A mother may express or pump milk after consuming alcohol to ease her physical discomfort or adhere to her milk expression schedule. If a mother decides to express or pump milk within two hours (per drink) of consuming alcohol, the mother can discard the expressed milk. This is known as pumping and dumping.
Benefits of Pumping and Dumping
Going too long without expressing milk can cause your breasts to become engorged, which can be uncomfortable and even lead to mastitis, or the infection of the breasts. In this case, pumping and dumping can help you feel more comfortable and prevent health complications.
Another approach that may be available to you: Taking your medication after pumping to limit the amount of the medication in your breast milk. Finally, if you really can't breastfeed and take your medication, you can continue to pump to preserve your supply.
You do not have to pump and dump after drinking alcohol when you're breastfeeding, except for comfort. As alcohol leaves the bloodstream, it leaves the breastmilk.
Leftover breast milk can still be used within 2 hours after the baby is finished feeding. After 2 hours, leftover breast milk should be thrown away. To avoid wasting unfed milk, consider storing, thawing, and warming it in smaller amounts. See Breast Milk Storage and Preparation for more information.
This is called engorgement. It usually gets better after several days. Over time, your body will stop making milk if you don't breastfeed or pump. This can take up to several weeks.
Some moms feel that their supply decreases too much when they are nursing infrequently and not pumping at all. If you feel that your milk supply is decreasing after a period of no pumping during work hours, you might consider trying to pump at least once per day, even if it's just for a brief period.
“Caffeine can stay in the body for up to 10 hours,” says Peluso. “If you have strong concerns about how caffeine intake can impact baby, then you can consider drinking coffee right before or right after breastfeeding,” so as to avoid the caffeine peak while baby is feeding, Davidheiser says.
If you do intend to have a social drink, you could try avoiding breastfeeding for 2 to 3 hours for every drink you have to avoid exposing your baby to any alcohol in your milk. This allows time for the alcohol to leave your breast milk. You'll need to make sure breastfeeding is established before you try this.
Using tobacco or electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) while breastfeeding can allow harmful chemicals to pass from the mother to the infant through breast milk or secondhand smoke exposure. Mothers who use tobacco or e-cigarettes should be encouraged to quit.
As alcohol is completely water- and fat-soluble, it enters the bloodstream and human milk very easily [13]. The amount of alcohol in human milk after consumption of one standard drink is about 95% that of the amount of alcohol in the mother/lactating parent's bloodstream.
1 It is safest to avoid alcohol in the first three months after birth. Young babies breastfeed often and without any pattern. This makes it difficult to be sure there is no alcohol in your breast milk when your baby wants to feed. Alcohol gets into your breast milk from your blood.
An alert is triggered by a concentration of alcohol in the breast milk greater than 0.02%. "There is no way to convert that alcohol percentage into a number of drinks," said Jumonville. "It is dependent on so many factors, including body weight, the type of alcohol consumed, and food intake."
Although it may seem counterintuitive, you shouldn't stop breastfeeding or breast pumping just because there are traces of blood present. Even if you have a blood infection or illness, continue to pump to avoid blocked ducts or painful engorgement while you and your doctor determine the cause and treatment.
Your breasts feel softer
This happens as your milk supply adjusts to your baby's needs. The initial breast fullness reduces in the first few weeks. At around 6 weeks, breast fullness is completely gone and your breasts may feel soft. This is completely normal and has no effect on your milk supply.
Going 8 hours without pumping at night is possible, but it depends on your milk supply, your baby's needs, and how your body adjusts. If you're uncomfortable, use a manual pump to relieve pressure without boosting milk production. If your baby sleeps through the night, you may not need to pump unless you're full.
As you may have read in my other blog about a baby's breastfeeding crisis, a breastfeeding crisis, sometimes called a growth spurt, is a common phrase used to describe a phase where mothers may encounter significant breastfeeding challenges, typically related to an increase in milk demand from the baby.
When a mother kisses her baby, she samples the pathogens on her baby's face, which then travel to the mom's lymphatic system. The mother's body then creates the antibodies to fight those pathogens, which she feeds to her baby in her milk. So amazing, right!?
Inducing lactation in people who aren't pregnant requires medication that mimics hormones your body makes during pregnancy. Suckling from the nipple can initiate lactation, either with a breast pump or by a baby.
After being pregnant — whether breastfeeding or not — the breasts usually return to their original size. This shrinking process happens regardless of whether you breastfeed. Women who don't breastfeed will notice their breasts shrink weeks to months after birth.
Milk stays good for 4 hours if you leave it at room temperature after pumping. So, you can pump into the same bottle within the 4 hours timeframe. Once the 4-hour timeframe has elapsed, you can either give the milk to your baby or store it in the fridge or freezer for future meals.
If you produce more milk than your baby needs, you may be looking for ways to donate your excess milk instead of dumping it out. By donating your breast milk, you can help another family in need.
Bacteria can grow in formula. The risk of infection increases over time, so that's why it's important to make up a fresh feed each time your baby needs it and throw any leftover formula away after 2 hours.