Archives for September 2008

Alcohol and Breastfeeding

September 18, 2008 By erincarrasco 3 Comments

I was at a healthy baby group today and the topic of alcohol and breastfeeding came up. In Canada we have a resource called MotherRisk, generally it’s a resource that you can contact to inquire about medical questions you have during pregnancy and beyond. So if you were unsure as to what types of drugs are safe for a cold during pregnancy and you couldn’t get in touch with your doctor, they have a hotline that you can call and they will give you an answer based on scientific research.

Here’s a little more info specifically what MotherRisk does:

The Motherisk Program at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is a clinical, research and teaching program dedicated to antenatal drug, chemical, and disease risk counselling. It is affiliated with the University of Toronto. Created in 1985, Motherisk provides evidence-based information and guidance about the safety or risk to the developing fetus or infant, of maternal exposure to drugs, chemicals, diseases, radiation and environmental agents

Recently they had conducted an study to determine just how long women should wait before resuming breastfeeding after having an alcoholic beverage. We’ve all read online that it’s 2 hours for one drink, and one drink being a beer, a 5 oz glass of wine, and 1oz of hard alcohol. But how much you weigh determines how quickly your body metabolizes the alcohol. Below what MotherRisk found in reference to drinking alcohol and breastfeeding:

Question:
I recently delivered a healthy, full-term baby and am now breastfeeding exclusively. I abstained form drinking alcohol during my entire pregnancy and am wondering if drinking alcohol now would harm my nursing baby.

Answer:
Nursing mothers who choose to drink alcohol during the postpartum period should carefully plan a breastfeeding schedule by storing milk before drinking and waiting for complete elimination of alcohol from their breast milk after drinking. Mother risk has created an algorithm to estimate how long it takes to eliminate alcohol from breast milk.

Below is their algorithm:

*1 drink = 340 g (12 oz) of 5% beer, or 141.75 g (5 oz) of 11% wine, or 42.53 g (1.5 oz) of 40% liquor.

Here are two of their examples:

Example no. 1:
For a 40.8-kg (90-lb) woman who consumed three drinks in 1 hour, it would take 8 hours, 30 minutes for there to be no alcohol in her breast milk, but for a 95.3-kg (210-lb) woman drinking the same amount, it would take 5 hours, 33 minutes.
Example no. 2:
For a 63.5-kg (140-lb) woman drinking four beers starting at 8:00 pm, it would take 9 hours, 17 minutes for there to be no alcohol in her breast milk (ie, until 5:17 am)

They also note the following:

Because alcohol elimination follows zero-order kinetics, drinking water, resting, or ‘pumping and dumping” breast milk will not accelerate elimination. Unlike urine, which stores substances in the bladder, alcohol is not trapped in breast milk, but is constantly removed as it diffuses back into the bloodstream.

The Bottom Line

If any type of alcohol consumption makes you uncomfortable do not feel that you have to drink, or feel pressured to have a drink. If you are at a party and want to avoid pressure, you can drink soda with lime, or 7-up and add a lime wedge!

If you do decide to drink, the above information is a guideline only and does not replace a medical practitioner’s advice.

Alcohol is never good for a baby no matter in what quantities. An even though an infant is exposed to a fraction of the amount of alcohol the mother ingests, infants detoxify alcohol in their first weeks of life at only half the rate of adults.

One thing to mention is that, you are now responsible for another life, if you choose to drink make sure that someone is sober enough to take care of your baby should baby get ill.

Now after this is all said and done, I do enjoy beverages every now and again, my baby sleeps through the nigh (knocks on wood) so I do not have to feed him during the night. If for some reason I needed too, I always have milk stored in the fridge and freezer. I don’t feel there is anything wrong with enjoying a few drinks responsibly!

For more information on this article please click here, the references to the research articles are on that page as well!

Many thanks to Christy for this wonderful information!

For More information on the services that Mother Risk provides:

Motherisk counselors talk to hundreds of women and their healthcare providers each day providing guidance, support and peace of mind. So if you don’t find the information you are looking for on this website, try calling one of our Helplines. Motherisk counselors are available Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST.

1-877-327-4636 – Alcohol and Substance
1-800-436-8477 – Morning Sickness
1-888-246-5840 – HIV and HIV Treatment
(416) 813-6780 – Motherisk’s Home Line

Filed Under: Advice, Health and Fitness, New Mom

The “new” black box

September 16, 2008 By erincarrasco 5 Comments

While I’ve been recently very busy on the Internet, well mostly on Twittermoms.com, I’ve come across some really neat blogs! There are so many interesting women out there, and if I needed another reason to be obsessed with the Internet, I’ve found one.

While browsing Twittermoms.com I came across Cheryl Hill’s recent blog posting about something mysteriously-but aptly called the black box.

Basically this black box will ask you to decide between two options, each choice you make brings you closer to a “mystery” website of a blog you’ve probably never read before.

The Creator of this little black box widget is Caroline Smailes, she is an author who has recently written another book titled black boxes. The following is a synopsis of her latest book:

Ana Lewis is a woman trapped and ruined by her own expectations. Her intense relationship with fellow student Alex cracks beyond repair when she falls pregnant, and his subsequent withdrawals, both emotional and sexual are hard for her to bear. Eventually, following the births of their children Pip and Davie, Alex leaves Ana to a life of question and blame.

Basically, this book is about how every little decision you make shapes and changes your life forever. I now have to add this to my “must read” pile!

Oh and if you land on someone’s blog via the box, let them know how you got there! It’s always nice to have some new visitors and comments!!! Happy searching!

Warning: this tool is highly addictive!

Filed Under: Books, Mom, Product Reviews

Funny Cat Video

September 15, 2008 By erincarrasco 4 Comments

Ok, so recently I was chatting with a friend asking them if they liked cats, because my husband had come across this awesome you tube video of a hilarious cat. I personally have never got into searching You Tube, but the reason he sent this to me was that our first cat actually used to do something similar to this when she was young. She actually used to play hide and seek with us, no word of a lie. She’d come and find us, and tap us on the head and then go and hide (even if it was with her head under a pillow-therefore concealing herself, and her butt sticking out).

But I digress, I suppose if I had never met my husband I would be like the cat lady on the Simpsons. I would have at least 10 cats. Thank God Miguel saved me LOL And without further ado, here is the video:

Filed Under: Humor, Videos

Twitter for moms? Why of course! Check out Twittermoms.com!

September 13, 2008 By erincarrasco 2 Comments

“Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything Better than you.”

Is what Megan Calhoun was singing the night she launched Twittermoms.com—OK probably not, but that’s what she should have been singing.

When I was first introduced to twitter, my husband had just come back from a Microsoft Influencer conference and was on his ~~crack~~ blackberry even more (I didn’t think it was possible-but it was) then he usually was. I asked him what on earth he was doing, so he told me he was tweeting. I LMAO at him, telling him he’d gone off the deep end. What on earth was tweeting?

When I first checked out twitter, I thought, who on earth has time for this. But then again, you make time for things you’ become obsessed with. *ahem-facebook sound familiar?*

New to twitter? Check out my first posting on twitter

I thought, are there any mom’s who are tweeting? Because as it stood, the only people who I knew that were tweeting were my husbands’ work colleagues, people who were working outside the home and people with blackberries. Was I the only Internet obsessed mom? Certainly not.

While surfing twitter a couple days ago, I noticed that sittercity had tweeted that if you were a mom you had to check out www.twittermoms.com, so off I went. And what did I discover? A wonderfully addictive website that has me hooked.

So What is Twittermoms.com?

According to Megan’s site:

Twittermoms is an online version of the three martini playdate. Chat about the adventures of being a mom. It’s always happy hour here!

Megan (the creator of this highly addictive site) is a mommy of two, founder of Twittermoms.com and a children’s book author.

When I joined this site, she personally messaged me to welcome me to the group,she followed me on twitter, she read AND commented about my latest blog posting and added that if I needed anything to just message her!

What a wonderfully personal touch, when’s the last time you were welcomed to a site you joined by a personal message from the founder of the site? —I should mention that TotSpot was also very personal when I joined.