Sorry Chanita, I don't accept the comparison.  A little alcohol is not
like a little pregnant, nor a little formula.

No one who has come out against alcohol has answered my question.  How
can we as breastfeeding advocates say on the one hand that even the
tiniest bit of alcohol in your milk renders your milk so dangerous to
your baby that you have to stop breastfeeding for a few hours even
after you have a single glass of wine; and on the other hand, you can
take prednisone at 80 mg a day (or propranalol, or fluconazole, or
whatever), and though your baby will get tiny amounts, you can still
breastfeed, because the risks of not breastfeeding outweigh the risks
to the baby of that tiny amount of drug in your milk?

Prudent and moderate use of alcohol is good and not shameful and not
dangerous for the vast majority of women, and certainly not for that
women's nursling.  But all drugs should be considered potential
poisons.  Why are we making such a special case about alcohol?  Is it
because we are such puritans?  That a daily use of a drug to treat
hypertension is okay, but occasional use of a drug which livens up
conversation, makes food taste better, makes us think our neighbour is
quite a nice person after all, and boosts romantic instincts is *not*?

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC

P.S. The preceding was *not* paid for by the Ontario wine growers
association.