>
>     I am also concerned about this "err on the side of  safety" notion.
>Everyone has their own interpretation of that,  which  leads to 
>non-evidence based
>practice. A classic example of that is the  Physician's Desk Reference which
>says that no drug is safe to take while  breastfeeding.
>     I don't know of any study showing that a mother  breastfeeding and
>drinking alcohol has harmed any infant (and I am not talking  about 
>the drunken
>mother that rolled over on her baby, which is a different and 
>serious concern). I
>am talking about the baby ingesting some molecules  of alcohol because the
>mother has had some alcoholic drink.  Even  the Little study could not be
>replicated.


And more than that, Nikki, we have evidence from studies that shows 
no difference between the babies of bf mothers who drank 'moderately' 
and those who didn't drink at all.  'No difference' does not equate 
to  'proves this is harmless' of course, but 'erring on the side of 
safety' has the very real  risk that a mother will cease bf, or 
suspend bf and give formula,  which we *know*  has risks.

I regularly hear from mothers who have been told they have to pump 
and dump for 24 or even 48 hours after having alcohol - and pumping 
and dumping does not do anything anyway (apart from relieve the 
discomfort of the woman who's been told she can't bf and drink 
alcohol).

It fuels the notion that breastfeeding is a fragile process, liable 
to go wrong or become literally poisonous.

When I am asked about alcohol, I make no 'recommendations' (I'm am 
not allowed to anyway, as a volunteer), and I simply share the 
information I have with the mother.  If she is concerned that her 
baby gets absolutely no alcohol whatsoever, and sometimes she is, 
then I tell her to calculate 60-90 mins per unit for processing, and 
check she knows what a unit is.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html