My pastor‘s wife sought advice from me, regarding the choice of hospital for her pregnant sister in-law who was due for child birth. The latter had returned from her base in another West African country, where she had been receiving ante natal care, to be delivered of her baby.
I suggested a few hospitals to her, based on their location, competence of the medical staff and convenience. Eventually the patient was successfully delivered of a baby girl with normal weight. Both mother and child were fine.
On my way to congratulate her and to see the baby girl, who was doing well at the time, I met my pastor’s wife at the reception and noticed she was worried. The following conversation ensued between us:
Me: Congrats Ma, where have you been?
Pastor’s wife: Doctor, I’ve been out all day in search of palm wine for the new mum.
Me: Palm wine! Palm what!
Pastor’s wife: The nurse asked me to get some for the new mum so that she could lactate.
Me: No ma, you need to hold on. You don’t need to get it and your sister in-law doesn’t need palm wine either.
Pastor’s wife: But the nurse asked us to get it. Anyway, thank God. And thank you.
Later I approached the nurse who directed that palm wine be given to the nursing mother. I asked if she knew that palm wine contained up to six per cent alcohol and it could affect the baby if consumed through breast milk.
The nurse admitted that palm wine was not prescribed by the doctor. She said that although the act of giving a nursing mother palm wine to boost lactation was not a medically proved treatment, it was a cultural practice that never failed to work.
Medical explanation
Naturally palm wine is a low-alcoholic drink and its alcoholic content is as little as three per cent. But fermented palm wine has the potential to breed as high 12 per cent alcoholic content.
When palm wine is consumed by a nursing mum, it passes into the breast milk.
It is on record that there is no known safe level of alcohol consumption while breastfeeding.
Mothers should avoid alcohol in the first month of childbirth till breastfeeding is well established lest it impedes the milk flow.
It takes about two hours for the average woman to clear a unit of alcohol from her system. Therefore, it takes four hours to clear two units of alcohol and so on, as the case may be.
Effect of alcoholic drinks on nursing mothers
Using alcohol may make a nursing mum to fall into a deep sleep, which can be dangerous to the baby.
Mums who are going to drink alcoholic beverages are strongly advised not to put their babies in their cots rather than lying next to them on the bed.
They may not wake up for the baby’s next feed, if the baby becomes distressed. They are to make ‘safety plans’ by allowing a responsible adult to take care of the baby.
Palm wine is used by some mums as post natal beverage. This is dangerous to health because the level of alcohol in breast milk remains close to the one in the mother’s bloodstream.
Alcohol will be at the highest level between 30 and 60 minutes after consumption or 90 minutes if drinking with a meal.
It takes two hours for a unit of alcohol (a small glass of wine, or half a pint of beer) to leave a mother’s blood.
Effect of alcoholic beverages on breastfeeding infants
While large amounts of alcohol in breast milk can have a sedative effect on babies, it is more likely to make them agitated and disrupt their sleep patterns.
When a nursing mother takes it, it gets into the breast milk and the baby sleeps and nobody is suckling anything. Soon, the mother starts complaining that she is not lactating enough.
Alcohol inhibits a mother’s let-down (the release of milk to the nipple). Studies have shown that babies take around 20 per cent less milk if there’s alcohol present. So, they will need to feed more often.
Some infants have been known to go on ‘nursing strike’, probably because of the altered taste of alcohol in the milk.
In conclusion, drinking palm wine by breastfeeding mums is counterproductive because it is proved scientifically that palm wine does not make the breast flow. It reduces the flow, contrary to perceived increase by traditions.
The act of palmwine drinking by new mums is a myth, with no scientific basis or benefit. Most importantly, it is a HARMFUL PRACTICE.
-Rotimi Adesanya
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