So in light of yesterdays facebook post I thought I better go into a little more detail about alcohol and breastfeeding. As previously mentioned everything that goes into the mother's body is transmitted through the milk such as food, nicotine, prescription and recreational drugs but I want to focus on alcohol as it seems to be a very grey area and a question that I am often asked about.
Breastfeeding mothers receive conflicting advice about whether alcohol consumption can have an effect on their baby. While women are warned not to consume alcohol during pregnancy due to evidence that it can cause damage to an unborn child, the risks of consuming alcohol while breastfeeding are not as well defined.
When you drink alcohol it diffuses freely into the milk from the maternal blood so it has the same concentration as the maternal blood concentration. Infants metabolize alcohol at about half the rate of adults meaning that it stays in their system for longer = FACT.
Advice from the NHS website and other 'reputable' websites almost come across as they are giving people the green light but then you find comments like 'drinking the occasional glass of wine or beer while breastfeeding PROBABLY wont harm your baby, but the research is limited' and 'it is LIKELY safe to breastfeed after you have been drinking a minimal amount of alcohol'. They state that 'one drink a day is fine' and 'if your ok to drive you are ok to breastfeed'. Saying it is fine to drink in moderation sends out the wrong signals. The fact of the matter is that to date there is no agreed upon level of alcohol that is safe to have in your breast milk. There is no safe level of alcohol consumption and with every extra drink, more harm is caused.
Now I'm not trying to scare anyone or judge them. Apparently approximately half of all breastfeeding mothers in western countries drink. But as with everything I talk about I am trying to make people aware of issues so that they can make their own choices. I had my babies in New Zealand and it was just not something that people did. You either pumped and dumped (I will talk about that in more detail in a minute), gave pre-pumped breastmilk or formula or just didn't drink. I have noticed since being back in the UK that things are quite different here and its based on the poor advice being given. Of course if the NHS and others are implying that its ok then you will believe them as we are brought up in our society to trust Dr's but lets not forget years ago smoking was prescribed for coughs and thalidomide was prescribed for women with morning sickness?? So lets have all of the information when impacting the health of our babies.
Studies show that the infants of mothers who drink one alcoholic beverage per day have slower motor development, growth problems, poor muscle tone, poor feeding patterns, interrupted sleep patterns and affected cognitive development. Plus drinking alcohol can affect your milk production. One alcoholic beverage can reduce milk production by 23% and drinking two or more drinks may inhibit let down altogether.
In a study where the infant was given the same amount of alcohol that was equivalent to the mother having one drink the infants slept about 25% less. (I mean how is a study like this even allowed but I'm just giving you the results).
Studies have shown that babies take around 20% less milk if there is alcohol present so they will feed more often which in turn results in snacking which in turn results in the infant receiving milk that is less nutritional which in turn causes issues with sleep.
Studies find that infants who were exposed to alcohol through their mothers breastmilk had a dose dependant reduction in his or her cognitive ability by ages 6 and 7.
Finally alcohol changes the nutritional content of breastmilk which can cause an early nutritional deficiency.
So there is the information but I understand that there may be social events whilst you are breastfeeding and some women may like an occasional drink and by no means am I suggesting that you give up breastfeeding early so that you can drink alcohol no, no, no! If you are going to have an occasional drink please follow the below guidelines.
Levels remain highest between 30-60 minutes afterwards or 60-90 minutes afterwards if drinking with a meal. It takes 2-3 hours for 1 unit of alcohol to leave a mothers blood and the more you drink the higher your blood alcohol level will climb and the more it will prolong the duration that alcohol will be detectable in the blood and breast milk.
1 drink 2-3 hours 2 drinks 4-5 hours 3 drinks 6-8 hours
Your weight, if you have eaten whilst you drank, how quickly you drank it and how fast your body naturally breaks the alcohol down in your liver are all factors aswell.
If you are going to drink alcohol be mindful of all of this and either give your baby pre-pumped milk, formula or stick to the time frames. Yes it takes some planning but surely it is worth it.
Now pumping and dumping. Pumping and dumping will not remove the alcohol from your milk. Pumping and dumping, drinking lots of water, resting or drinking coffee will not speed up the rate of the elimination of alcohol from your body. If your breasts become full whilst waiting for the alcohol to leave your body you can of course pump and discard the milk but its not an 'option' to get around drinking I'm afraid.
So there you have it, that's the information so you can make the best decision but as a professional my advice when asked is always no to alcohol when breastfeeding. Its such a short amount of time, is it really worth it.
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