Cannot drink alcohol after having kids (without feeling horrible)
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Anonymous
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If I go out to dinner with friends and have 2-3 drinks spaced over multiple hours, I am hungover the entire next day. Tired, groggy, headache, nauseated, don't sleep well. Basically the type of hangover that, in my 20s, would have been from binge drinking til 3 am. Is it age (I'm 34)? Has my body chemistry completely changed after having kids? Is it that kids require you to wake up so much earlier than pre-kids, so it's the lack of sleep making me feel bad? Is it that I mix alcohols (i.e. a cocktail to start, a glass of wine with the meal and maybe a glass of champagne as a nightcap)? Can anyone else relate? Does anyone have tips for how to remedy?
I honestly don't really even enjoy drinking anymore, but if you're socializing from say 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., ultimately you have at least 2-3 drinks. And I simply can't process that much alcohol anymore! |
Anonymous
| Funny same thing happened to me. 1-2 glasses of wine and then I'm done. |
Anonymous
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For me, I think it's aging plus perpetual sleep deprivation.
My sleep is still shitty enough with my three and five year old that voluntarily drinking and ruining my sleep and making myself groggy seems really ill advised. |
Anonymous
| It’s your body telling you that you should be breast feeding. |
Anonymous
You can drink alcohol and breastfeed at the same time safely so I don’t think this is it… |
Anonymous
| Yes, but I’m 41 and now feel anything more than a single drink. |
Anonymous
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I have the same problem these days. I'll go to bed sober and then be up in the night feeling sick and hungover and it carries over the next day. I found that - for whatever reason - certain drinks make it way worse. White wine, for example, is a big no-no. Champagne to a lesser extent. I can have one glass of either, but that's it.
I can get away with 2 glasses of red wine. Vodka, gin and tequila I can manage, as well. I try to stick to two drinks -- one cocktail + a glass of red wine, for example, and I am fine. Once I get to three, I am pushing it. I am 38 with two [very young] kids, FWIW. |
Anonymous
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Your body can absolutely change the way it metabolizes alcohol as you age. Mine did and I found the same effects. I didn't like it, and as I get older, I really prioritize my sleep. So my solution was just to stop drinking.
It can be a pain sometimes when everyone else is drinking but I love waking up the next day and feeing good. Especially nights like NYE, waking up on January 1 actually feeling good and have a quiet moment to enjoy coffee counters any feelings I have about missing drinking. |
Anonymous
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Yep I had to effectively quit. And it feels moralizing to say that to people so I haven’t announced it; I just don’t drink hardly at all anymore. Just not worth it, and it has gotten worse with age.
My youngest is four, so I sleep at least eight hours a night, so it wasn’t exhaustion with me. Just age. |
Anonymous
| Yup. My child is 8 and my husband still teases me about leaving half finished bottles of beer on the end table. I cannot drink more than half a beer without falling asleep and waking up hungover. I basically don’t drink anymore, it’s just not worth it. My “going out” drink is now soda. |
Anonymous
+1 I’m 43 and basically don’t drink anymore but don’t talk about it because i don’t want to make it A Thing. |
Anonymous
Same with me. I’ve always been a drinker since college - wine several times a week, socially, etc- but like over night would get horrible hangovers from 1 or 2 glasses. It was frustrating at first but now it’s normal for me not to drink a glass for weeks. I dont get that after work/weekend evening craving anymore. |
Anonymous
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For me it's that it messes up my sleep so badly. I wake up at 4am feeling anxious and nauseated and I can't get back to sleep.
Then of course the kids wake up at 7 and I'm going all day, so no chance to take a nap to recuperate. I still drink but I have cut way back - I used to be a heavy drinker, but 3 is basically my max now. It's better if I can keep it to 2. |
Anonymous
| 3 glasses of wine is killer for me. 1-2 is much better. Perhaps add some club soda to your wine and make it a spritzer? |
Anonymous
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No white wine or champagne. Only red. Also fine with cider (never was a beer drinker) and some mixed drinks like margaritas and old-fashioneds.
Two is my limit but I was never a big drinker anyway. In my 50s now. |