If you want to drink alcohol while breastfeeding, you can choose to pump and dump as well. Studies have determined that alcohol will naturally leave your breast milk as it leaves your bloodstream, so waiting two hours will ensure that the alcohol is out of your milk.
No. The alcohol level in breast milk is essentially the same as the alcohol level in a mother's bloodstream. Expressing or pumping milk after drinking alcohol, and then discarding it (“pumping and dumping”), does NOT reduce the amount of alcohol present in the mother's milk more quickly.
But more recently, this theory is being challenged. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) states that if you are going to have an alcoholic beverage, it is best to do so just after nursing or pumping milk. Breastfeeding or pumping breast milk is okay once two hours has passed since your last alcoholic drink.
Research suggests that breastfed babies who are exposed to one drink a day might have impaired motor development and that alcohol can cause changes in sleep patterns.
If you have one alcoholic drink and wait two hours to feed your baby, you don't need to pump and dump. And if engorgement and milk supply are not an issue, you can just wait for the liquor to metabolize naturally. Alcohol doesn't stay in breast milk, and pumping and dumping doesn't eliminate it from your system.
“If you're feeling sober enough to drive, you're usually sober enough to breastfeed,” Bechhold said. Some new mothers may have a lower tolerance to alcohol after abstaining from drinking during their pregnancy.
Avoid breastfeeding during and for at least 2 hours after drinking alcohol (moderate).
In fact, researchers note that alcohol concentrations in breast milk closely resemble those in maternal blood. 2 That means if a mother has a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of . 08%, which is legally drunk in many areas, her breastmilk will be . 08% alcohol.
Other studies have suggested psychomotor delay in infants of moderate drinkers (2+ drinks daily). Avoid breastfeeding during and for 2 – 3 hours after drinking alcohol. Heavy drinkers should wait longer.
The ACOG advises waiting two hours after having a drink before pumping or breastfeeding to give your body time to break down the alcohol.
It takes about two hours for the average adult to metabolize one drink. When you metabolize alcohol, your body processes and breaks it down. Once you've metabolized the alcohol, it's out of your breast milk, too. So, you can safely breastfeed about two hours after you've finished one drink.
There is no need to pump & dump milk after drinking alcohol, other than for mom's comfort — pumping & dumping does not speed the elimination of alcohol from the milk. If you're away from your baby, try to pump as often as baby usually nurses (this is to maintain milk supply, not because of the alcohol).