alcohol and breastfeeding?
does anyone know anything about alcohol consumption and breastfeeding? what is an acceptable amount? I love my doctor and dont want to switch, but I cannot ask him this question since he is against alcohol at all times in a strong way. If I asked him he would say what he always does “never drink at all” but that is unreasonable to me, any advice? experience? websites?
When breastfeeding, the level of alcohol in your milk is directly related to the amount in your bloodstream, therefore you can calculate the time for the alcohol to leave your milk using your weight and the amount you have drank. Before your child is at least 6 months old you should make sure you are only breast feeding when you have no alcohol in your blood / milk, after 3 months some women go by “if you are sober enough to drive you are sober enough to nurse” this is based on the fact that the alcohol level in your milk is much lower then that which is in your blood and at 3 months your baby’s liver if functioning much better and is much more able to eliminate the alcohol for the body then it was earlier.
here is the link to the table that shows how long to wait after drinking
http://www.motherisk.org/prof/updatesDetail.jsp?content_id=347
and here is what La Leche league has to say about alcohol and nursing
http://www.llli.org/FAQ/alcohol.html
There are also test strips called “milkscreen” that you can buy to make sure the alcohol is out of your milk, you just express a few drops onto the test strip and it works like a pregnancy test, if a line shows up then you have to wait longer, if it’s clear then the alcohol is gone and you can go ahead and nurse. You can buy the strips here or at a bunch of different stores in the US.
http://www.milkscreen-moms.com/
Insidermedicine In 60 – September 4, 2009