After a 10-month hiatus from alcohol, you could bet imbibing was on my mind.
In the end, I chose not to, but not for the reason you might think.
(Well talk more about this later.)
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But don’t worry, drinking while breastfeeding won’t get your baby drunk.
Eventually, it travels to the liver, where enzymes break down the alcohol.
Our systems can break down approximately 1 ounce of alcohol an hour.
Any extra accumulates in the blood and body tissues until the liver can process it.
From there, the accumulation of alcohol in your bloodstream can pass through to your breast milk.
The real effect of drinking while breastfeeding may come to how alcohol affects the breastfeeding process.
Despite folklore that linked imbibing to increased milk production, science has proved otherwise.
The result is a temporary decrease in milk production.
Talk with your doctor or a lactation consultant about your concerns.
Those disclaimers aside, the studies did show minor sleep disturbances.
Some studies found that although the amount of time spent sleeping was unchanged, infants woke up more often.
Other studies found that infants slept about 25 percent less after drinking milk that contained alcohol.
It’s not a secret that people can make some pretty terrible decisions while drunk.
But when you’re caring for a child, the consequences can be much more severe.
That’s especially concerning when you consider that motor vehicle collisions are a leading cause of death among children.
Violence and child maltreatment are also associated with heavy drinking, according to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.
One limitation is that the study was published in 2010, the most recent year the data was available.
Even aside from these severe cases, being drunk while caring for a baby isn’t a great idea.
Alcohol impairs your judgment and reaction time, both of which are important when taking care of an infant.
Being intoxicated can make you less aware of what your baby needs.
If you do decide to get drunk, see to it a sober adult is in charge of childcare.
One reason is that you might accidentally suffocate the baby while you’re sleeping.
Obstructing an infant’s airway for even a very short period of timecan be dangerous.
Thats a lot of lactating mamas enjoying a glass of pinot or a pint of lager.
Instead, when a mother feels sober enough to drive, she is sober enough to nurse.
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