Bfing and alcohol question

[sosurreal09]

Hi so we had DDs b-day party last night, she tuned one yay! After i nursed her and put her to sleep for the night i drank about 24 oz of Smirnoff...nothing hard just smirnoff. now usually she can go 4+ hours without nursing at night. so i was prepared for that..

i nursed her at 8:35 and she was asleep by 9. i started drinking at 9 and was done by ten while eating pizza.
at 11 she started screaming i tried to calm her down for a whole hour (so its 12 now) and she would not calm down so i nursed her on one breast......she went to sleep.

now i know there was not enough time for the alcohol to be out of my BM correct?
do you think she will be ok? she seems fine...woke up early..but acting normal.

anyone else done this and been ok?
i feel really guilty but i mean she would not calm down.

[sapphire_chan]

2 hours was enough time for the alcohol to mostly, if not completely, leave your milk. Since the level peaks between 30 and 90 minutes, it was probably good for your feelings about alcohol and your baby to wait an extra hour like you did.

Personally, I would've just nursed the baby. I've definitely nursed DD after having alcohol, but all I can handle right now is about 1oz of a mostly strawberry daiquiri.

[Abraisme]

My opinion is that IT'S TOTALLY FINE. Even if you have a small amount to drink WHILE you're breast-feeding, I highly doubt there will be any side effects. I usually have 1 glass of wine every night after my LO goes to bed (about the same as 2 wine coolers), from all my research I couldn't find anything that proved a little alcohol was harmful. I have personally never seen any side effects from having 1 drink and then nursing right away. I don't think you should feel guilty at all for having a good time and a small bit to drink.

[mamadelbosque]

Seriously, the alcohol level of your breastmilk is directly equivalant to to your blood alcohol level. Legal "drunk" is 0.08% - even completely, utterly 100% falling down wasted is only 0.2-0.3%. For reference beer is 3-5%, wine is ~8-12%. Your DC is *FINE*. If you can nurse, your safe to nurse.

[Forthwith]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

Seriously, the alcohol level of your breastmilk is directly equivalant to to your blood alcohol level. Legal "drunk" is 0.08% - even completely, utterly 100% falling down wasted is only 0.2-0.3%. For reference beer is 3-5%, wine is ~8-12%. Your DC is *FINE*. If you can nurse, your safe to nurse.

For comparison, dealcoholized wine and beer need to be under 0.5% alcohol. So even if you were can't-stand-up-drunk, your breast milk would still contain less alcohol than near beer.

[daniturtle]

I wouldn't worry, like everyone has said, the concentration of alcohol in your breastmilk was too low too hurt her by the time you nursed her, two hours later. Usually it takes 1/2 - 1 hour for the blood or milk alcohol level to go down.

Also worth mentioning-- your daughter is 12 months right? That's very different from an infant (until 3 months babies take longer to process any alcohol).

Try not to stress about it.

See Jack Newman's breastfeeding myths:
http://www.drjacknewman.com/help/Bre...ng%20Myths.asp

and for LOTS of information- the always wonderful Kelly Mom, including more links:
http://www.kellymom.com/health/lifestyle/alcohol.html

[sosurreal09]

TY for the info and support! i was kind o freaking b/c i NEVER EVER drink and did not know too much about it....called my SIL and asked what she thought (doesnt have kids but is alot older than me and seems to "know" things) and she went balistic....which made me freak out more. you mamas always know what to do!

[physmom]

Thanks for asking this! DD is nowhere near sleeping through the night but I'd love to have a small glass of wine every now and then. I haven't had any at all since finding out I was pregnant. I'm still not sure if I'm brave enough but it sounds like it would be ok if I did. My problem is mostly that she is really unpredictable with her wake up times and could very easily wake up right after I put her to bed.