Pump and Dump

williala · February 2013

Does anyone have any good tips? Did you use tester strips or the three hour rule? I'm counting down the days until I can a glass of wine a again.

JellyTwoPointO · February 2013

Tester strips? What? Someone explain to a newbie, please.

valstulas · February 2013

Jellybean902:
Tester strips? What? Someone explain to a newbie, please.

They make strips that you dip into your milk to test for the presence of alcohol.

valstulas · February 2013

williala:
Does anyone have any good tips? Did you use tester strips or the threenbsp;hour rule? nbsp;I'm counting down the days until I can a glass of wine a again.

If I'd only had 1 to 2 drinks, I would BF anyway. Anything more and I would follow the three hour rule.

klyann · February 2013

Jellybean902:
Tester strips? What? Someone explain to a newbie, please.

They sell them at Target. You put a drop of BM on a strip and it will tell you wether your milk is OK for baby. I'm not really sure how reliable they are.

I don't have any good tips, but I do know that the best time to enjoy a beverage is while you are BF. I cannot wait for my glass of wine. But I'm not sure I can wait until LO arrives.

allisoncharris · February 2013

I had such a difficult time with DS breastfeeding that I was supplementing by week 2 and he was on full formula by week 6. This time however I'm *hoping* things go better and I will DEFINITELY be using those strips! I with you girlfriend, I miss my friend wine! Big Smile

JellyTwoPointO · February 2013

Ooooo interesting! I'm curious about the reliability of those test strips.

Hmmm almost every BFing mom I know also socially drinks alcohol. I'd heard that its best to do so right after a feeding or pumping? But I don't know. This is new territory for me too. I'm going to stalk this thread to try to learn!

luvmyducks · February 2013

You can have one glass of wine and be fine to BF....well, most people can.

My LC told me that the rule of thumb is that if you are feeling the effects of the alcohol, then don't BF. If you don't feel anything, then you are fine. You could always drink a glass while BFing or right after you nurse and by the time the baby needs to nurse again, it will be completely out of your system. Another rule of thumb that my LC told me about was one drink (beer or wine--not hard alcohol) per hour. Now if you are a total lightweight, you might just want to be a little more cautious.

I never pumped and dumped or used the test strips. I just would wait to nurse/pump until enough time elapsed to where it was safe. There were many nights after DD went to bed that I would have a glass or two when I knew she was down for a 5hr or so stretch.

CarlaAndJames · February 2013

general rule is if you can drive you can nurse. (now, thats if you really SHOULD be driving, not like some of my "eh, pretty sure I can make it home in one piece buzzed" friends.

I drank some socially and a glass of wine or beer at home every now and then during 13 months of nursing and never onced dumped. If I was buzzed I just let DH give her a bottle and I waited a couple of hours to pump.It metabolizes out of your milk like it metabolizes out of your blood.

EMF70 · February 2013

I will have to get those strips. I'm dying for a frozen pomegranate margarita.

pepomntpat · February 2013

luvmyducks:
You can have one glass of wine and be fine to BF....well, most people can.
My LC told me that the rule of thumb is that if you are feeling the effects of the alcohol, then don't BF. If you don't feel anything, then you are fine. You could always drink a glass while BFing or right after you nurse and by the time the baby needs to nurse again, it will be completely out of your system. Another rule of thumb that my LC told me about was one drink (beer or wine--not hard alcohol) per hour. Now if you are a total lightweight, you might just want to be a little more cautious.
I never pumped and dumped or used the test strips. I just would wait to nurse/pump until enough time elapsed to where it was safe. There were many nights after DD went to bed that I would have a glass or two when I knew she was down for a 5hr or so stretch.

This. I never worried about it at all if I just had a glass of wine with dinner. I never tested my milk (waste of money!) and I never pumped and dumped. I also think 3 hours is total over kill. If you can drive, you can BF.

ETA: Those test strips are a total marketing scam preying on the fears and guilt of new mothers. Just trust your body. If you are not buzzed/drunk/whatever, you can feed your baby.

williala · February 2013

Very interesting. I'm just so excited about have ONE glass of wine. LOL- I was thinking I was going to have to test after one glass of wine because my baby was going to be drunk..LMAO. I'm a new mommy for real. Thanks for all the great posts. I was going to ask my doctor as well but it's always great to hear from real mothers.

luvmyducks · February 2013

Also, since I had supply issues, BM was like liquid gold! I never dumped!!

kaylakim · February 2013

pepomntpat:
luvmyducks:
You can have one glass of wine and be fine to BF....well, most people can.
My LC told me that the rule of thumb is that if you are feeling the effects of the alcohol, then don't BF. If you don't feel anything, then you are fine. You could always drink a glass while BFing or right after you nurse and by the time the baby needs to nurse again, it will be completely out of your system. Another rule of thumb that my LC told me about was one drink (beer or wine--not hard alcohol) per hour. Now if you are a total lightweight, you might just want to be a little more cautious.
I never pumped and dumped or used the test strips. I just would wait to nurse/pump until enough time elapsed to where it was safe. There were many nights after DD went to bed that I would have a glass or two when I knew she was down for a 5hr or so stretch.
This. I never worried about it at all if I just had a glass of wine with dinner. I never tested my milk (waste of money!) and I never pumped and dumped. I also think 3 hours is total over kill. If you can drive, you can BF.
ETA: Those test strips are a total marketing scam preying on the fears and guilt of new mothers. Just trust your body. If you are not buzzed/drunk/whatever, you can feed your baby.

All of this exactly! With both of my girls I drank socially and never had more than 1 drink per hour. I'm not a huge drinker anyway but it was nice to be able to have wine or beer with dinner or whatever. I never dumped because breastmilk was so precious that it would have killed me to dump out all my hard work!

One of my best friends is a LC and told me all of the above from PPs. I always called to ask her for advice.

Jessikidding · February 2013

I've never heard of a 3 hour rule before. Alcohol remains in your system for 24 hours its a rule of thumb. I would definitely suggest that if you plan to drink any alcohol you have pumped already and you pump dump what is in your system after drinking. I had to do so with my first. And whoever said if your aren't "feeling the affects of alcohol" I wouldn't trust. Just because you may not feel the affects of alcohol doesn't mean anything. If you've consumed any alcohol it's in your system.

RumbleLina · February 2013

Alcohol metabolizes out of your milk as it does your blood and a good rule of thumb is if you don't feel it you are fine. I would sometimes have a glass of fine while pumping to help relax me and it was completely fine.

There is really no reason to pump and dump and you honestly will NOT want to dump all the milk you just pumped. I spilled it once right when I set it down after pumping and I cried.

RumbleLina · February 2013

Jessikidding:
I've never heard of a 3 hour rule before. Alcohol remains in your system for 24 hours its a rule of thumb. I would definitely suggest that if you plan to drink any alcohol you have pumped already and you pump dump what is in your system after drinking. I had to do so with my first. And whoever said if your aren't "feeling the affects of alcohol" I wouldn't trust. Just because you may not feel the affects of alcohol doesn't mean anything. If you've consumed any alcohol it's in your system.

She is talking about a glass of wine, not getting shiit faced.

Also....(can't make it clicky)

https://kellymom.com/bf/can-i-breastfeed/lifestyle/alcohol/

DenverBride2005 · February 2013

I never pumped and dumped, would just feed DS and then have a drink after that, when there were still 2-3 hrs till his next feeding. Usually wouldn't have more than one to be safe, but that's just me (also early on he liked to cluster feed so by the time I'd finish a drink he would be about ready to feed again!). No way would I have wanted to throw any of my milk out-every precious ounce counts!

BlueJewelM · February 2013

I bought the strips when I was BFing DS. The total FTM in me was freaked out.

I had two drinks and pumped and the strips told me the milk was bad. It was hard dumping it, but gave me some peace of mind. I ended up selling the strips I didn't use on eBay so overall I suck about 5 bucks into the things. Worth it for me at the time.

I don't drink much at all anyway, so I will not be purchasing them with this baby.

luvmyducks · February 2013

Jessikidding:
I've never heard of a 3 hour rule before. Alcohol remains in your system for 24 hours its a rule of thumb. I would definitely suggest that if you plan to drink any alcohol you have pumped already and you pump dump what is in your system after drinking. I had to do so with my first. And whoever said if your aren't "feeling the affects of alcohol" I wouldn't trust. Just because you may not feel the affects of alcohol doesn't mean anything. If you've consumed any alcohol it's in your system.

Are you in the medical field?

Do you specialize in lactation consulting? Or lactation in general?

If not, then who are you to tell anyone they shouldn't trust their LC? All of the LCs I have talked to have told me the same things AND they are medically trained nurses.

laurelkirsten · February 2013

On an interesting side note... there is a compound found in beer and non alcoholic beer that has been shown to increase breast milk production. Of course this is in moderation, I am pretty sure that too much alcohol would decrease production. I heard this from a mom in my new moms group when I had my son. She is a professor in the biology dept at UCSB and I think she is a fairly reputable source

pepomntpat · February 2013

Jessikidding:
I've never heard of a 3 hour rule before. Alcohol remains in your system for 24 hours its a rule of thumb. I would definitely suggest that if you plan to drink any alcohol you have pumped already and you pump dump what is in your system after drinking. I had to do so with my first. And whoever said if your aren't "feeling the affects of alcohol" I wouldn't trust. Just because you may not feel the affects of alcohol doesn't mean anything. If you've consumed any alcohol it's in your system.

Oh for goodness sake! Yes, please trust the marketing gurus at Target over an LC or a pediatrician or heck, a woman who has BF a healthy and beautiful child for more than two years.

luvmyducks · February 2013

laurelkirsten:
On an interesting side note... there is a compound found in beer and non alcoholic beer that has been shown to increase breast milk production. Of course this is in moderation, I am pretty sure that too much alcohol would decrease production. I heard this from a mom in my new moms group when I had my son. She is a professor in the biology dept at UCSB and I think she is a fairly reputable source

Yep, dark beer though It works!

Want a personalized experience?

Pump and Dump

Re: Pump and Dump

Choose Another Board

Search Boards