Wine and Breast Feeding?

Question

am a new mom - my son was born on July 30th so he's just bout 4 weeks old - and my question is about breastfeeding and alcohol. I've talked with a few lactation consultants and have read plenty of opinions/research online about alcohol metabolization and breastfeeding, but would love your thoughts!

I love my glass of wine each night and, since my husband has started giving my son a 9pm bottle, it's allowed me to have my glass relatively guilt-free, since I don't feed him from 6pm to about midnight. Although, I'm operating under the 2-3 metabolization 'rule'.

Does anyone have thoughts on this? I feel like I'm driving myself crazy over-thinking this...Thanks!

Answer 1

One glass wine if fine. I have had a glass of wine and nurse my baby after. It is such a minimal amount. Even my obstetrician okayed it, and my prenatal instructor, who is one of the leaders of la leche league. (which is pretty hard core nusers) I wouldn't worry about it.

www.kellysmom.com  they say if you can drive you can nurse.

Answer 2

One glass of wine a night will not hurt the baby, even if you do nurse from 6p-12a. Very little, if any of that one glass of wine will end up in your milk anyway. Either way you should be 100% guilt free. They say if you are sober enough to drive then you are sober enough to nurse.

Answer 3

The rule of thumb - If you're sober enough to drive, you're sober enough to nurse.

Answer 4

Enjoy that glass of wine and don't hesitate to nurse baby!  One glass of wine is not going to make any difference at all whatsoever.  I have actually sipped on a glass of wine a few times while I was nursing my baby.  One alcoholic drink will have no effect at all...

Answer 5

One glass of wine is fine.  Don't drive yourself crazy over it.  And since you have six hours between your glass of wine and when you nurse him, there is really no reason to worry at all.  The rule of thumb is two hours.

If you were regularly binge drinking, that would be another story.

Answer 6

i have a drink or two once a week or so.  i don't think twice about it.  i would worry more about giving baby a bottle that young than about the wine.  

Answer 7

i am not trying to scare you, but I read on kellymom.com that nursing women shouldnt consume more than 1-2 drinks a week.