On the breastfeeding & alcohol, I really found the Pregtastic podcast episodes on breastfeeding very informative. Haha, I’m only 10 weeks along, but they covered the ‘wine will increase milk supply’ myth (so unfortunately it’s not true) and that indeed, ump & pump is not necessary. It’s also the case that it takes 1.5–2 hrs to get one serving of alcohol completely out of your system, so the best strategy is to breastfeed and then have a drink. By the time he wants/needs to feed again, it should all be gone!

And thanks for all the tips! One woman on twitter said she would pump n dump, only because she was drunk (not going to feed) and her breasts were going to explode, so she needed to empty them. So makes sense there!

You don’t need to pump and dump. As Lauren says breastmilk is liquid gold. The certified lactation and registered nurse who taught the breastfeeding class I took (highly recommend finding one as the classes easily become playgroups later) said that breastmilk is cleansed the way your blood is cleansed, so the amount of alcohol dissipates as time goes by.

Personally I stayed away from anything other than wine or beer until my son was not waking up in the middle of the night, so it would be hours before a feeding. Even so, I don’t drink more than one or two, and that was only one time. Knowing that you’ll be responsible for a little person should he need you changes your opinion of drinking. … but man, it’s such a wonderful thing to be able to have the glass of wine or beer without worrying.

Good luck!