Does alcohol increase milk supply?

[JoyNChrist]

I've heard that it does, but never actually read it anywhere official, so I assumed it was an old wives' tale.

Well, last night I went out to dinner with some girlfriends and had a couple vodka tonics. That was the first time I'd had any alcohol since the babies. And oh my goodness, I had to wake the babies up to eat several times last night because I was uncomfortably engorged. I was only away from the babies for about two hours at dinner, so it wasn't a case of going too long between feedings and getting engorged.

Still today, my supply seems overabundant (which is strange, since I'm usually pretty drained from feeding two babies). The only thing I could think of that I did differently was the two drinks.

Was it the alcohol? Or just a coincidence that my supply finally seems to have caught up?

[marymoo86]

Did the babies happen to nurse more/longer than usual prior to your dinner? When my dd had a growth spurt and was attached (what seemed like) all day. It was the next day when I noticed that the supply had caught up.

[hellokitty]

I know that beer does, I'm not well versed on the science of it, but it may include other alcohol too.

[Mommy_Mea]

From my breastfeeding class (taken pre-DS), my understanding is only unpasteurized beer (so only home brews, nothing commercially produced) has been shown to increase milk production. Let me see if I can dig up anything concrete...

But I know the occasional nights that I was away from DS when he was fairly little, even if just for a drink with the girls, my milk supply seemed crazy. Maybe it was my boobs saying they missed him :-)

[maiaann]

Margaritas always increased my milk supply thru the roof! I had an oversupply anyway, and any time I had a margarita I was up pumping in the middle of the night because of the engorgement. Since I rarely drank while BF, the coorelation was quite obvious. DH and I used to make jokes about it! I always thought it was weird, but never researched it.

[WolfpackMom]

It most definitely does for me! I had two drinks I think it was a month ago and my friend (who is gay so DH just found this entertaining) was obsessed with how huge my breasts got over the course of an hour. Yikes!

[newg]

It most definitely does for me! I had two drinks I think it was a month ago and my friend (who is gay so DH just found this entertaining) was obsessed with how huge my breasts got over the course of an hour. Yikes!

Everytime this happens to me, I always laugh to myself because it reminds me of the old reebok commercials with the shoes you could pump up.

[daisymommy]

I have read it is the hops and the yeast in beer (which wouldn't be in other alcoholic drinks) that increases milk supply. I actually have a lactation cookie recipe that calls for brewers yeast and hops in it!