Can my niece have a beer while breastfeeding?

I want to know if my niece is able to have a beer while breastfeeding. She is paranoid as she should and wants to do everything right, but is it safe? If so how much and in what intervals?

Thanks

Medhelp says 1 beer an hour is perfectly fine but is it really???

For sure.

"Myth: 5. A mother should not drink alcohol while breastfeeding. Not true! Reasonable alcohol intake should not be discouraged at all. As is the case with most drugs, very little alcohol comes out in the milk. The mother can take some alcohol and continue breastfeeding as she normally does. Prohibiting alcohol is another way we make life unnecessarily restrictive for breastfeeding mothers."

http://www.drjacknewman.com/help/Breastf...

"Current research says that occasional use of alcohol (1-2 drinks) is not harmful to the nursing baby. The American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Drugs classifies alcohol (ethanol) as a 鈥淢aternal Medication Usually Compatible With Breastfeeding.鈥?br> Many experts recommend against drinking more than 1-2 drinks per week.
It is recommended that nursing moms avoid breastfeeding during and for 2-3 hours after drinking (Hale 2002).
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...

In general, if you are sober enough to drive, you are sober enough to breastfeed. Less than 2% of the alcohol consumed by the mother reaches her blood and milk. Alcohol peaks in mom's blood and milk approximately 1/2-1 hour after drinking (but there is considerable variation from person to person, depending upon how much food was eaten in the same time period, mom's body weight and percentage of body fat, etc.). Alcohol does not accumulate in breastmilk, but leaves the milk as it leaves the blood; so when your blood alcohol levels are back down, so are your milk alcohol levels.

Always keep in mind the baby's age when considering the effect of alcohol. A newborn has a very immature liver, so minute amounts of alcohol would be more of a burden. Up until around 3 months of age, infants detoxify alcohol at around half the rate of an adult. An older baby or toddler can metabolize the alcohol more quickly."

http://www.kellymom.com/health/lifestyle...

I have been bf my son for five months now, and I have had a beer here and there, I just have only one and then make sure to drink a glass of water with or right after so i dont get dehydrated, if she feels paranoid she can do what they call a pump and dump, where she drinks her alcohol and then pumps for the next nursing time instead and then just throw it out. But ive read mixed things, she should just do what she feels is right. My son is completely healthy and doing everything or more at his age and i bf exclusively:)

yes its fine, 100% fine. no doctor in this world (unless mormon) will tell you otherwise.

just dont go over board with the alcohol, a beer is fine but 10beers is not ok.

Second of all- breast milk has equal alcohol per volume as the mothers blood.
So if a mother drinks one beer (5% alcohol by volume) that might raise her blood alcohol to .04% (.08 is the legal driving limit). So that means if the child was to drink that he will geting .04% alcohol per volume. Just to put into perpective- anything less then 1% alcohol is considered to be alcohol free (like buttermilk has around 1% alcohol due to the process of making it). So 1 beer is NO problem.

I was actually told by my doctor to drink a beer a couple of times per week to aid breastfeeding.

Drink the beer WHILE feeding. It relaxes you, causes your milk to letdown faster and easier, the yeast will aid in production, and the alcohol will 'burn off' before time for the next feeding.

Sure it's fine. If she does have a drink and is feeling "buzzed" she shouldn't nurse but i think its wait to nurse 2 hours for every drink. They have these strips now to tell you how much alcohol is in your milk to see if it's safe to give to baby. They sell them at Walgreen's. But if she's feeling fine then it should be safe to nurse after drinking.

Yes, its fine. If she is ok to drive she is ok to nurse her baby.

Tell her to enjoy herself and lighten up a bit.

BTW, many people give their babies gripe water with alcohol in it and think nothing of it but holy cow if a nursing mothers wants a drink.. please.

A beer, yes. But right after she feeds and at least 1 and a half hours before she feeds again. But just one.

It takes 1 and a half hours per beer/1 oz. shot to go through her system.

yes it is ok as long as she doesn't get drunk. they make a alcohol breast feeding test kit, if she gets overly concerned

NO.

Why are there so many people asking questions like this?
If you cannot drink while pregnant, why drink while BF??
The alcohol goes through the milk to the child, so the baby will get the beer.

Seriously, is it that hard not to drink while breastfeeding?
I did it my whole pregnancy, and for 8 months while i was breastfeeding - its not that hard.

No.