This topic has been discussed several times during the past few years (see archives). Just to clarify some of the science that has been done. The only epidemiological study on alcohol and breastfeeding that has been done was published in the New England Journal of Medicine 1989;321:425-30. The study was on 400 infants. They found that infants of nursing mothers who drank at least 1-2 drinks PER DAY (whether it was with pizza or not) were at risk for a slight motor impairment at 1 year. Infants of women who drank less than one drink daily were not different (in terms of mental and motor development) than infants of nursing moms who did not drink at all. They controlled for more than 100 variables including smoking, drinking during pregnancy, etc. If you look at the Feb 1990 issue of The Journal, you can find the answer to the question, perhaps the effects on motor development were due to changes in parenting? It appears not. The infants of women who drank one drink or more per day had significantly lower psychomotor scores than infants of women who were heavy drinkers (1-2 drinks per day or binge drinkers) but stopped breastfeeding earlier or did not nurse. "Thus, it appears to be not the behavior of the drinking mother, but the ethanol in her breast milk that is associated with decreased motor development." --- Julie Mennella, Ph.D. Monell Chemical Senses Center 3500 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19104-3308 Tel: 215.898.9230 Fax: 215.898.2084 Email: [log in to unmask] http://www.monell.org