The Bachelor’s Bekah Martinez Drinks Wine After Breastfeeding: Is It Safe? An Expert Weighs In

The Bachelor’s Bekah Martinez Drinks Wine After Breastfeeding: Is It Safe? An Expert Weighs In. Snuggly baby cradled in her arm with a glass of wine in her hand — The Bachelor alum Bekah Martinez seemed to have it all in a photo she posted Monday, where she explained she was “waiting patiently” for her 10-week-old daughter Ruthie May to finish nursing so she could have her “single!” drink. But is it safe to have alcohol at all while still breastfeeding? One expert says it technically is. According to Chicago-based registered nurse and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant Elizabeth Sjoblom of Lactation Partners, minimal, infrequent alcohol consumption while nursing does not have a major effect on baby. “Current research says that one to two drinks, occasionally, is not harmful for a nursing baby,” Sjoblom tells PEOPLE via email. “The general rule of thumb is if you feel fine, you are fine to feed your baby.” Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Parents newsletter. Bekah Martinez Tells Mommy Shamers to “F— Off” as She Embraces Her Body Hair and Post-Baby Figure But you really have to feel fine. “If a mom chooses to have more than one to two drinks, or feels very buzzed or drunk, she can ‘pump and dump’ her breasts for comfort until she feels more neurologically okay to feed her baby,” Sjoblom explains, adding a mother should wait until she feels sober to resume feeding. “Alcohol metabolizes out of the milk supply just as it does out of your bloodstream,” she continues. RELATED VIDEO: Jamie Lynn Spears Says She’s “On-Demand” Breastfeeding Baby Ivey, Once Fed Her at a Softball Game
“Pump and dump” is a term used when women use a breast pump to express milk and then dump it out, sometimes after drinking or taking a