Milkscreen ??

tishiewishie

Hi,

I'm just wondering has anyone used Milkscreen?

I don't know if it's even available in Ireland or do you order it. It's supposedly a device to screen breast milk for the presence of alcohol. Im 7 months pregnant and want to breast feed when the time comes but it would be nice to be able to have a few drinks without worry.

Any advice be great

Ayla

I've never heard of it.

If you have any amount of drink it will find it's way into the breastmilk. Generally it's considered unhealthy to introduce any amount of alcohol to a baby, so the only way to have some drinks while breastfeeding (b/c, hey, it's sometimes *so* nice to do!) is to express prior to the drink. Whether you express & freeze so you always have a store of b/milk, or you express just before having going out/having a drink, it's really the only "safe" option.

upinthesky

see this is why id personally prefer formula everything you eat is in your milk i think you should be able to test for all the additives etc as well really don't no were they get the breast is best thing depends on the person and there lifestyle fine if you want to live back 100s of years ago when everything was home made
if alcohol goes into the milk what else is

lonestargirl

Alcohol concentration in breastmilk is the same as in your blood, i.e. the milk that's 'made' while you are drinking doesn't store the alcohol. I was never a big drinker but I would have a glass of wine in the evening maybe once a week once the baby is in bed - he sleeps through the night so 8+ hours is more than enough for the alcohol to leave my system. This link has some good info: http://www.ivillage.com/how-long-does-alcohol-remain-breastmilk/6-n-137160

lynski

good article there. I have had a drink or 2 on occasion while breastfeeding all three of mine and no worries about it. as long as you leave sufficient time for it to leave the blood - like you would before driving in the am you should be fine.

How Strange

I'm a breastfeeding mam to a 4 and a half month old. The public health nurse encouraged me to have a glass of wine in the evening if it helped me relax particularly at the beginning when there were latch problems etc. I didn't as I wouldn't drink in the evening like that even before I was pregnant.

Howeveras others said it takes about 2 hours for alcohol to pass through your system so if I'm having a glass of wine with dinner or a drink on a rare night out I feed himself first and I know it will be gone from my system when I feed him again.

It's fine to have a drink or two especially if you know you won't be feeding your baby for a few hours. Believe me two drinks will probably be your limit anyway because of tiredness etc.

Ayla

That's true, and something I should have mentioned in my original comment. If you know your child won't be feeding for a few hours then you can sneak in a quick glass of wine. I could barely do that w/ my 2 because they fed & slept very irregularly so I couldn't count on the "time out." If, only the other hand, you want to have an evening out or a number of drinks, I would suggest expressing.

How Strange

Ayla, yes you're right. If I was having more than 2 drinks (did it once) I'd pump and dump the milk. Also I've an oversupply and find alcohol makes me produce more milk so one drink is enough for me otherwise I get very full and uncomfortable.

I'd honestly prefer a cup of tea and a bit of (dark!) chocolate to a drink but it's nice to know I can have one if I want.

lonestargirl

Ayla wrote: »

If you know your child won't be feeding for a few hours then you can sneak in a quick glass of wine. I could barely do that w/ my 2 because they fed & slept very irregularly so I couldn't count on the "time out." If, only the other hand, you want to have an evening out or a number of drinks, I would suggest expressing.

Agreed, I'm lucky in having a baby that sleeps through the night.

How Strange wrote: »

I'd honestly prefer a cup of tea and a bit of (dark!) chocolate to a drink but it's nice to know I can have one if I want.

Me too, it's very rare that I actually have a drink but it's good to know I can if I want.

While there's lots of reasons women stop/don't start breastfeeding in Ireland there do seem to be some myths out there about what you can do while feeding, e.g. no alcohol, no coffee, no spicy foods. I think some women feel that breastfeeding is going to be too restrictive and while it is hard work in the begining, once established it doesn't control your life.

taz70

lisar816 wrote: »

see this is why id personally prefer formula everything you eat is in your milk i think you should be able to test for all the additives etc as well really don't no were they get the breast is best thing depends on the person and there lifestyle fine if you want to live back 100s of years ago when everything was home made
if alcohol goes into the milk what else is

This is pretty funny, seeing as formula companies don't need to disclose every single ingredient in their mix - and given that some of the additives in formula are obtained by using neurotoxins and petrochemicals, I think personally the "risk" of breastmilk far outweighs the established risks of formula.

As a PP said, there's not need for "special diets" for breastfeeding - just a normal diet is fine. A diet of shockingly processed foods is obviously not ideal, but then formula is just processed food, so would the difference really be so big?

If anyone's interested, this article summarises it quite well.

OP - just follow the regulations for drink driving in terms of how long it takes for the alcohol to leave your body. As others have said, I also just make sure I feed my son before I have a drink and try to leave it long enough so that the alcohol is mostly out of my system.

Here's a good article on the issue. Kellymom is brilliant for all kinds of breastfeeding related questions, as is Dr Sears. The breastfeeding forum on rollercoaster.ie is also a lifesaver for a lot of first timers!

Good luck.

How Strange

I just googled milk screen out of curiousity. I found it on an Irish website and part of the blurb was that alcohol should be avoided during breastfeeding.

That kind of thinking personally annoys me. I doubt any breastfeeding mother would get even mildly drunk except perhaps on a rare occasion and I'd presume she would be conscientious enough to pump and dump if she did.

I know im making presumptions here but a breastfeeding mother would be responsible enough to restrict her alcohol intake just as she may tweak her diet to exclude foods that affect her baby. Also, and its another presumption, but breastfeeding mothers in Ireland are most likely to be mid-late 20's upwards considering only 2% of mothers here breastfeed so they are most probably educated (before or after baby is born) on safe alcohol limits while breastfeeding and are unlikely to binge drink.

In my opinion these products are
gimmicky and unnecessary. Also, ahem in my opinion, if a woman was still hesitant about breastfeeding and she read the blurb for this product she might think 'sod this, I've been good and stayed off alcohol for 9 months and I'm not staying off it when the baby is born.'

implausible

What will they think of next?! Sounds like a complete gimmick to me. Personally, I always followed the drink-driving guidelines - if I wouldn't drive, I wouldn't feed him and gave him expressed milk instead.

Another device to make mothers feel guilty and paranoid and adding fuel to the myth that breastfeeding is restrictive:rolleyes:

OP, ALL you need to breastfeed is boobs!

and good bras and if you need it - a pump

iguana

How Strange wrote: »

Also, and its another presumption, but breastfeeding mothers in Ireland are most likely to be mid-late 20's upwards considering only 2% of mothers here breastfeed

Is it that low? I'm honestly completely shocked. I know it was low here but that's unbelievable.

How Strange

iguana, yes I read it somewhere although can't remember where exactly. We're the lowest in Europe followed by the UK I think. I saw a documentary in BBC recently about breastfeeding and it's 4% there.

iguana

How Strange wrote: »

iguana, yes I read it somewhere although can't remember where exactly. We're the lowest in Europe followed by the UK I think. I saw a documentary in BBC recently about breastfeeding and it's 4% there.

Isn't that up to a certain age though? Afaik in the UK the figures are more like 78% on leaving hospital, 48% at 6 weeks, 25% at 6 months and then lower each month down.

http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/ifs2005

Tbh, since I've come back to Ireland or when I used to come on holidays I found how many women were bottle-feeding very striking. Granted I lived in Wimbledon, which is something of an outpost of nappy-valley, but I honestly never saw a very young baby feeding from a bottle there, but plenty of times it was obvious the child was being breastfed.

How Strange

I thought the BBC doc said 4% and they were the second worst in Europe but I was very sleep deprived at the time. It found the same thing as here though with regards to breastfeeding; it's most likely older middle class mums that do it. Younger and working class mums had no interest in even trying it.

I do think that the perception that mums can't even have a drink while breastfeeding just puts them off. My friend is breastfeeding her third child after bottle feeding her first two and she was delighted when I told her it was fine to have a drink or two. It's not that she wants to drink but it's nice to know she can if she wants to.

upinthesky

i doubt that having a drink is a big factor i just think because its not seen enough or there friends are not doing it i didnt breast feed i dont drink i think if a few of my friends had breast fed i might have giving it a go

iguana

How Strange wrote: »

I thought the BBC doc said 4% and they were the second worst in Europe but I was very sleep deprived at the time. It found the same thing as here though with regards to breastfeeding; it's most likely older middle class mums that do it. Younger and working class mums had no interest in even trying it.

I think the 2% and 4% figures must be for exclusively to 6 months and complimentary to 2 years as recommended by the WHO. According to ESRI the Irish rate at discharge from hospital is now 47%.

Currently approximately 47% of mothers in Ireland are breastfeeding at discharge from maternity care (NPRS, 2008). Breastfeeding duration rate figures are not currently collected at national level, however, research studies indicate the fall-off in breastfeeding following discharge is worryingly high with less than 10% of infants still breastfeeding at 6 months of age.

http://www.breastfeeding.ie/policy_strategy