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Can I Have Wine While Breastfeeding

Being a new mom is an incredibly stressful experience.

You have just given birth, which may have been painful and traumatic, and now you are trying to keep up with the daunting task of breastfeeding.

All of this stress can build up and leads many women to wonder if they can safely have a glass of wine to take the edge off while breastfeeding.

Put simply – yes. Breastfeeding mothers, according to the CDC, can find ways to drink responsibly without harming their baby.

Especially if you follow the tips outlined in the guide we have made for you.

Can I Have Wine While Breastfeeding

There are a few rules that you should consider when you are considering drinking while breastfeeding.

Give it Time

Alcohol can pass through breast milk to a baby. However, it is metabolized after around 2-3 hours.

So, if you have a drink or two, just be sure to wait two hours (per drink) before attempting to breastfeed your baby. This will ensure that you have given your body time to metabolize the alcohol before you feed the baby.

If you are going out to eat or out with some friends, then this should be an easy task to accomplish.

If you have a drink and then stop, then by the time you get back home you will probably be just fine to nurse.

Limit Your Consumption

When you are breastfeeding, you will probably want to stick to one or two alcoholic drinks in a sitting.

Even though you might subscribe to the best rose wine club, only enjoy one or two glasses per day for now. There will come a time when your ability to drink will be back to normal.

However, it is a best practice to slow down on the drinking for now in order to protect your baby. Besides, one or two drinks is likely enough to take the edge off. 

Pump and Dump

There are a few things to point out with pumping and dumping. If you try to pump and dump before the allotted time for metabolized alcohol, there will still be alcohol in your milk.

However, pumping and dumping is fine if you are simply trying to continue your schedule and not interrupt your pumping and feeding schedule.

There is no need to pump and dump once your time has passed for metabolization.

As we said, the alcohol will leave your milk after a certain amount of time so you do not have to pump and dump.

You will be disposing of perfectly good breast milk, which I am sure you know is a major problem.

Final Thoughts

Of all the questions asked by new mothers it is one of the most common. As we said, early motherhood is stressful, and a glass of wine can do wonders for calming nerves that have been unsettled.

Regardless, you can drink; you just need to take your responsibility to your baby seriously and follow all of the recommendations.

Drinking a glass of wine while breastfeeding is a totally normal desire.

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