How long does it take for alcohol to wear off before breastfeeding?

12/20/2017 Category: Nutrition for a nursing mother Author: Elena Mann

Everything that a nursing mother eats and drinks goes along with the milk into the infant’s fragile body. It has long been known that alcohol is poison. How compatible it is with breastfeeding remains to be seen. How do the harmful substances of ethanol affect lactation and the child? Is it possible to talk about safe doses of alcohol at a critical stage of a baby’s growth and development? These and many other questions are of interest to young mothers who are breastfeeding.

• Alcohol during breastfeeding: harm and benefit
  Acceptable types of alcoholic drinks and their quantities

  Wine

• Beer

Alcohol and breastfeeding

Research by Serge Rend has confirmed that drinking grape-based ethanol drinks improves immunity, improves mood and generally has a good effect on organ function. But alcohol has the opposite effect. It penetrates into all organic fluids, lymph, and interferes with normal lactation. Therefore, when asked whether a nursing mother can drink, 99% of doctors will answer that it is not possible. If you have drunk a couple of glasses of any alcoholic drink, then wait until your organs process it.

Does alcohol pass into breast milk?

Alcohol penetrates all organs immediately through the bloodstream. Before young mothers drink a glass of wine, they should not only think about whether alcohol passes into breast milk, but also about the condition of their liver. Hormone surges lead to changes in the functions of this organ and metabolism. With such disorders, ethanol will quickly spread throughout the body and leave it very slowly. Alcohol penetrates into milk after 30 minutes. The decomposition time of the substance depends on the weight and condition of the mother. If you want to drink alcohol, you must adhere to the following rules:

• Keep in mind the baby's age. Up to 3 months, the little body is too sensitive to alcohol, which can cause poisoning.
• You should not drink wine, vodka, champagne or cognac an hour before feeding, because the liver and pancreas will not have time to process them.
• Consider your own weight when taking products containing alcohol. The lower it is, the longer you will have to wait for ethanol to leave the body.
• You can drink one glass of wine, 250 ml of beer or 30 ml of cognac per day. They cannot be taken together.

What percentage passes into breast milk?

Ethanol is absorbed by the female body faster and released more slowly. When asked what percentage of alcohol passes into breast milk, doctors answer that only 10%. The percentage may vary. It is affected by the mother's weight and the amount of alcoholic beverages she has taken. If you have problems with metabolism, then the percentage increases to 20. Ethanol leaves the mammary glands easily, but stays in the brain for a very long time, so even 3 hours after drinking wine or beer, women are not recommended to drive.

How long does it take for it to pass into milk?

The absorption time of any substance is determined by a person’s complexion and the rate of metabolic reactions. For this reason, it is impossible to accurately answer how long it takes for alcohol to enter breast milk. Approximate time is 25-40 minutes. Alcohol will be passed on to the baby even 2 hours after consumption. Many women find that under the influence of Cahors or beer, the child begins to fall asleep faster. This condition cannot be attributed to full sleep. It is caused by intoxication and intoxication when feeding with alcoholized milk.

Opinions from forums

Natalya: In defense of alcohol - without it, of course, no one will die. But pregnancy and feeding imply an almost complete renunciation of pleasure, and if at least sometimes you don’t allow yourself a little something, you can develop a good neurosis, which will also affect the child (or even hidden aggression towards him as the cause of all misfortunes). For myself, I decide in favor of champagne (but I have an older child and eats complementary foods, i.e. there will be 5-6 hours between alcohol and feeding).

Victoria Bystrova, 1st child: Some old, venerable pediatrician told me: “Yes, eat, whatever you want, you will still get milk, and not something else.” And my husband’s grandmother from the Novgorod region shares the same opinion, and she raised 7 healthy children. And you know, when I started eating everything I wanted, the child’s allergies (on breastfeeding) immediately disappeared.

I don’t think that one glass will get much for the baby. On the 1st New Year, mine was 5 months old, I drank champagne and nothing... If you really want it, why not drink it. If you are afraid that your conscience will torture you, then it’s better not to, it will cost you more. Maybe I'm wrong, but in such quantities, it's more of a psychological issue than a health issue.

Svetlana: I’ll tell you a VERY seditious thought: I would drink a couple of glasses of champagne without bothering at all. And without even expressing anything. This will not affect anything once. I had a situation when I was feeding: the milk suddenly ran out, it was like it was cut off. Empty, that's all. And we were seen by a very good (and very paid) pediatrician.

He categorically forbade me to feed the child with formula, but ordered: let the hungry one hang on her chest, suck it, they say, nothing terrible will happen to her in a day. And he prescribed me a diet: a lot of boiled meat and beer (!). Well, I drank a bottle then :). With hindsight, of course, with surprise. The next day after such a diet, there was a lot of milk (there were even problems - that it hardened the breasts, but, ttt, they softened it).

The child slept exceptionally well - well, of course, she had been crying a lot before she was hungry, but now she was full, and even with beer, as it were.