The Nursing Baby - Q&A

On breastfeeding and alcohol, your pediatrician is probably right. And when people say 90% of the alcohol passes thru, that's right, too. But it's comparable to your blood levels, not the levels in the beer.

For example, if you have one 5-ounce glass of 12% alcohol wine, and you weigh about 120 lbs, you are likely to have a blood alcohol level of 0.03% or less. Every 30 minutes, the alcohol levels in your blood (and milk) will drop by about 1/2. Notice that it would take (theoretically) about 360 glasses of wine to make your milk as alcoholic as the wine you drink (of course, this would kill you, too).

Now before you go crazy here, remember that your 10-20 pound infant will be *much, much* more sensitive to small amounts of alcohol than you would be. This is related both to body weight, immature organs, and to the fact that your infant will be taking in all of his nutrition and fluids through breastmilk. There has also been a small but definite correlation between regular drinking and decreased motor skills in the infant.

So it is probably sensible to limit alcohol to special occasions, and a good idea to time intake of a glass or two after your infant has fallen asleep.

The truth is, we don't know the effects of alcohol and nursing. We think right now that it is better for a mom who has several glasses every day to nurse than it is for her to formula-feed, because the good effects of breastmilk (even with some alcohol) seem to outweigh some of the negatives of formula.

BTW, there is no need to 'pump and dump', unless for some reason a beer has made your breasts uncomfortably full. Because the alcohol passes from the bloodstream, pumping will not 'get it out' of your milk any sooner. All that is necessary is a little time.

Want to learn more? Read some of the evidence.