Let's Breastfeed

It’s the season to be Merry!

As we draw closer to Christmas, many moms are asking me about drinking alcohol whilst breastfeeding, so I thought this would be a good thing to address on my blog.

Like with everything concerning pregnancy, newborns and babies, there are many conflicting opinions about what is considered safe or not safe with regards to drinking and breastfeeding.

The American Academy of Pediatrics Committee considers small amounts of alcohol consumption compatible with breastfeeding. Moms having one unit or less each day is fine, whilst drinking in large doses is not recomended.

However, you will find many moms boasting of feeding babies in all states of anebriation in some of the chat rooms online. Not very safe, as more moms than you may think have dropped baby whilst feeding under the influence compounded by weeks of broken sleep, so please be careful!

Alcohol passes freely into the mothers milk and peaks between 30 and 60 minutes when just having alcohol on its own. It takes a little longer to peak when consumed with food taking between 60 and 90 minutes.

The length of time it takes your body to eliminate alcohol from your blood stream will vary according to body mass. Schulte (1995) found that a woman with a body mass of 120 pounds, consuming one glass of wine or beer, needed 2-3 hours to eliminate alcohol from the body.

However, I have just stumbled onto something I hadn’t really considered before though, which is alcohol free wines and beers.

As I am getting married and holding my reception in my local Baptist church which has a no alcohol policy, I having been looking for ways to make alcohol free mulled wine to offer guests on arrival.

The more I look, the more I find. Marks and Spencers do an alcohol free mulled wine and you can even pick up some alcohol free wine and bubbly at Tescos! I have some I will try later and will let you know what it is like….

You don’t have to feel left out this year just because you have a baby or one on the way, there are actually quite a few options open to you.

Let’s Breastfeed is dedicated to making your breastfeeding dreams become a reality. If I can’t see in person, you can still have me in your living room with my Let’s Breastfeed Program!

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