An interesting take on drinking while pregnant/nursing.

Over the years, WLDGers have debated this issue, with no real consensus that I can remember. I found this short essay by Anna Fricke, a blogger on Alcohol and the American Life for "The New York Times" quite enlightening, and very human.

Extract:

"Babies are magical and beautiful and amazing. They are also exhausting and frustrating and anxiety-inducing. In the beginning, my daughter nursed non-stop and I didn’t even think of having a drink. Not only did I not want to risk alcohol being in my bloodstream when she nursed, I was also just too tired. Wine would only put me to sleep, and sleep was an impossibility. The first time my husband and I went out, I had a glass of wine and I felt like I was shooting up heroin in my parents’ bedroom. It seemed so wrong. When I went home, I pumped my milk and immediately poured it down the sink, an act that seemed almost as wasteful as blithely burning hundred dollar bills."

Her essay appears in its entirety on her blog at http://proof.blogs.nytimes.com/ under the title "Moderation and the Modern Mom", dated March 5, 2009.

Best, Bob

Am I mistaken after having read the blog item in thinking that this person's concept of drinking almost invariably involves getting at best tipsy and at worst drunk? if that's the case I'm certainly glad she gave it up. And not so much for the child's sake as for her own.

Best
Rogov

Am I mistaken after having read the blog item in thinking that this person's concept of drinking almost invariably involves getting at best tipsy and at worst drunk? if that's the case I'm certainly glad she gave it up. And not so much for the child's sake as for her own.

Best
Rogov

Daniel, I do not think that you are mistaken in the least. Without getting into the argument about whether a nursing Mother should or should not ever take a drink, it seems to me that this person is a bit paranoid on the subject. It seems to me that she equates the having of a drink to getting sloshed. That the only (or at least major) reason to have an alcoholic beverage is to get drunk. Also, it seems to me that this person has a very low tolerance for alcohol (after 2.5 drinks she can't even remember to turn off the key to the car after parking it in the garage?) and is better off to not consume alcohol at all. The story is written as if it is her story, and Somehow or other I am going to take the story with a grain of salt. IOW I don't believe this person is telling "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I do believe that she is just selling words and found a buyer.

It seems pretty obvious to me that the author is simply an alcoholic. I come from a long, undistinguished line of them, and I'm pretty good at spotting them! The old behavior she described is not that of your average social drinker, and her preoccupation with the subject is something I've witnessed in other recovered alcoholics.