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Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 3 Jan 1999 19:23:19 -0500
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Alcohol is like all drugs. It comes out in the milk in only small amounts.
Where I live a person is considered too drunk to drive if they have 0.08%
alcohol in their blood. Wine is 12% alcohol. If a mother is too drunk too
drive, she will have about 0.08% or slightly more (because if it gets much
higher than 0.1% she will be comatose) in her milk, because alcohol passes
freely back and forth between blood and milk. I doubt that even 0.1% on an
occasional basis will cause any harm to the baby.

We are very prudish in North America. We think that alcohol is a terrible
drug, and it is when abused. But a little is good and one of our main
problems in encouraging breastfeeding is that we make life so difficult when
mothers breastfeed. You can't have a drink or three, you can't smoke, you
can't eat what you want, you can't go out...

How can we as lactation specialists say to a mother that it's okay for you
to continue breastfeeding while taking carbamazepine (Tegretol) on a daily
level, but not occasional alcohol?

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC

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