Anne Rogers writes:

now I'm surprised, the advice out there is quite confusing, but I've not
seen any that suggests that normal consumption is ok, more that some
consumption is ok, but seeming to indicated less than the normal
amounts, e.g. 1-2 units 1-2 times per week.

I'm not interested in the advice, I'm interested in the research. Do you
know any that's relevant? I don't, and I have looked.

There is no disputing that alcohol goes through to the breastmilk, what
is disputed is what affect that has on the baby, which seems to me to
satisfy both empirical evidence and a reasonable theoretical argument.

?!? I don't know what you can mean by this. There's no dispute that some
alcohol molecules end up in breastmilk. There are some alcohol molecules in
normal orange juice, too, fwiw. In neither case is there any empirical
evidence of those molecules doing harm to the baby, nor any good
theoretical argument that they could. (For those who like evolutionary
arguments, note that alcohol is a normal component of the diet we've
evolved to eat; ripe fruit naturally contains alcohol, and brewing is as
old as the human race.)

How much did you drink whilst you were pregnant?

None, as it happens. (Well, I had no whole drink - I did sometimes have a
sip of DH's.) The empirical evidence base [for abstinence, as opposed to
very low levels of drinking, being beneficial] is pretty shaky here too,
though, so although I chose not to drink I won't criticise someone who does
drink a little in pregnancy. For me, the fact that alcohol levels in the
foetus's blood are approximately the same as those in the mother's blood,
and that sometimes the level of alcohol in my blood has a perceptible
effect on the functioning of *my* brain, and that DS's brain was developing
at the time, came close enough to a theoretical argument that there might
be an effect on him [even if I drank little enough that there wasn't a
perceptible effect on me] that I chose not to drink. Someone else's MMV.

As an aside, there are multiple studies indicating that alcohol inhibits
let down, so though you've clearly had no problems with Colin, that
could be a factor in you not letting down for pumps.

No; I only drink in the evenings, and I seldom pumped in the evenings,
because that was when Colin fed most. Normally when I was pumping, there
was no alcohol in my body. I've never heard any suggestion that drinking
alcohol has a long-lasting effect on one's body's ability to let down,
effective outside the time when the alcohol is in the body, have you?

PS I am so used to low alcohol consumption that I think if I drunk 14
units a week I would feel I was an alcoholic! This is just personal
preference, I wouldn't drink more if I wasn't breastfeeding my body just
seems to suit 1 unit a week.

That's your choice, you know your body. But I do think it's unhelpful when
people misuse the term "alcoholic" so. Alcoholism is an *addiction* to
alcohol. It isn't about drinking any particular amount, let alone about
drinking within commonly given health guidelines!

Sidheag
DS Colin Oct 27 2003