A breastfeeding mother asks you if alcohol can be eliminated from her breast milk by pumping immediately after drinking a few glasses of wine. What would you tell her?
A) Yes; in fact, discarding your breast milk is a good thing to do if you would like to drink while breastfeeding.
B) Yes; pumping will help, but you need to pump for the next 24 hours and discard any milk that you collect.
C) No; your breast milk will still contain alcohol; you will need to wait 1 hour per alcoholic beverage and then pump the milk and discard it to be safe.
D) No; the alcohol will still be in the breast milk and will clear from the milk as soon as it clears from the bloodstream: roughly 2 to 3 hours per drink for a 120-pound woman.
E) No; alcohol cannot be removed from breast milk; if she wishes to breastfeed, she must stop consuming alcohol.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Alcohol will still be present in breast milk regardless of pumping immediately after drinking. The alcohol will clear from the milk as it clears from the bloodstream, and the rate of clearance is roughly 2 to 3 hours per drink for a woman who weighs 120 pounds. Therefore, if the mother wants to drink alcohol while breastfeeding, it is recommended that she plan ahead and pump and discard milk before drinking or wait for the alcohol to clear from her system before breastfeeding again.

A Breastfeeding Mother Asks You If Alcohol Can Be Eliminated