So.. I tested other people's breastmilk today.
Yes, you read that right. No, it was NOT a *taste*test. I played scientist and took part in a consumer test (paid, I might add) where I squirted (real! live!!!) breastmilk onto test strips and decided if the alcohol level was too high. [side note: it really was alive! did you know that breastmilk is alive??! okay, not alive-alive, but it's full of live cultures and metabolizes for hours and hours after it's out there, sitting in a cup on the table. crazy.] It was marvelous. I even looked the part (sorry, no pics). I donned a lab coat, latex gloves, and goggles for the testing, just in case the breastmilk was filled with teh AIDS. Or something. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't, plus I didn't get any in my eyes (or mouth, yeck!), so don't worry.
And clearly I have not matured much, because everytime I say it aloud to someone I burst into fits of giggles.
8.10.2009
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9 comments:
What?! You squeezed boobs to get it or did the person pump? 'Manual extraction' = painful!
Why do consumers care about the alcohol level in breast milk? Surely if you're breast feeding you're not binge drinking, so is it some other non-obvious product that you're testing?
Back up a step, Erica. Why do consumers care what's in breast milk AT ALL? Who buys breast milk?
To clarify, I didn't extract the milk. Just tested it! They had lactating women express milk to donate, we just worked with little droppers filled with the milk (each was mixed with various % of alcohol).
It's a product for breastfeeding mothers, because believe it or not, mothers still like to have an occasional evening out and enjoy a beer/ glass of wine/ pitcher of margaritas. They can still breastfeed if they can test the milk to make sure it's safe for the baby. The alcohol is metabolized over time (just like in non-breastfeeding people).
I think the point/necessity of the consumer testing was to determine the cut-off point. Seemed like a legal requirement, actually.. I think the company had to do it.
It was kind of like a pH strip test - there were four colors (no alcohol present, a little but well within guidelines, a little but not within guidelines, and whoa momma, you must've been swimming in the booze high amounts present). They needed to test to see how regular people (ie people not specifically trained in scientific research with a lot of practice with testing) would make the cut off between the "within guidelines" and "not within guidelines" colors.
Is it possible, then, to get your baby wasted if you feed it breast milk with a high alcohol content? I suppose it would be -- I just never thought about it before. :)
Ok, that's what was confusing me. Your liver should hydrolyze most of the alcohol before it has a chance to become part of the milk, assuming you don't go on some kind of all night bender. This seems like a very useful product.
No, if I remember correctly from my parenting classes, the content of EtOH in the breast milk can be as high as the level in your blood. (maybe worse?) It was recommended that if you drink too much that you should "pump and dump" the breast milk that has too much EtOH in it. I have to admit there are few times when I think a little drinky would have helped Ella go to sleep. :)
It's related to the amount of alcohol in the blood. I guess the breasts make most of the milk "on demand" PLUS the breastmilk itself metabolizes alcohol even outside of the breast. So pump & dump isn't actually necessary.
Not that I claim to be any kind of expert. That's just what they told us on research street.
Well Beau, maybe you could graph Ella's drunkenness too :D
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