As we continue through the holiday season and near new year’s celebrations, questions about breastfeeding and alcohol are frequent. As a certified breastfeeding counselor (CBC) you can use your education to help provide evidenced based information for your clients.
As a CBC, your information is not a replacement for medical advice. However, the scope of practice does include parent education. Keeping up-to-date with evidence is an important service you offer your clients. Rather than having to navigate a variety of opinion based parenting blogs, they can seek your professional knowledge on many topics. This included the topic of alcohol and breastfeeding.
Is It Safe To Drink Alcohol While Breastfeeding?
After nine months of turning down all alcohol, many mothers wonder if breastfeeding and alcohol are compatible. Some wish to share a celebratory glass of champagne after baby’s arrival but aren’t sure of the safety.
As we continue to celebrate the holiday season and upcoming new year, what can you tell new parents? In short, breastfeeding and alcohol are compatible in many instances. However, many new parents are interested in a more details.
Here are some of the most common questions about breastfeeding and alcohol:
Can You Drink Wine, Cocktails, or Beer While Breastfeeding?
Yes, you can consume any type of alcohol while breastfeeding. Research shows that only a fraction of what you consume is in your breastmilk.
Some providers simplify the answer by saying, “safe to drive, safe to breastfeed,” though it’s more nuanced than that. Even if your blood alcohol level is greater than the legal limit, your breastmilk doesn’t contain excessive amounts of alcohol. However, if one is inebriated beyond the legal driving limit, it may be unsafe for them to be caring for their infant.
When you’re above the legal limit, your motor reflexes, response time and awareness are off. Breastfeeding baby while inebriated could lead to accidentally dropping baby or falling asleep in an unsafe manner.
How Much Alcohol Gets Into Breastmilk?
The amount of alcohol in breastmilk is the biggest concern many new parents have. Certainly, no parent wants to put their infant at risk. Dr. Jack Newman, a leading lactation researcher, studied this very concern.
Newman found reviewed the information from a breastfeeding mother who tested her milk and shared:
“Results:
The sample labeled as ‘immediate’ registered as 0.1370 mg/mL which correlates to 0.01370% alcohol in the sample. The sample labeled ‘2 hours’ registered as 0.0000 mg/ml which correlates to 0.0000%. The sample labeled ‘1 hour – 3 drinks’ registered as 0.3749 mg/mL which correlates to 0.03749% alcohol in the sample. The sample labeled ‘2 hours – 3 drinks’ registered as 0.0629 mg/mL which correlates to 0.00629% alcohol in the sample.
Conclusion:
The alcohol content in breast milk immediately after drinking is equivalent to a 0.0274 proof beverage. That’s like mixing 1 oz of 80 proof vodka (one shot) with 2919 oz of mixer. By the way, 2919 oz is over 70 liters. Two hours after drinking one (strong) drink the alcohol has disappeared from the sample. Completely harmless to the nursing infant. Drinking about 3 drinks in 1.5 hours resulted in higher numbers, but still negligible amounts of alcohol would be transferred to the child. One hour after imbibing in 3 drinks, the milk was the equivalent of 0.07498 proof beverage. That would be like adding 1 oz of 80 proof vodka (one shot) to 1066 oz of mixer (1066 oz is over 26 liters). Two hours after imbibing in 3 drinks, the milk was 0.01258 proof. That would be like adding 1 oz of 80 proof vodka to 3179 oz of mixer (over almost 80 liters). So, even though an infant has much less body weight, any of these percentage of alcohol in breast milk is unlikely to adversely affect the baby.”
As you can see, very little alcohol passes into a mother’s milk. A mother would likely be extremely ill before she could consume enough alcohol to harm her infant via breastmilk.
Is It Necessary To Pump And Dump After Drinking Alcohol?
Absolutely not. As you can see by the results above, the alcohol content rises and falls in breastmilk in the same manner it does in our blood. We needn’t bleed to reduce alcohol levels, thus we needn’t pump and dump to reduce levels in our milk.
If mother has consumed excessive alcohol and cannot safely hold her baby to feed, she should pump. However, that milk does not need to be discarded and can be safely given to baby.
The main risk of alcohol while breastfeeding is simply parenting under the influence and not the alcohol levels in breastmilk. Having a glass of wine, a cocktail or a beer during holiday celebrations is no reason to interrupt your typical feeding routine. If a mother desires to become heavily inebriated she can arrange childcare and pump as needed for comfort, and to replace the milk her infant consumes.
Should Breastfeeding Moms Use Alcohol Test Strips?
Retail alcohol test strips for breastmilk are not accurate, neither are they approved for such use. The woman above used laboratory level tests, not retail test strips.
These retail test strips are unfortunately nothing more than a for profit product with no consumer benefit. They also add unnecessary stress with no evidence for their use.
Are There Any Concerns About Breastfeeding And Alcohol?
As you read above, the amount of alcohol transferred to breast milk is extremely low. We do not have any evidenced based information to show there is a risk to consuming breastmilk after a mother consumes alcohol.
However, alcohol concerns do include:
- Risk of accidental injury while caring for an infant
- Unsafe sleeping arrangements increasing the risk of positional or accidental asphyxiation
- Transporting baby in a vehicle
- Inadequate supervision of a mobile infant or toddler
- Sleeping through or missing baby’s cues and cries
As you can see, all the above risks are simply general parenting risks. If any mother plans to consume more alcohol than is safe to legally drive, it is best her baby is in the care of another sober adult. Pumping and dumping is not necessary. Pumping for comfort, to avoid encouragement, and to provide milk is recommended.