From Joylyn's post, in response to Saara Harvie's query:
Dr. Julie Mennella "spoke (on alcohol consumption while breastfeeding) at the
Southern California/Nevada LLL Conference last May.
She was very informative and has done research on what I have known/felt all
along--which is that the taste of the food the mom eats/drinks is very much in
evidence in the milk.  She did say that alcohol does change the taste of the
breastmilk as much as garlic and other strong flavors, and that one thing we
may be doing by drinking alcohol and breastfeeding is introducing our children
to the taste of alcohol very early in life.  However, research did say that by
3-4 hours after one glass of wine, the milk no longer has any alcohol in it,
and so drinking a glass of wine or a beer while your older child was going to
sleep would be best, because then by the time the child nursed again, the
alcohol would not be in the system."

One of the great conveniences of breastfeeding is that the baby/child
automatically gets acclimated to the family diet, or at least to the maternal
diet.  Artificially fed babies get the same old, same old.  Every meal is
identical, all the time.  They have no idea of the variety of tastes the
family enjoys apart from whatever they might recall from their time in the
womb, as amniotic fluid also gets flavored by spices and tastes in the
maternal diet.  Tobacco also affects the taste of both milk and amniotic
fluid.

Alcohol itself (apart from the other flavorful substances in the beverage in
question) crosses all cell membranes in the body.  It equilibrates rapidly
throughout blood, CNS and all tissue, and is present in milk in very nearly
the same concentration as in mother's blood at all times.  That means when
mother is over the legal limit for driving, her milk has the same
concentration as whatever the legal limit for driving is.  That is much more
dilute than the original drink mother imbibed to achieve such a blood
concentration, and scarcely measureable in the baby, but if you are very
concerned about the effect on the child of getting used to alcohol, both
effects and taste, at a young age, then total abstinence is the safest route.
Note that it is not necessary to pump milk to discard after having consumed
alcohol unless the mother is uncomfortably engorged.  The alcohol
concentration in the milk declines along with mother's blood alcohol.

Another effect of alcohol previously discussed here is on the MER.  This can
be inhibited, sometimes for prolonged periods, after a single episode of heavy
consumption.  Alcohol has a diuretic effect and this can sometimes overwhelm
the antidiuretic effect of oxytocin.  The set point for this effect is not the
same in all women, so again, if concerned, total abstinence is the safest
policy.  It has never been shown that breastfed babies have any clear benefit
from maternal alcohol consumption.

BTW, it has been shown that when mothers eat garlic, the babies nurse more
eagerly, take more milk and do not exhibit any sign of suffering from the
garlic-flavored milk.  I am sorry I don't have the reference with me, but in
the one study I am aware of, an adult panel sniffed the milk samples and had
no trouble determining which were the garlic-flavored ones.

Enjoy your garlic, whatever you wash it down with...
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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