Can drinking a beer help with milk production? Is it even good for you and safe for babies?
Opinions differ depending on who you ask. So I asked around to both an OB for the medical take and a prenatal wellness expert that focuses on nutrition.
Latham Thomas works with new moms in her practice Tender Shoots Wellness. She says she has a few moms she's working with "that are taking stout Guinness to increase milk production. Dark barley malt beers provide much needed calories, help to relax the nerves, and many mothers report an increase in milk production."
Latham elaborates:
The hops in dark beer is what increases the milk supply. Hops has been used traditionally as a galactagogue- medicinal herb that helps to increase milk production.
I think part of the reason women experience a let down reflex and free flowing milk is that the beer has allowed them to relax a bit. Beer contains ethanol, a substance that causes the blood vessels to dilate- vasodialation, the swelling of the blood vessels softens the breast tissue and makes it much easier for milk to flow. Beer raises the serotonin levels which allows the mother to feel serene, happy, and reduces the stress response.
In women who are under a lot of stress or having a particularly difficult time with nursing 6 ounces of Guinness seems to be a perfect prescription. Of course in excess beer will have harmful affects on both mother and baby, so keeping consumption under 8 ounces is best.
The take is a little different from doctors like Dr Seth Finkelstein who has an OB/GYN practice on Manhattan's Upper East Side. He was surprised when I asked about drinking beer to help with milk production. He says "they used to think it would help increase flow by increasing serum prolactin levels, but the evidence shows that alcohol actually reduces milk production. Also it rapidly enters into the milk so its advised not to breastfeed for two hours after drinking to allow the body to clear the alcohol."
Dr. Finkelstein added "Alcohol does enter the bloodstream almost immediately and from there gets into the milk fairly quickly. Does one have a few minutes to finish a feed? Probably. But its hard to say exactly how long because of individual variables. But once the alcohol is cleared from the blood the risk is over. By 2-3 hours its safe to feed again and you don't have to discard the first milk that comes out."
So no need to pump and dump if you wait long enough. But how can you be sure? There's a cool new product on the market that takes all the guessing out! So cool. It's called Milkscreen. It basically looks like a little paper pregnancy test and works like one, but of course instead of peeing on this stick, you saturate it with breast milk. Wait two minutes and read the results. It will tell you if your milk has enough alcohol to irritate/disrupt/potentially harm your baby. You can find out more about them at UpSpringBaby.com or buy them at Walgreens nationwide.
Comments