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Is Alcohol Safe During Breastfeeding? Expert Advice & Guidelines
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While it is safest to refrain from drinking alcohol while breastfeeding, the occasional drink (up to one standard drink a day) is not known to be harmful to the infant, provided you take proper precautions.
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Experts recommend that you consume no more than one drink per day and wait a minimum of 2 hours per alcoholic beverage before you nurse your infant. Higher alcohol intake can cause alcohol to be detectable in breast milk for longer.
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Exposure to alcohol through breast milk can negatively impact an infant's growth and development as well as sleep patterns. Babies exposed to alcohol through breast milk may be drowsy, lethargic, weak, and may fail to gain weight as expected.
Can You Drink Alcohol While Breastfeeding?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises against maternal alcohol consumption (drinking while breastfeeding an infant) due to the adverse risks to mother-infant health. However, the occasional drink (up to one standard drink a day) is not known to be harmful to the infant, provided you take proper precautions. Read on for tips on how to reduce your infant’s exposure to alcohol if you choose to drink alcohol while nursing.
How Much Alcohol is Safe for Breastfeeding Mothers?
If you decide to drink alcohol while nursing an infant with breast milk, make sure you adhere to a safe drinking level, which is no more than one standard drink per day.
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, one standard drink is:
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1.5 ounces of 40% (80 proof) alcohol by volume (ABV) liquor such as gin, brandy, tequila, rum, whiskey, or vodka.
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5 ounces of beverages with 12% ABV, such as wine.
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8 ounces of beverages with 7% ABV, such as malt liquor.
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12 ounces of alcoholic drinks with 5% ABV, such as beer.
Timing of Breastfeeding After Consuming Alcohol
How Long Do I Have To Wait To Breastfeed After Drinking Alcohol?
Experts recommend that you wait a minimum of 2 hours after having a single alcoholic beverage before you nurse your infant.
Alcohol levels in breast milk are typically the highest about half an hour to one hour after the mother has an alcoholic drink. Alcohol continues to be present in breast milk for about 2 to 3 hours after each standard drink is consumed.
Keep in mind that the length of time that alcohol is present in breast milk after the mother drinks can vary from person to person. It depends on various factors such as the amount of alcohol consumed, the speed at which alcohol was consumed, whether alcohol was consumed with food or on an empty stomach, and the mother’s body weight and metabolism.
Higher amounts of alcohol intake by the mother (more than one standard drink) can cause blood alcohol levels to remain elevated for longer and consequently for alcohol to be detectable in breast milk for longer. Therefore, practices such as binge drinking (4 or more drinks in 2 hours or less) can lead to alcohol being present in breast milk for 6 to 8 hours or even longer.
Note: Expectant mothers are strongly urged to avoid alcohol completely during pregnancy due to a high risk of birth defects and long-term medical problems in the baby.
How Long To Wait To Breastfeed After Drinking: Chart Calculator
Based on alcohol pharmacokinetics, experts recommend waiting the following amounts of time before breastfeeding to allow all the alcohol to clear from your system.
| Number of standard drinks consumed | Time to wait before breastfeeding |
| 1 standard drink | 2 hours |
| 2 standard drinks | 4 to 5 hours |
| 3 standard drinks | 6 to 8 hours |
Alcohol's Effect on Breast Milk Production
Studies have shown that breast-fed infants consume about 20% less mother’s milk in the 3-4 hours after their mother consumes an alcoholic beverage. Scientists do not believe the decreased milk intake is because of a shorter period of nursing or rejection of the mother's milk due to changes in flavor or quality but rather due to decreased milk production following maternal alcohol consumption.
Animal studies have shown that alcohol consumption affects the levels of prolactin and oxytocin, two milk-ejecting hormones that play a key role in the production of breast milk. Researchers do not know how alcohol affects these hormones in humans or whether the quantity or quality (calorie content) of human milk is affected in chronic or heavy consumers of alcohol.
Alcohol's Impact on Infants
Transfer of Alcohol into Breast Milk
Alcohol passes from the mother’s bloodstream to human milk readily. Alcohol levels in human milk closely parallel maternal blood alcohol levels. Therefore, women who drink alcohol while breastfeeding can expose their nursing infant to alcohol.
Drinking alcoholic beverages is not completely prohibited during breastfeeding. Moderate alcohol consumption, such as one glass of beer or wine per day, is not known to have short- or long-term effects on the nursing infant’s health. However, consuming more than one standard drink per day while breastfeeding can harm the infant and is not recommended. It’s also important for lactating women to time breastfeeding to when their blood alcohol level has decreased.
Can Alcohol in Breast Milk Affect the Baby?
Exposure to alcohol through breast milk can negatively impact an infant's growth and development as well as sleep patterns. Babies exposed to alcohol through breast milk may be drowsy, lethargic, and weak. They may also fail to gain weight as expected.
In addition, mothers who consume alcohol above moderate levels may have impaired judgment and an inability to safely care for the infant.
Common Concerns and Myths
Common Misconceptions About Alcohol and Milk Production
Traditionally, there is a belief in many cultures that alcohol is a galactagogue (a substance that enhances breast milk production). For example, some cultures believe that the consumption of small amounts of alcohol shortly before nursing can increase milk yield and improve the release of milk from the mammary glands (also called the let-down). In addition, alcohol is believed to relax the mother and infant.
However, scientific research does not support these folklores that encourage alcohol consumption by lactating women. The expert opinion is to avoid drinking alcohol as much as possible, to drink no more than one drink a day while breastfeeding, and to wait 2 hours between each drink and nursing.
Is “Pump and Dump” Effective?
A breastfeeding mother may express or pump milk within 2 hours of having an alcoholic beverage and discard the pumped milk. This type of milk ejection is called “pump and dump.”
However, the newly produced breast milk, after pumping and dumping, will still contain alcohol as long as the mother has measurable blood alcohol levels. Therefore, “pump and dump” does not reduce the amount of alcohol in breast milk any faster. It is not an effective way to prevent alcohol exposure in the infant.
Nonetheless, pumping and dumping can help to ease physical discomfort from engorgement.
Social Situations: How to Manage Occasional Drinking
If a lactating mother wishes or requires alcohol consumption socially, she can pump (express) milk before she drinks alcohol, store it, and use it to feed her infant. Or she can wait at least two hours (per standard drink) after consuming alcohol before nursing her infant - this will allow her blood alcohol levels to go down. Of course, there is also the option to consume non-alcoholic drinks.
Read next: Medications To Avoid While Breastfeeding
Experts advise avoiding drinking alcohol while breastfeeding an infant as much as possible. Alcohol levels in breast milk are essentially the same as alcohol levels in the mother’s blood.
According to the Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed), alcohol transfers from the mother’s blood to breast milk. The more the alcohol consumed, the more the alcohol transferred to breast milk. Other factors, such as how fast the mother’s body can metabolize alcohol, also play a role in the infant’s exposure to alcohol.
Research has shown that exposure to alcohol can lead to delayed motor development, slow weight gain, and disrupted sleep patterns in the infant. In addition, excessive drinking or alcohol abuse (heavy or chronic alcohol use) can prevent a mother from caring properly for her infant. There may be an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in infants whose mothers shared a bed with them after they consumed alcohol. Learn about the long-term effects of alcohol on the brain.
Moreover, studies on alcoholism (clinical and experimental research) suggest that alcohol consumption by lactating mothers can decrease the mother’s milk supply and the infant’s milk intake. Research suggests that consumption of 5 or more drinks by nursing mothers leads to not only less milk but a decreased milk ejection reflex (letdown). Drinking alcohol also disrupts the baby’s milk intake until the maternal blood alcohol level decreases.
Given that avoiding alcohol for 6 months or more while breastfeeding may not be feasible for everyone, experts recommend certain precautions. If a nursing mother wants to ingest alcohol, experts recommend moderate drinking (no more alcohol than one drink per day) while nursing an infant on breast milk. Also, because alcohol leaves the mother’s system in a couple of hours (after drinking one drink), experts recommend waiting at least 2 hours between acute alcohol consumption and breast-feeding.
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