Cannot drink alcohol after having kids (without feeling horrible)

[Anonymous]

So stop drinking alcohol

[Anonymous]

I can't even have a single drink after 5 pm without feeling terrible the next day. This has been an issue for years for me, I think it's just been slowly downhill after I turned 30. I didn't have a child until I was 36 so that's not it, I think it's something about age.

[Anonymous]

I can’t drink either—but I do enjoy it.

I started trying done of the newer N|A beers and found sone I really like. As a former beer drinker, this has been an amazing development. I don’t miss the alcohol at all. And no more hangovers, headaches, or crappy sleep.

[Anonymous]

I don’t drink hard liquor at all anymore. Only wine, champagne and occasionally a beer. And never more than 3 over the course of a whole day. And lots of water in between. Otherwise I feel horrible. And there is nothing worse on earth than being hungover with young kids. It’s Gitmo level torture.

[Anonymous]

Adding my voice to the mix - I am 43. When I hit 40, I realized that drinking totally messed with my sleep.
With wine, I would wake up sweaty and anxious with a racing heart beat at 4am.
Now the only thing that doesn't mess me up is tequila, but even then, I find my sleep isn't as nourishing.
I used to be able to throw 'em back. Sadly, no more. Basically I pick my spots - I make sure that, if I do drink, I can sleep in the next morning or have an easy work day. Helps that my kids are no longer toddlers.

[Anonymous]

Used to drink a lot in my 20’s and early 30’s. 42 now and anything over 1 messes my sleep up and the whole next day for me. 3 will make me nauseated with a headache to boot. I try to keep dinners out to 1 and very occasionally “let loose” with 2-3 knowing I’ll pay for it.

[Anonymous]

I have relatives that still drink every night in their 70’s. I don’t know how they do it!

[Anonymous]

I never noticed a change with alcohol (usually only have 1-3 drinks anyway), BUT I was a sugar glutton and now, post 3 kids… I can’t really eat more than a tiny dessert. :/ just makes me feel sick.

[Anonymous]

Age.

[Anonymous]

This entire thread is so reassuring. I’m 43 and used to love a fancy cocktail or a glass of rose or champagne or all three. Now I have half a drink and feel like dirt. I get sweaty and nauseous and wake up with a racing heart. My kids are getting older and all of my friends finally have time to socialize, but I can’t drink with them anymore. Like others, I don’t say out loud that I don’t drink anymore because it’s not really accurate, especially when we have friends who are actually sober. People invite us on adult trips and I say no because I can’t imagine spending a weekend watching people drink wine. My husband is in the same situation, so our huge wine cellar is now just an adult gift closet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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!

Um. No. If you socialize from six to ten pm you don’t have to have at least two to three drinks. Plenty of people could socialize and have zero to one drink. Three drinks is a lot for a woman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

+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.

+2

I'll still have an occasional drink, but it's more like a couple a month now, instead of a couple times a week.

[Anonymous]

Just get marijuana, it's legal

[Anonymous]

Yep. I also can’t overeat or eat junk, need my 1 hr of exercise a day (minimum), and go to bed early. My interests are now gardening and healthy lifestyles. I am old and boring.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the club! There are many things that suck about getting older, this is one of them. I could put down a bottle of wine in my 20s and part of my 30s. By 40, three glasses = definite all day hangover, 2 = tired and slight hangover. There are certain wines I can tolerate much better than others. Generally, lighter reds with lower alcohol (red Burgandy, Pinot noir) are better than something like a Cab Sav or any white wine. Also, French and Italian wines seem to make me less hungover than anything American. I was in Italy earlier this summer and had 2-3 glasses of wine a night and never felt it the next day.

I order wines from https://www.dryfarmwines.com/. Everything they sell is organic and lower in alcohol and sugar. I really do see a difference with how I feel after drinking these wines vs., say, the two glasses of Sonoma Pinot I drank at a restaurant this weekend. However, I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t finish my quarterly box of wines before the next one arrives. Drinking just isn’t as fun when you pay for it the next day.