Alcohol and pumping
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@Jude so for future if I decide to go out, how much alcohol would I need to stop giving my child my breast milk? As I’ve seen so many different people say different things and I don’t know what’s accurate or not x
No need to pump and dump. As long as you feel sober enough to safely nurse a baby you’re good.
It's advised you wait 2h after that drink. It sounds weird but the best time to drink is while you nurse/pump as the alcohol hasn't gotten to your milk. By the time baby is ready to feed again, you will be fine. Rule is for each unit of alcohol 2h. So if you have 3 drinks that's 6h to be safe
@Ines this is what I’ll do, she’s also formula fed as I don’t produce a lot of milk, so I’ll just give her some formula, thank you x
No amount of alcohol is safe I would just pump and dump cause even if the percentage of alcohol in the milk is low it could still have a chance of affecting baby
Pumping and dumping doesn't get the alcohol out of your milk any faster. Pump/nurse before or while having your drink then you'll be in the clear by the time you need to nurse/pump again
You can get dip sticks that measure your alcohol level in breast milk I believe if you are ever worried. It takes quiet a lot for it to make a big difference in your milk.
@Daisy the legal limit is 0.08, which is three drinks. To put it into context, oange juice is 0.1% so it'd be more alcohol to give that to your baby than the breast milk. As long as you're no binge drinking regularly, and you're safe to nurse, you'll be fine to keep breastfeeding.
@Yadi so when can I give her my milk again if I’ve had a drink?
@Daisy they sell alcohol test strips for breast milk I personally find them at target where all the pumps and nipple care are but im sure other places have them
@Helen As I am not a regular drinker, I just like to have a drink occasionally, so I don’t see the point in purchasing something I would rarely use. I just wanted to know how much I would have to wait after one drink, but everyone again seems to say different things 😂x
@Daisy but to further answer your question this is what google says but the key word is unlikely meaning there's still a chance The CDC recommends waiting two hours after consuming alcohol before breastfeeding, or pumping milk, for every standard drink. For example, if you drink two standard drinks, you should wait four hours before breastfeeding. You can also use breast milk that you expressed before drinking. Breast milk contains alcohol as long as alcohol is in your bloodstream. The more you drink, the longer it will take for the alcohol to clear your system. An occasional drink is unlikely to harm your baby, but regularly drinking above the recommended limits can be harmful for you and your baby. Drinking too much can decrease your milk supply, and may cause sleep, growth, and developmental problems with your baby.
@Daisy the rule is an hour a unit to go out your blood system. But the amount that goes into your milk is a small portion compared to what's in yours so one drink might put you over the driving limit but it wouldn't be enough to affect baby via your milk. If you have tiktok science baby is a great channel to watch they did do an episode on drink alcohol while breast feeding a while back
You don't need to stop pumping, the milk will be safe for baby. Your blood alcohol level is what baby gets: one drink will give you a BAC around 0.02, meaning 0.02% of your milk contains alcohol.