Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Will Drinking Beer Increase Your Milk Supply?

Doctors actually used to encourage mom's to drink a beer soon after she had a baby. This is not the case today.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg08XiIgg5H3ny9FFlz_aj3UWB4MwXxgqG3nc2tN87UXVD46wj_6JsWPGqRiWINWKi2qGS8RfsXLxglWOhYPZ0uhnghn47pADZO93tuGiBaS45zFWGe-17mhEFHTf-ST6h_yhlHhbDcpo/s1600/beer+breastfeeding+photo.jpg


You may feel like you have more milk at first after drinking a beer. In the long run alcohol dries you out.

Alcohol disrupts the hormones that are involved in milk production.

Julie Mennella, a researcher at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia who studies alcohol's affect on lactation, explains that while prolactin (a hormone that aids milk production) increases with alcohol consumption, oxytocin (a hormone that's responsible for milk letdown) decreases. Researchers think this may explain why babies have a harder time breastfeeding when their mothers drink alcohol.

1 comment:

What I Did Today said...

What a funny picture! Doctors back in the day sure got a lot wrong. I can't imagine how confused people must have been by advertisement like this.