Is rice wine safe while breastfeeding?

Rice wine is everywhere in the confinement kitchen. It is the defining ingredient of chicken in rice wine, it goes into sesame oil chicken and hong zao chicken, and it turns up as a splash in countless braises. It is also alcohol, which puts it in a different category from every other ingredient on the confinement table, and it is the question we are asked most often about the food.

Here is the straight version, with the Australian guidance.

The tradition, and why the wine is there

In the traditional view rice wine is strongly warming and is held to invigorate the blood, which is exactly what the later, rebuilding weeks of the month are for. That is why the wine dishes are held back rather than served in the first days, as our guide to how the 30 days are structured explains. The wine is not decoration, it is the point of those dishes.

None of what follows is a reason to dismiss them. It is a reason to make an informed choice about how you cook them.

Cooking reduces alcohol, it does not remove it

The comfortable belief is that alcohol burns off completely. It does not. Long simmering removes a great deal, but a measurable amount remains, and how much depends on how long the dish cooks, how much liquid it holds and, above all, when the wine goes in.

Confinement dishes are often the hardest case. Several use a very large quantity of wine, sometimes several hundred millilitres for one pot, and some traditions finish the dish with a fresh splash off the heat, which leaves substantially more than a long braise would. So the sensible assumption is that a wine-heavy confinement dish contains some alcohol, not none.

What the Australian guidance says

The Australian Breastfeeding Association, following the NHMRC guidelines, puts it in two parts, and both matter.

Not drinking alcohol is the safest option while breastfeeding. At the same time, if your milk occasionally contains a small amount of alcohol when your baby needs a feed, the risk of harm is likely to be low, and there is no need to switch to formula.

That second half is worth holding onto. This is a question to manage thoughtfully, not a reason for alarm if you have eaten a wine-cooked dish.

The timing, in plain numbers

For drinks, the rule of thumb is that one standard drink takes about two hours to clear, counted from when you start drinking, with each further drink adding roughly another two hours.

Food is harder to translate into standard drinks, so most families use a simpler version: feed first, then eat, or leave a couple of hours after a wine-heavy meal. If you would like something more precise, the ABA’s free Feed Safe app was built for exactly this calculation.

One thing to cross off the list: expressing and discarding milk does not help. The alcohol level in milk tracks the level in your blood and falls as that falls. Only time lowers it. Express for comfort or supply if you need to, but not in the belief that it clears alcohol faster.

Practical ways to keep the dishes

You have more options than all or nothing.

• Halve the wine with water. The most common compromise, and the dish stays recognisable.
• Leave it out and rebuild the flavour. Water or a light stock, plus a little more old ginger and black sesame oil, keeps it warming and fragrant.
• Simmer it longer, uncovered, and add wine early. More alcohol escapes than from a late splash.
• Time it around feeds. Eat the wine dishes just after a feed rather than just before.
• Save them for later in the month, which is where the tradition puts them anyway, and lean on the many wine-free dishes in our recipe collection before then.

When to ask someone

If you are unsure, or if your baby is premature, very small or unwell, it is worth a conversation rather than a guess. Your midwife, child and family health nurse or GP can advise for your situation, and the ABA’s free National Breastfeeding Helpline on 1800 686 268 is staffed around the clock by trained counsellors.