What it is
You want a glass of wine or your morning coffee and are searching 'drinking while breastfeeding' or 'pump and dump.' Alcohol and caffeine both pass into milk at about the level in your blood. Pumping does not clear alcohol faster; only time does.
What's typical
One standard drink clears from milk in about two to three hours. Two drinks take about four to five. For caffeine, the CDC's usual ceiling is about two to three cups of coffee a day. Newborns take days to clear caffeine; by six months, hours.
What's known
The CDC and the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine say not drinking is safest, and that one drink, with the baby fed before and a two-hour wait after, is not known to harm the baby. 'Pump and dump' only helps comfort if you miss a feed. Many cultures give new mothers beer or stout, but studies find alcohol lowers letdown and milk volume.
What helps
- Feed or pump right before the drink, then wait about two hours per drink.
- Never bed-share after drinking. That is the real risk with alcohol and babies.
- If the baby is wired, try halving your coffee for a week.
When to call someone
- Nowyou drank more than planned and cannot stay awake to care for the baby. Hand her to a sober adult.
- Todaya newborn who is jittery, will not settle, or feeds poorly after you have had coffee or energy drinks.
- At your next visityou are using alcohol to get through the day or night. Help is kind and common.
Who helps
Tools: Birthworker Directory
Related
- Medications and breastfeeding: how to checkFeeding Your Baby
- Newborn sleep and safe sleepBaby Basics
- Coffee and caffeinePregnancy: Eating
- Pumping: how, when, how oftenFeeding Your Baby
What mothers here say
No one has posted under this topic yet. The first experience here will help the next mother who searches for it at 2 a.m.
Experiences and questions are their authors' own, not reviewed advice. The topic's steward lists the ones that help most in a credited digest once there is one. Unusual experiences stay, with a note.
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Alcohol and breastfeeding
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Caffeine and breastfeeding
- Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine — Clinical protocol on breastfeeding and substance use or substance use disorder
Sources are named, not yet linked. The steward verifies each one and adds the link.
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