Beer and breast milk

[HerMomma]

Is it true what they say about beer and breast milk? Does beer really increase your breast milk?

Yes. Or at least, yes in my case. One smallish bottle of Guinness and my boob runneth over! You can get non-alcoholic versions and it has the same effect apparently. Obviously, don't have pints and pints of the stuff. :)

Thank you for your answer! How much would be safe to drink? A can or 2?

no, it doesn't

in fact, some studies have shown that alcohol can decrease your milk supply

i think that the rumour comes from the theory that oats/barley etc increase your supply and thus beer (made from hops) might as well.
also i think that people used to believe that Guiness was a good source of iron or something? which is why mothers used to be given it.

I think the yeast used in the brewing process can increase supply for some people. I use brewers yeast for an instant boost whenever DS has the cold and turns into a boob fiend.

OO, I had late pregnancy cravings for MightyMalt, that disgusting non-alcoholic beer drink. I did wonder if it was some natural bodily wisdom which was overriding my otherwise good sense.

IF you've kept off alcohol during pregnancy, then the smallest amount of beer etc will work very fast to relax you. Relaxed mums tend to find it easier to breastfeed, but it doesn't necessarily mean there's more milk.

And I too had late pregnancy cravings for very strong hoppy beers.

Agree with bloocow, as did one of my midwives who advised a guiness or similar to relax me with my first. Seemed to work.

Try fenugreek. Better for both you and the baby.

"How much would be safe to drink"

A very small amount on an occasional basis. Not every day. 1 x 330ml bottle rather than cans which are far bigger. A lowish alcohol (4%) stout is obviously better than one of these export high strength lagers

Advice re. alcohol consumption (i.e. 'safe' limits) and BFing is more to do with the let down reflex than the amount of alcohol passed to your LO, which is actually very minimal. Beer (or yeast) may well increase the amount of milk, but it might not effectively feed your LO if you have too much because it will interfere with your let down reflex. And Guiness is a good source of iron.

I regularly had one or two glasses of wine whilst BFing and my DS was absolutely fine, got all the milk he needed and gained weight well. On one occasion i fed him when i was two sheets to the wind, though i wouldn't recommend that one! I went out for a 40th birthday party and had built up quite a supply of expressed milk in the freezer. Came back and DS woke at 2am but refused to take a bottle. The only way i could stop him screaming was to feed him myself. I'm quite about my parenting skills on that occasion, but he doesn't seem to have suffered any harm. His hunger would have hurt him more.

"One of the oldest misconceptions around (pardon the pun). I've lost count of the times a pregnant woman has told me her GP recommended Guinness for its iron content. Let's set the record straight.
You'd need to drink three pints of Guinness to provide the same amount of iron as a single egg yolk (1.1mg), and alcohol is not good for babies. A pint of Guinness contains 0.3mg of iron, less than three per cent of daily adult needs. Put another way, you'd need to drink 15 pints of Guinness to get the same amount of iron as two Weetabix."

I've bought some Fenugreek to try an increase my supply as last time round it was pretty poor. Baby isn't here yet so I can't tell you whether it works! Did you use it RightUpMyRue? Does it work as well as tinterweb claims?

I didn't use it but I recommend it to lots of the women I work with who are having supply issues.