interestingly,
i am impressed at times how much my style is NOT cramped by having a tiny 7-week-old shadow. josh is off this weekend, and it sort of feels just like the old days. i realize this is because my previous lifestyle just wasn’t all that glamorous or adventurous!
we can still walk to the farmer’s market, where i can still eat delicious daisy cakes scones.
we can still go out to brunch.
we can still watch modern family on the couch, although admittedly it’s a little different to do so while breastfeeding. [SO excited for next season with the recent plot twist!]
i can’t really sleep in — but let’s face it, i didn’t really do that before, either.
and short runs are starting to be almost as satisfying as long ones.
some things are harder — going out to dinner, grocery shopping, and the like. but i will learn to make things work — and if not, we’ll cultivate some new traditions. [take out. movies on demand. good old fashioned snuggle time].
i do have to admit i miss wine* and nice dinners out a little. which is why it’s very exciting that tonight is DATE NIGHT! perhaps i should feel guilty about leaving annabel with my sister for a couple of hours, but the truth is that i don’t. couples time is so important and i really want to have [ <– no, that’s not strong enough] enforce — a monthly date night.
8 Comments
I think it will be easier to enjoy the occasional drink once your little one’s feeding schedule becomes more predictable. My DS eats every 3 hrs like clockwork, so I drink once or twice a week directly after he eats if I know I don’t have to feed him for at least 90 minutes after I finish. Alcohol is metabolized out of the blood (and this breastmilk) within that time frame. And it is true that dark malty beers can increase supply (i seriously can note a difference on the days after I have a need at night). Just time it right and you can do it.
I read that if a mother is legally drunk at 0.8 BAC that breastmilk is barely 0.1 (units?) Which means if you have a small drink – especially with food – your BAC is probably not even high enough to put it in the milk. Don’t remember the source!
I read up on kellymom and am going by things my NP told me….like the previous commenter said, the alcohol metabolizes out of your body and then your milk. So you can assume one hour per drink for women, and it would be out of the milk in an hour. Much easier for me since I mostly pump, so I’ve had some beer and wine and will just time it right.
P.s. I thought of another pumping tip after I commented…I was a duh moment, but I read to be sure the pump is turned up as high as you can tolerate. I wasn’t doing that because I was afraid it would hurt, but it didn’t.
The recomendation in Sweden is that for your milk, one or two small glasses of wine per week is ok. But the nurses and doctors still recomends abstinence, because you are responsible for a small, helpless baby and need to be alert and rested. You might need to take an unexpected trip to the ER or something, so sober is better. Also, no alcohol if you risk falling asleep with the baby in bed, for obvious reasons. Since I am not much of a drinker I stay sober. Life is long and I will have many years to have that wine without being on "baby duty".
That said, enjoy your night off said baby duty! 🙂 I know you asked for details about my baby, so I’ll email you all the details about the birth of my little girl when I get my stuff together and get to write down a birth story. Anabell is a cutie!
Ditto to most things everyone said- you can drink, but it also becomes easier once you know her feeding schedule. My lactation consultant said as long as you can drive a car then you can feed the baby.
Hopefully this won’t make me sound like a lush, but you can TOTALLY have a glass of wine or beer and breastfeed. Breasts are not like bladders — i.e. you don’t "store" alcohol in them once you finish your glass. As long as you don’t feel the alcohol, it’s not in your milk either. The best time to try a glass of wine/ beer is right after a feeding, so you can be more certain it will be gone from your system by the next time she eats. I usually don’t have more than some sips from my husband’s beer/wine a few nights a week these days anyway. It’s been so long since I’ve had full glass to myself that I’m totally a cheap date now!
That is outdated. Some studies show drinking a beer can even boost supply, especially dark beer. Breastmilk has the same qualities as your blood, so as soon as you don’t feel the alcohol in your system you are fine to feed. It doesn’t hang around in your milk so no need to pump and dump.
I have a glass of wine or beer almost every night. I haven’t had more than one drink, but I didn’t do that too often before either.