and Breastfeeding

[MGardner]

Last night I went to a wedding and knew I was going to have a few glasses of wine. In preparation we got pumped bottles ready for my LO and my husband was going to be in charge of him for the night and next morning while I enjoyed my best friend's wedding. Well...my LO was NOT used to my husband getting up with him and resisted the bottle when he got up. He cried for 2 straight hours. Finally I got up because I couldn't stand the crying anymore and when I got to him he was rooting so bad so I breastfed him. I was half asleep but when I woke up in the morning I was so scared and guilty for feeding him. I had 3 1/2 glasses of wine at the wedding and didn't pump when I got home at midnight and I fed him at 2:30am. He ended up sleeping from that point until 8am and he usually gets up at 5:30-6am. I am so nervous that I did damage to my LO. Please let me know the dangers of what I just did to him and if there is anything I can do now that I made that huge mistake, I'm really upset here.

[jbepko]

Sweetie...take a nice deep breath! LO will be OK. I don't remember where I read it...but if you are no longer feeling the effects of the alcohol in your bloodstream, then it no longer is in your breastmilk! He probably slept so late due to the change in routine and NOT due to your milk. There are many nursing moms who will drink alcohol at times in moderation. I enjoy an evening beer/glass of wine with dinner and its easier when they are older (not nursing every 2-3 hours). So RELAX.....you and your LO will be just fine!

[shelliz]

Hi there!

   I am sure your baby is fine. It was an accident and please don't beat yourself up about it. You did what you could do by pumping ahead of time.  I must say that if I was in your place, I would have ended up feeding my dd as well if she refused the bottle and cried for that long!  Here is a bit of information that I found in regards to this issue. I would say that you didn't harm your baby.

La Leche League's THE BREASTFEEDING ANSWER BOOK (pp. 597-598) says:

Alcohol passes freely into mother's milk and has been found to peak about 30 to 60 minutes after consumption, 60 to 90 minutes when taken with food. Alcohol also freely passes out of a mother's milk and her system. It takes a 120 pound woman about two to three hours to eliminate from her body the alcohol in one serving of beer or wine...the more alcohol that is consumed, the longer it takes for it to be eliminated. It takes up to 13 hours for a 120 pound woman to eliminate the alcohol from one high-alcohol drink.

Thomas W. Hale, R.Ph. Ph.D., member of the LLLI Health Advisory Council, says this in his book Medications and Mothers' Milk (11th ed.):

Adult metabolism of alcohol is approximately 1 oz in 3 hours, so that mothers who ingest alcohol in moderate amounts can generally return to breastfeeding as soon as they feel neurologically normal.

Important Considerations
Your baby's age
A newborn has an immature liver, and will be more affected by alcohol
Up until around 3 months of age, infants metabolize alcohol at about half the rate of adults
An older baby can metabolize alcohol more quickly than a young infant
Your weight
A person's size has an impact on how quickly they metabolize alcohol
A heavier person can metabolize alcohol more quickly than a lighter person
Amount of alcohol
The effect of alcohol on the baby is directly related to the amount of alcohol that is consumed
The more alcohol consumed, the longer it takes to clear the mother's body
Will you be eating
An alcoholic drink consumed with food decreases absorbtion

Please don't be upset!  I am certainly not a doctor, but I am sure your baby is just fine!

  Shelby

[mamasboyz3]

To: shelliz

A BIG Thank you to you for that great piece of infomation. With all to summer bbq's I've been going to and of course, sipping on a few cold drinks here and there, I too, was wondering if I have crossed the line by possibly harming my lo in the long run.


  Much love and appreciation,

mamasboyz3

[BabyBsMommy]

To make you feel better, the only 3 times I went out and had 2 or 3 beers during my lo's first 6 months of life, he did the exact same thing as yours did.  I had the bottle ready and everything but no way would he take it, even though he usually would!  He had him Mommy radar on, too, because when I could otherwise expect him to sleep until 3 or 4 in the morning, each time, whether it was 11pm or 1am he woke up the minute I walked in the door and nothing would soothe him or satisfy him but a breastfeed.  He is now almost 7 months old and thriving!  Your lo will be fine!

[Lilah'sMommy]

Don't worry!  I'm betting that your lo slept so late because of the 2 hours of crying, not from the alcohol.  I never had more than the occasional drink in dd's early months (mostly because I never went out! ), but as we nursed until she was 22 months, I definitely had more than a drink or two on a few occasions in that time.  I always would attemot to not have more than one drink before her bed time(after she was sleeping through the night), but sometimes emergencies come up and you must nurse!  I know Lilah probably got a bit of alcohol from me a couple times, and she is now a thriving, almost-two-year-old with an enormous vocabulary and a (mostly) sweet temperment.

[CaedensMama]

I'll just add - my ped told me a drink occassionally was fine and would not harm the baby and this was at his 1 month appointment!
I don't drink much anyway, but I haven't worried about the occassionally time when I do a sip or two from DH's drink or share a beer with him at home after Caeden's in bed!