May 15, 2025 • 10 mins
Planning for a birth that makes breastfeeding easier? Check out my FREE guide on setting yourself up for breastfeeding success:https://bit.ly/los-birthpractice-workbook
---------------------------------
In this candid and informative episode of Lo’s Lactation Lab, host Lo Nigrosh addresses a question that many breastfeeding parents face: “Can I drink alcohol while breastfeeding?” With warmth and scientific clarity, Lo breaks down how alcohol transfers into breast milk, debunks persistent myths, and outlines how parents can enjoy occasional drinks safely without compromising their feeding goals. This episode empowers listeners to make informed choices without shame or misinformation.
Lo Nigrosh is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), birth doula, and certified childbirth educator who aims to make breastfeeding less stressful and joyful. Known for her evidence-based approach and compassionate support, Lo brings expertise and reassurance to parents navigating the complexities of infant feeding.
Expect to Learn:
#breastfeeding #breastfeedingjourney #breastfeedingstruggles #breastfeedingsupport #postpartum #postpartumsupport #ibclc #childbirtheducation
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/lo-s-lactation-lab--5834691/support.
Follow Lo Nigrosh:
---------------------------------
In this candid and informative episode of Lo’s Lactation Lab, host Lo Nigrosh addresses a question that many breastfeeding parents face: “Can I drink alcohol while breastfeeding?” With warmth and scientific clarity, Lo breaks down how alcohol transfers into breast milk, debunks persistent myths, and outlines how parents can enjoy occasional drinks safely without compromising their feeding goals. This episode empowers listeners to make informed choices without shame or misinformation.
Lo Nigrosh is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), birth doula, and certified childbirth educator who aims to make breastfeeding less stressful and joyful. Known for her evidence-based approach and compassionate support, Lo brings expertise and reassurance to parents navigating the complexities of infant feeding.
Expect to Learn:
- How alcohol enters breast milk and how long it stays there.
- Why “pump and dump” is often unnecessary, and when it is appropriate.
- Safe timing guidelines for drinking and feeding your baby.
- Debunking the myths about whether alcohol increases milk supply.
- How to plan for events and drink responsibly while maintaining your feeding goals.
- [00:00] – Introduction and Common Concerns
- [02:01] – How Breast Milk Is Made and How Alcohol Enters It
- [03:31] – Understanding Alcohol Levels and Clearance
- [06:21] – Busting Myths about Alcohol and Milk Supply
- [08:14] – Safe Drinking Practices and Feeding Timing
- [09:07] – Empowerment and Support Resources
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lo-nigrosh-16371495/
- Website: https://www.quabbinbirthservices.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quabbinbirthservices/
- Available Resources: How to calculate Alcohol Consumption: https://www.infantrisk.com/content/alcohol-breastfeeding-whats-your-time-zero
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/los-lactation-lab/id1614255223
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2F54fe1szmemB9n7YUJgWv?si=2eea7f1cfba64867
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@loslactationlab3967
#breastfeeding #breastfeedingjourney #breastfeedingstruggles #breastfeedingsupport #postpartum #postpartumsupport #ibclc #childbirtheducation
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/lo-s-lactation-lab--5834691/support.
Follow Lo Nigrosh:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lo-nigrosh-16371495/
- Website: https://www.quabbinbirthservices.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quabbinbirthservices/
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2F54fe1szmemB9n7YUJgWv
- Apple Podcasts:.css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}Mark as PlayedTranscript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Drinking alcohol is considered compatible with breastfeeding in moderate amounts,
and pumping and dumping does not speed up the clearance
of alcohol. It leaves your milk when it leaves your bloodstream.
But here's some truths about alcohol and breastfeeding. You can
breastfeed after moderate alcohol consumption. One drink equals four ounces
(00:23):
of wine, twelve ounces of beer, one and a half
ounces of liquor. Before we begin, I want to share
something special with all of you expecting parents out there.
As an internationally board certified lactation consultant, I've seen firsthand
how a little planning can go a long way to
helping you achieve your baby feeding goals. That's why I'm
(00:44):
offering you my free ebook. It's called Birth Practices to
Support Breastfeeding and it's a work book. So check out
the link in the description below. Hello, Welcome back to
Thoe's Lactation Lab. Today will be talking about that question.
So many people ask, can I have a drink while
(01:05):
I'm breastfeeding? Can I go out with my friends? Can
I have a glass of wine at dinner? Or do
I need to pump and dump or refrain totally from
alcohol like I did while pregnant. So I'm here to
answer that question for you today. So many of us
would make extreme sacrifices to be able to continue feeding
(01:29):
our babies. In fact, people go on all sorts of
elimination diets when they're trying to figure out what might
be causing breastfeeding difficulties or colicky difficulties or reflux difficulties.
And so it's no wonder that people think, well, I'll
just avoid alcohol altogether while breastfeeding. And if that's the
(01:50):
choice that you want to make, that is totally acceptable.
But let's get into what happens when you drink alcohol
while breastfeeding. So first of all, how is breast milk
made in the body, because this helps us understand how
alcohol gets into breast milk as well as other nutrients. So,
(02:13):
when you are pregnant, your pregnancy hormones help to build
the structure inside the breast which are going to be
creating milk, and you have these little alveolar glands which
hold the breast milk in your body. And it is
these glands which take the nutrients from the blood in
(02:39):
your body and turn them into breast milk. So it
takes out the fat and the sugars and the proteins
and turns those nutrients into breast milk through prolactin. Prolactin
levels are really important for the creation of breast milk.
And then it is the release of oxytocin which allows
(03:00):
the breast milk that has been made inside these alveolar
glands to release into the body. And so we know
that when you eat or drink anything, it is taken
out of the blood stream and into the milk. And
in fact, when it comes to alcohol, the body is
(03:23):
constantly taking a little bit making milk and then releasing,
taking a little bit making milk and then releasing, and
so alcohol passes into breast milk at similar levels to
what your maternal blood alcohol content is. So just like
if you were to take a breathalyzer and it would
tell you what your blood alcohol level was, it's going
(03:45):
to be very similar. In the breast milk. It does
not get trapped in milk. It rises and falls like
it does in your blood, and most of the time
it peaks. The blood alcohol level peaks at about thirty
to sixty minutes after the consumption of a drink. Drinking
alcohol is considered compatible with breastfeeding in moderate amounts, and
(04:09):
pumping and dumping does not speed up the clearance of alcohol.
It leaves your milk when it leaves your bloodstream. But
here's some truths about alcohol and breastfeeding. You can breastfeed
after moderate alcohol consumption. One drink equals four ounces of wine,
twelve ounces of beer, one and a half ounces of liquor.
(04:30):
And how we know how much alcohol is in your
bloodstream is based on how much alcohol you've consumed and
your weight. Really, and I will link a page from
the Infant Risk Center that gives you actually a calculator
of how much alcohol is safe to drink. However, the
(04:51):
best thing to do is to think about whether or
not you would be able to drive. As long as
you feel neurologically safe enough to drive, then you are
neurologically safe enough to feed your baby. So it's best
to wait about two to three hours per drink if
you want the alcohol to totally clear from your bloodstream.
(05:15):
Some people prefer to feed their baby, then have their drink,
and then by the time the next feeding comes around
they would be able to feed their baby again. Now
you do not need to pump and dump. This is
the next big truth that we're gonna discuss, except for
when you get so full that you need to remove
(05:38):
the fullness, and if it's during that window where you
feel neurologically impaired from the alcohol, then yeah, you would
dump that because you're not going to feed it to
your baby. Or you could use it for a breast
milk bath or turn it into soap something like that,
but you're not going to give it to your baby too.
Injes if you're feeling neurologically paired, so occasional moderate drinking
(06:04):
is very unlikely to harm your baby. There are no
long term effects found with light and frequent drinking, but
newborns do metabolize alcohol more slowly, so the timing of
when you drink and when you feed your baby is important. Now,
there are some myths when it comes to alcohol and
(06:24):
breastfeeding that I would like to bust today on this episode.
The first myth is that you have to give up
alcohol completely. I hope that I have already debunked this
by talking about how alcohol gets into breast milk in
the first place. The second myth is that alcohol increases
milk supply. It actually may temporarily decrease milk production. And
(06:47):
this is why the place that this myth comes from
is that in some studies we see that some alcohol,
especially alcohol derived from beer barley, increases the level of
prolactin in lactating women. However, it interferes with oxytocin, which
(07:09):
is the hormone which releases the milk. So even if
prolactin is increasing and you might make a little bit more,
it is harder to get that milk out when you
are drinking alcohol. So it's I would not use alcohol
to reliably increase your milk supply, and babies will sometimes
take in less milk after alcohol is consumed because that
(07:33):
let down is harder to achieve. And the third myth
is that breastfeeding, while buzz or tipsy equals automatic harm,
moderate use equals minimal transfer into milk. So then your
blood alcohol level in your body is not going to
equal the same blood alcohol level for your baby because
(07:55):
the alcohol is taken from the blood and turned in too,
along with all the other nutrients because it passes that barrier.
So the alcohol is taken from the blood along with
all the other nutrients, and so it gets presented to
the baby in much smaller amounts. Always use your judgment
(08:16):
when deciding whether or not to feed your baby once
you've been drinking. But guilt doesn't help you either, So
as long as you feel safe to drive, you are
safe to feed your baby. And the younger they are,
the slower alcohol is metabolized. So a newborn baby is
going to metabolize breast milk much more slowly than a
(08:37):
six or seven month old baby. If you do end
up going out and drinking, let's say you go to
a wedding or an event and you have quite a
few drinks, then you're just going to extend the time
that you wait. So if you wait two to three
hours with one drink, then you are waiting four to
six hours with two drinks. Pumping to comfort if you
(09:00):
need to, so that you don't get engorged, which can
lead to plug ducxemastitis. So, in conclusion, alcohol can be
a part of life and breastfeeding safely, moderately, and without shame.
Trust your body, follow the science, and reach out to
(09:20):
an IBCLC or another provider if you have specific concerns.
You can always look up information regarding all sorts of
medications and drugs at the Infant Risk Center. They even
have a phone line that you can call and talk
to a qualified professional who understands how substances get transferred
(09:45):
into breast milk, much more than even your pediatrician usually does.
All right, so I hope that clears things up for you.
I can't wait to see your name in my inbox
as you reach out with any of the additional questions
you have regard arding breastfeeding. Bye.
Drinking alcohol is considered compatible with breastfeeding in moderate amounts,
and pumping and dumping does not speed up the clearance
of alcohol. It leaves your milk when it leaves your bloodstream.
But here's some truths about alcohol and breastfeeding. You can
breastfeed after moderate alcohol consumption. One drink equals four ounces
(00:23):
of wine, twelve ounces of beer, one and a half
ounces of liquor. Before we begin, I want to share
something special with all of you expecting parents out there.
As an internationally board certified lactation consultant, I've seen firsthand
how a little planning can go a long way to
helping you achieve your baby feeding goals. That's why I'm
(00:44):
offering you my free ebook. It's called Birth Practices to
Support Breastfeeding and it's a work book. So check out
the link in the description below. Hello, Welcome back to
Thoe's Lactation Lab. Today will be talking about that question.
So many people ask, can I have a drink while
(01:05):
I'm breastfeeding? Can I go out with my friends? Can
I have a glass of wine at dinner? Or do
I need to pump and dump or refrain totally from
alcohol like I did while pregnant. So I'm here to
answer that question for you today. So many of us
would make extreme sacrifices to be able to continue feeding
(01:29):
our babies. In fact, people go on all sorts of
elimination diets when they're trying to figure out what might
be causing breastfeeding difficulties or colicky difficulties or reflux difficulties.
And so it's no wonder that people think, well, I'll
just avoid alcohol altogether while breastfeeding. And if that's the
(01:50):
choice that you want to make, that is totally acceptable.
But let's get into what happens when you drink alcohol
while breastfeeding. So first of all, how is breast milk
made in the body, because this helps us understand how
alcohol gets into breast milk as well as other nutrients. So,
(02:13):
when you are pregnant, your pregnancy hormones help to build
the structure inside the breast which are going to be
creating milk, and you have these little alveolar glands which
hold the breast milk in your body. And it is
these glands which take the nutrients from the blood in
(02:39):
your body and turn them into breast milk. So it
takes out the fat and the sugars and the proteins
and turns those nutrients into breast milk through prolactin. Prolactin
levels are really important for the creation of breast milk.
And then it is the release of oxytocin which allows
(03:00):
the breast milk that has been made inside these alveolar
glands to release into the body. And so we know
that when you eat or drink anything, it is taken
out of the blood stream and into the milk. And
in fact, when it comes to alcohol, the body is
(03:23):
constantly taking a little bit making milk and then releasing,
taking a little bit making milk and then releasing, and
so alcohol passes into breast milk at similar levels to
what your maternal blood alcohol content is. So just like
if you were to take a breathalyzer and it would
tell you what your blood alcohol level was, it's going
(03:45):
to be very similar. In the breast milk. It does
not get trapped in milk. It rises and falls like
it does in your blood, and most of the time
it peaks. The blood alcohol level peaks at about thirty
to sixty minutes after the consumption of a drink. Drinking
alcohol is considered compatible with breastfeeding in moderate amounts, and
(04:09):
pumping and dumping does not speed up the clearance of alcohol.
It leaves your milk when it leaves your bloodstream. But
here's some truths about alcohol and breastfeeding. You can breastfeed
after moderate alcohol consumption. One drink equals four ounces of wine,
twelve ounces of beer, one and a half ounces of liquor.
(04:30):
And how we know how much alcohol is in your
bloodstream is based on how much alcohol you've consumed and
your weight. Really, and I will link a page from
the Infant Risk Center that gives you actually a calculator
of how much alcohol is safe to drink. However, the
(04:51):
best thing to do is to think about whether or
not you would be able to drive. As long as
you feel neurologically safe enough to drive, then you are
neurologically safe enough to feed your baby. So it's best
to wait about two to three hours per drink if
you want the alcohol to totally clear from your bloodstream.
(05:15):
Some people prefer to feed their baby, then have their drink,
and then by the time the next feeding comes around
they would be able to feed their baby again. Now
you do not need to pump and dump. This is
the next big truth that we're gonna discuss, except for
when you get so full that you need to remove
(05:38):
the fullness, and if it's during that window where you
feel neurologically impaired from the alcohol, then yeah, you would
dump that because you're not going to feed it to
your baby. Or you could use it for a breast
milk bath or turn it into soap something like that,
but you're not going to give it to your baby too.
Injes if you're feeling neurologically paired, so occasional moderate drinking
(06:04):
is very unlikely to harm your baby. There are no
long term effects found with light and frequent drinking, but
newborns do metabolize alcohol more slowly, so the timing of
when you drink and when you feed your baby is important. Now,
there are some myths when it comes to alcohol and
(06:24):
breastfeeding that I would like to bust today on this episode.
The first myth is that you have to give up
alcohol completely. I hope that I have already debunked this
by talking about how alcohol gets into breast milk in
the first place. The second myth is that alcohol increases
milk supply. It actually may temporarily decrease milk production. And
(06:47):
this is why the place that this myth comes from
is that in some studies we see that some alcohol,
especially alcohol derived from beer barley, increases the level of
prolactin in lactating women. However, it interferes with oxytocin, which
(07:09):
is the hormone which releases the milk. So even if
prolactin is increasing and you might make a little bit more,
it is harder to get that milk out when you
are drinking alcohol. So it's I would not use alcohol
to reliably increase your milk supply, and babies will sometimes
take in less milk after alcohol is consumed because that
(07:33):
let down is harder to achieve. And the third myth
is that breastfeeding, while buzz or tipsy equals automatic harm,
moderate use equals minimal transfer into milk. So then your
blood alcohol level in your body is not going to
equal the same blood alcohol level for your baby because
(07:55):
the alcohol is taken from the blood and turned in too,
along with all the other nutrients because it passes that barrier.
So the alcohol is taken from the blood along with
all the other nutrients, and so it gets presented to
the baby in much smaller amounts. Always use your judgment
(08:16):
when deciding whether or not to feed your baby once
you've been drinking. But guilt doesn't help you either, So
as long as you feel safe to drive, you are
safe to feed your baby. And the younger they are,
the slower alcohol is metabolized. So a newborn baby is
going to metabolize breast milk much more slowly than a
(08:37):
six or seven month old baby. If you do end
up going out and drinking, let's say you go to
a wedding or an event and you have quite a
few drinks, then you're just going to extend the time
that you wait. So if you wait two to three
hours with one drink, then you are waiting four to
six hours with two drinks. Pumping to comfort if you
(09:00):
need to, so that you don't get engorged, which can
lead to plug ducxemastitis. So, in conclusion, alcohol can be
a part of life and breastfeeding safely, moderately, and without shame.
Trust your body, follow the science, and reach out to
(09:20):
an IBCLC or another provider if you have specific concerns.
You can always look up information regarding all sorts of
medications and drugs at the Infant Risk Center. They even
have a phone line that you can call and talk
to a qualified professional who understands how substances get transferred
(09:45):
into breast milk, much more than even your pediatrician usually does.
All right, so I hope that clears things up for you.
I can't wait to see your name in my inbox
as you reach out with any of the additional questions
you have regard arding breastfeeding. Bye.
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