Alcohol & Breastfeeding: You Might Not Need to Pump & Dump

While breastfeeding & alcohol are generally not recommended, there are some workarounds. If you would like to have a drink and not affect your baby, it involves limiting how much you drink. It also involves waiting about 3 hours before you can breastfeed, if you’ve only had one (1) drink. This means if you decide to drink, you’ll need to think carefully about your baby’s feedings. But first, let’s review a few facts about alcohol in general.

Drinking While Pregnant is a NO!

When a pregnant mother drinks, alcohol is directly passed on to the unborn baby through the placenta. Basically, if mom drinks, baby drinks. And with a developing body, this is dangerous for baby. Fetal alcohol syndrome is caused by a mother drinking while pregnant. It leads to physical, behavioral, and cognitive problems to varying degrees depending upon the amount of alcohol the mother consumed while pregnant. Basically, don’t do it. It’s not worth the risk.

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How Does Your Body Process Alcohol?

Once you drink alcohol, it gets broken down in your stomach, then it is quickly absorbed into your bloodstream. Next, alcohol spreads from your blood into your brain, lungs, and liver. The liver acts as the greatest filter to remove alcohol from your body. Your body also removes alcohol through urination and breathing.

What is Blood Alcohol Content (BAC)?

BAC is the measurement of alcohol in your body.

• BAC of 0% means there is no alcohol in your body.
• BAC of 0.03% is roughly equal to one (1) drink in an hour.
• BAC of 0.08% is roughly equal to three (3) drinks in an hour. It is the legal limit for driving. However, no one should drive with any alcohol in their body; it impairs your brain’s ability to function safely while driving.
• BAC of 0.35% is roughly equal to ten (10) drinks in an hour. This is the level of alcohol poisoning and dangerous on many levels.

What is a Standard Drink?

A standard drink (commonly known as “a drink”) refers to the same amount of pure alcohol in each type of drink. Each drink has a different Alcohol By Volume (ABV). The stronger the ABV, the smaller the size of a standard drink. For example, drinking 3 ounces of liquor (e.g. rum) is equal to 2 drinks, but drinking 12 ounces of beer is equal to 1 drink.

These standard drinks all contain the same amount of pure alcohol:

• Beer (5% ABV) = 12 ounces
• Wine (12% ABV) = 5 ounces
• Malt Liquor (7% ABV) = 8 ounces
• Liquor (40% ABV/80 proof) = 1.5 ounces

Alcohol in Breast Milk

The Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) in breast milk is equal to the BAC in a mother’s blood. As the mother’s BAC decreases with time, the alcohol content of her breast milk also decreases. Alcohol content is highest in breast milk 30-60 minutes after a woman drinks. The more alcohol a mother consumes, the longer the alcohol can be detected in her blood and her breast milk.

How Long Can Alcohol Be Found in Breast Milk After Drinking?

• 1 drink – approximately 2-3 hours
• 2 drinks – approximately 4-5 hours
• 3 drinks – approximately 6-8 hours

Why You Might Not Need to Pump & Dump

Your breast milk will not have alcohol in it, if you follow the above waiting time guidelines. That means, if you have a drink, you can wait 3 hours to breastfeed your baby again without worrying that your baby will also be drinking alcohol. Why? Because after 3 hours, the alcohol has left your body. And the alcohol has left your breastmilk.

When Should You Pump & Dump

Keep in mind though, that if you had 3 drinks, you would need to pump and dump because if you don’t, your breasts will have extreme pain from all the breastmilk that your breasts have filled in them. That breastmilk is not fit for your baby’s consumption, so you will have to dump it.

Why Would a Mother Drink if Breastfeeding? Don’t Judge!

Personally, I’m not much of a drinker. So, it was easy for me to not drink while breastfeeding. But I also understand that there are many reasons why a mother might want a drink. Maybe a breastfeeding mother wants to socialize with her friends, feel like she’s more than just food for her baby, or other reasons. I’m not here to judge. I’m here to guide you to be the best breastfeeding mother while still being true to yourself.

Guide to Drinking Alcohol While You’re a Breastfeeding Mother:

• Drink responsibly. Your baby needs your best clearest mind.
• Be aware that a drink may affect you more than it did before, especially as you haven’t been drinking for a while since you’ve been pregnant and are a breastfeeding mother.
• Drink plenty of water. Alcohol is a diuretic; it increases urination. You’ll need water to compensate. And to make sure your milk production doesn’t decrease.
• Plan your baby’s next feed ahead of time depending upon how much you plan to drink & depending on how long your baby can go between breastfeedings.
• If you want one (1) drink, be prepared to breastfeed no sooner than 3 hours after you have finished your drink.
• If your baby is old enough to wait 3 hours until the next feeding, you may want to breastfeed at that time. Or have your previously stored breastmilk available for your baby to feed during those 3 hours. Or give your baby formula, if you are comfortable doing that.
• If your baby has fed before you could breastfeed again, then consider pumping and storing your breastmilk as long as it has been 3 hours after you finished your one (1) drink.
• Get a good night’s sleep. Every mom needs it!

What’s Next?

Stay tuned for my blog post, “Breastfeeding & Caffeine | Will It Hurt My Baby?”  Don’t forget to check out the video for more in-depth information on today’s topic! Watch the full video on my YouTube channel!

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