Alcohol and breastfeeding

If you can manage it, breastfeeding has lots of benefits for both your baby and you. And if you are breastfeeding, the safest approach is not to drink any alcohol. That’s because almost anything you eat or drink - including alcohol - passes to your breast milk.¹

How alcohol in breast milk can affect your baby

If you drink, the level of alcohol in your breast milk will rise and fall along with the alcohol in your bloodstream.²

Babies are growing and developing rapidly. Alcohol can have a number of harmful effects and can cause sleep, growth, and developmental problems with your baby.³

And while evidence suggests if a breastfeeding mother has an occasional drink that it’s unlikely to harm their baby,^4,5 regular exposure to alcohol in breast milk is linked to developmental delay.⁶ This could put your child at risk of not reaching the mental and physical milestones that are normal for their age.^7,8

How alcohol affects feeding

If you drink alcohol while breastfeeding, your breast milk will contain alcohol for a few hours after you’ve stopped drinking.⁹ And the more you drink, the longer it takes for your body to process the alcohol. It typically takes an average adult around one hour to process one unit of alcohol (just under half a small glass of 13% wine, or half a pint of 4% strength beer¹⁰) until it’s cleared from your bloodstream.¹¹

If you are breastfeeding and you do choose to have the occasional drink, the NHS advises to:¹²

• Avoid breastfeeding for two to three hours for every drink you have, to avoid exposing your baby to alcohol
• Plan ahead by expressing milk for your baby before you intend to have a drink
• Do not drink more than one or two units, once or twice a week

Even if you just have a single drink, if practical, it’s best to wait a couple of hours until breastfeeding to minimise the risks to your baby.¹³

Drinking alcohol can also affect how well your baby feeds. Alcohol disrupts the hormone that controls the ‘let-down’ of breast milk (the process that makes milk flow through the nipple).^14,15

Babies take around 20% less milk per feed in the three to four hours after alcohol is consumed.¹⁶ If you have chosen to ‘feed on demand’ this can mean your baby will compensate by wanting to feed more often,^17,18,19 or if you have a fixed schedule for feeding they might not get as much food. 

Why expressing milk doesn’t clear it of alcohol

The level of alcohol in your breast milk falls as the level of alcohol in your bloodstream falls – expressing milk after having a drink won’t clear your breast milk of alcohol more quickly than usual.²⁰

However, if your breasts feel uncomfortable when you're not breast feeding for a few hours and you want to express some milk to relieve the discomfort, you shouldn’t feed it to your baby if you think it still might have alcohol in it. As an alternative, some mums choose to express milk and dispose of it to relieve the discomfort.²¹

Planning ahead if you think you might drink

Don’t forget, the NHS also advises that if you do think you’re going to drink alcohol – for example as part of a social occasion – you can plan ahead and express some breast milk before you drink. You can then skip the first feed after the social function and give your baby the expressed milk you have ready instead.²²

And if your baby is already having ‘mixed feeding’ – some breast, some bottle – then it makes sense to give a bottle as the first feed after you have had an alcoholic drink.

Tips for parents of babies and young children

Anyone that has a young baby – both mums and dads – will know that it’s incredibly tiring. But did you know that drinking alcohol can disrupt your sleep, just when you need it most?^23,24

Taking a break from alcohol could be a great way of ensuring you’re prepared for the day (or night) ahead. Or, if you choose to drink, the best way to keep your risk from alcohol low – whether you have a new arrival in the house or not – is to stick to the UK Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines. That means no more than 14 units a week (for both men and women), spread over three or more days with several drink-free days, and no bingeing.

Find out about alcohol and safety while looking after children