TIL It’s ok to have a drink or 2 and breastfeed! No need to pump and dump! 😊

@katrina2017 I'm surprised someone hasn't popped up to tell you that's absolutely impossible and spicy food makes no difference (even though in some babies it absolutely does, mine is one of them). Some babies have absolutely no issues with anything you eat and drink, nothing is universal and if your baby didn't have issues after then zero guilt need be felt... and if your baby did have issues, zero guilt need be felt either because you didn't know but now you do 🤷‍♀️
 
@sherryamber My mom is a lactation consultant and she encouraged me to “have a beer and relax” after we had a very stressful first few weeks postpartum (I had a planned homebirth and my son was born during the infamous Texas snowstorm I February). Since then I treat myself to some booze whenever I damn well please.
Cheers!
 
@derwolfemannn It was. Fortunately I stayed in bed while other people took care of us. We were without power and water for a few days, then got power back but didn’t have water for a week. I’m just glad he was born while we still had power, just barely.
 
@ninjajelli That damn storm. Dragging my pregnant belly through the snow daily to entertain a toddler and a giant dog. I never want to see that much snow for so long again. Couldn't imagine giving birth during that mess.
 
@sherryamber What my doctor said in the hospital: “If you can find the baby, you can feed the baby.” 😂 Basically your BAC is the percentage of alcohol in your breast milk so you’d need to be at like .3, nearly 4 times the legal driving limit, for it to be a problem.
 
@sherryamber I had my second kiddo 6 days ago - and I nursed my first for 15 months, donated milk to the milk bank and did a lot of research on BF early on during my late night feeds… I had a LC come in on day one and tell me “if you drink alcohol, you need to pump and dump for 2 hours after each drink before you can safely nurse again.” I was so mad that was the information she was giving new mothers. Firstly, it felt like shaming before I could even do anything to be shamed for. I just had the baby, not like they were serving me alcohol in the recovery room! Secondly- for the love of all things- don’t pump and dump! If you don’t want to feed your kid that milk for any reason - great! Freeze it for a milk bath! Don’t dump it! Just mark it with an X and throw it in a bath when they inevitably get HFM or an ugly case of diaper rash!
 
@leostar That's such garbage advice! Even if you were concerned, alcohol levels in breast milk work the same as your blood alcohol level. It goes up AND down. So there is no need to remove the milk. The alcohol leaves the milk of it's own accord at the same rate it leaves your blood. You don't have to remove your blood to get rid of the alcohol in your system so you don't need to with your milk either. That lactation consultant was massively misinformed.

Congratulations on your second child. I'll raise a toast!
 
@jerm_goduke You might need to pump for engorgement or maintaining supply though, that quote alone doesn't make it clear if she meant that or if she meant you need to remove the milk because she thinks it will still have alcohol in it regardless... If a mum was still concerned about alcohol in their milk that would potentially be sound advice rather than just waiting around getting engorged.
 
@moes Two hours isn't a massive amount of time though. Once you're past the early bit, most babies can go two hours without feeding, especially when theyv gone to bed at night, when you'd probably be having that drink.
 
@jerm_goduke She said 2 hours per drink though so if you have multiple drinks that could easily become a lot longer. Mine is still feeding every 3-4 hours overnight at nearly 8 months, if was out for the night I would definitely need to pump at least once. That's not even factoring in if you have an oversupply in which case you might get uncomfortable a lot quicker!
 
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