Alcohol and Babies Don’t Mix
Posted on July 6th, 2009 – 5:04 PMBy Kay Krhin
There has been a flurry of conversations going on about the woman who was recently arrested for nursing her 6-week-old while intoxicated. According to the article, “Officers arrested the woman, who later pleaded guilty to child neglect and faces up to five years in prison. Now her case has touched off a debate among moms about breast-feeding, alcohol — and privacy.” Read the complete story here.
Back in 2006 May and I did a little happy hour experiment we called the “Breastalyzer Test” with a box of Milkscreen test strips that measure alcohol in breastmilk. (The things we’ll do for the sake of the blog…) You can read the full post here.
Our conclusion? If you feel tipsy - don’t breastfeed. Just use common sense, combined with time, moderation and a back up plan.
What are your thoughts on the subject of breastfeeding and alcohol?
10 Responses to "Alcohol and Babies Don’t Mix"
Wow. Read your earlier post.
I’m curious… did you feel tipsy after one glass of wine?
I’m a believer in pump & dump if anything for peace of mind though I don’t think 24 hours straight is necessary.
How drunk are moms getting anyway? And who wants to be that hung over when you have kids?
My major concern is that many women see nursing is too big of a sacrifice and if they don’t feel they can occassionally have a cocktail or go out with friends while nursing, they may choose to give up nursing. Blood levels and milk levels would be comparable. So if you are too drunk to drive, you are too drunk to nurse- sleep it off. Pump and dump won’t speed the rate of burning it off. I think a mother can do best for her child and continue to have some fun, some socializing. We have the bar for good mothering so high, no one can feel like a good mother.
i just wanted to say i’ve seen the Milkscreen on clearance at Walgreens recently on the back end caps. i think it was down to about $5.
Since we don’t know how bad alcohol is for babies - some Mom’s may decide not to take any chances and not drink while they are breastfeeding and some Mom’s may decide that one drink on a infrequent basis is okay.
I always felt in the one drink on an infrequent basis was okay. I wasn’t getting drunk but I was having some much needed adult time.
Arrest seems like an extreme reaction…especially since they didn’t actually do a blood-alcohol test. Seems like they probably won’t have much of a case without that…?
FIVE YEARS in prison!?!? Wow. That seems excessively harsh. I had the occasional 1 beer or glass of wine when I was breastfeeding and never thought twice about it, nor did I ever notice any adverse reactions. I suppose that’s different than getting completely smashed and then breastfeeding, but jeez, there are much, much bigger problems in the world than this.
I have no qualms about having one drink and then nursing. More than one and I’d wait a while to nurse.
I’m with Beth, I would never want to be hung over and dealing with my kids!
I waited until my daughter was going longer between nursings to drink to make it easier. It just made more sense. I planned, had extra milk pumped, and then waited a good five hours to nurse. Before that I was too sleep deprived to drink.
And I agree, I had no desire to drink much because the thought of dealing with being a parent drunk or hung over just didn’t appeal to me. It is hard enough without that.
Wait a minute - she’s assaulted by her boyfriend, calls the cops, but the cops think she’s drunk and try to use the fact that she nursed her 6-week-old baby in front of them as proof (which is a whole ‘nother rant that I won’t get into). No sobriety tests, no blood alcohol tests, nothing. Not even any medical attention! How do they know it wasn’t a head injury causing the “drunken” behavior? This is just all kinds of wrong, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the alcohol content of her breast milk.
I continue to nurse my son who is 11 months old - I don’t hesitate to have a glass or two of wine or beer and nurse. Neither do my friends that nurse. I have friends that chose not to nurse - partly because they wanted to be able to have a drink and didn’t feel they could if they nursed. I think all of these restrictions and rules - the cult of perfect motherhood - are silly. They seem very stifling and guilt-inducing and lead to less-healthful/natural choices for mom and baby (i.e. not breastfeeding at all). It’s hard enough to be a mom - we shouldn’t have to deal with ridiculous restrictions and rules. This seems like one more way that breastfeeding is marginalized and not supported by mainstream American culture - despite it’s health benefits for mom and baby. (Lisa - good point about the cops reaction to nursing - I really thing there are bigger fish for the police to fry.)
If I really want to have several drinks, then I’ll wait to nurse until I’ve sobered up.
I do agree with other posters though - personally, the thought of getting drunk or being hungover just doesn’t appeal to me - too much work to take care of a kid and feel horrible.
