Fuel For Mommy Shaming: Breastfeeding And Alcohol Study Deeply Misleading

A new Pediatrics study on breastfeeding and drinking alcohol claims to show that mothers' "risky drinking" while breastfeeding is linked to lower cognitive scores in her children at ages 6-7 years old, though not at 10-11 years old. "Claim" is the key word here, however -- the study shows nothing of the sort. In fact, the authors' conclusion that "exposing infants to alcohol through breastmilk may cause dose-dependent reductions in their cognitive abilities" is so deeply misleading and irresponsible that it falls only a wood shaving short of Pinocchio's nose. While it's important to ensure mothers understand the possible risks to their infant of various behaviors, it's just as important not to unnecessarily provoke fear in often-already-anxious moms about ways they may inadvertently harm their children--or to give ammunition to the long list of folks waiting to tell moms how badly they're doing their jobs again. First, the study did not measure infants' exposure to alcohol in breastmilk at all, so the authors cannot make any valid claims about infants' exposure to alcohol through breastmilk.