Why breastfeeding Moms should not drink.... The following is an email I received from a friend of mine. I am passing this along as a public service to all potential mothers out there.


.......My sister got married the last weekend in April. She had an open bar....YIPPPEEE!!!! BUT, I have NO tolerance for alcohol since I had a baby and am still breastfeeding. I can actually get pretty loopy off of 3 beers and even 1, if I chug it. I am fully aware of this, not to mention I am breastfeeding and don't want to be drunk/hung over having to do my normal Motherly duties.

As soon as the wedding was over there was a cocktail hour. My wonderful husband went and got me a vodka tonic. When I was done with that one, he went and got me another one. Since I was in the wedding I had to go into the reception once everyone else was seated.......you know the announcing of the wedding party crap. While the wine was being offered to the guests at the table my wonderful husband (I do really love him) got me a glass of red wine. It was Fat Bastard Chiraz...one of my favorites!!

I drank this glass of wine, did my surprisingly sentimental unrehearsed speech during which I got teary-eyed. I went back to my table and told my husband I had 3 drinks and it was his turn to go hit the bar and drink up. He was so kind to tell me it was ok and that I could keep drinking. I am not sure why, knowing my zero tolerance, but I proceeded over to the bar where I got another vodka tonic. At this point the college mode switch must have gotten turned on accidentally. I ended up having about 7-8 vodka tonics. The reception was only about 4 hours. For some reason I did not think that this was enough alcohol in my body and since I had some pumped milk with me I decided to do a couple of Cabawaba Tequila shots with a highschool chum of mine that was at the wedding.

I did not feel too terribly drunk but ended up talking to my brother and his wife about a huge family war that they started. Not really the appropriate time or place to do this, not to mention I have no clue what I said. Around this point, most everyone was gone, I started to feel the vodka and tequila hitting me pretty suddenly.

I turned around on the boardwalk walkway to go to the bathroom. It was wet because it had been raining and I was wearing some slick soled flip flops....not really an excuse......but I somehow (it's a bit unclear) stumbled and fell forwards and then backwards. I remember my head flinging back and to the side, where the right side of my nose must have made impact with something (maybe a railing?) and then proceeded to fall off the walkway landing on the left side of my nose and busting up my knee.

One strap was ripped off my dress and blood was pouring out of my nose and bleeding from the right side from whatever I hit. I thought it was broken for sure. By this point my memory is very clouded and these events were gathered from observers.

I went to the bathroom and was sitting on the toilet with my panties arond my ankles with a huge crowd around me in my ripped and bloodied dress and my profusely bleeding nose. From what I hear the videographers got this on tape.

At this point my wonderful husband and my uncle had to carry me to my car. My husband and brother took turns wiggling my nose to see if it was broken. it did not hurt at this point. Then they put me in the car where I curled up in a ball on the back seat holding my nose with toilet paper.

When I got back home, my husband took the baby inside while my uncle stayed in the car with me. At this point I decided it was a good time to throw up. My uncle was so kind as to hold my head up while I sat in the car and puked in between his feet. Of course this made my nose start pouring with blood again (I know this because I remembering looking down at my pile of puke filled with blood).

Oh yeah...and did I mention I was supposed to take my uncle to the airport at 4am??? My brother ended up having to come from an hour away to drive another 45 min to take my uncle to the airport.

I had to go to the doctor the next day.....and no my nose wasn't broken. But, I was so hung over and my nose hurt so bad and I hadn't relieved my milk jugs in way too long, that when I got to the doctor's office HE had to tell me that I was leaking. I had two HUGE wet circles on my shirt where I had leaked because I was so messed up I forgot to put my breast pads on.

SO THAT'S why breastfeeding Mom's with no alcohol tolerance should not drink. And even if you think you MIGHT wear that bridesmaid dress again....think about what it will look like covered in blood with ripped straps!! It might not be so wearable again after all.

Hope you enjoyed my story and it was worth the wait. I am hoping there won't be another one like this any time soon. In all my years of playing sports and all the strange injuries I have had over the years I have never had a bloody nose. What an experience!! It really is amazing what I am capable of.

Take care and feel free to share this........INGRID  ¶ 5:39 PM