Test for the presence
of alcohol in breast
milk in just 2 minutes.
Simply saturate the test pad with a few drops of breast milk, then check for any color change 2 minutes later for your results. No colour change means no alcohol present.*
When you drink, some alcohol goes into your bloodstream – which then passes into your breast milk. On average it takes up to 2 hours for one standard drink to leave your bloodstream.
It depends on body weight, the type and amount of alcohol you drink, and how much and when you’ve last eaten. Testing your breast milk takes guesswork out of the equation.†
*Consult a healthcare practitioner if consuming alcohol post-pregnancy. Health Canada advises breastfeeding women to limit their alcohol intake, particularly with newborns. There is no known safe level of alcohol consumption while breastfeeding. Exposure to alcohol above one drink per day through breast milk may be detrimental to infant motor development and may decrease breast milk supply.
† For more information on how alcohol consumption may affect your breast milk supply and your child’s development, please click here
†This product detects the presence of alcohol in breastmilk at a level of 13.1 mg/dL or greater.
If you’re breastfeeding, and thinking about drinking alcohol on a special occasion, limit yourself to 1 or 2 standard drinks per occasion*.
*Health Canada recommends avoiding alcohol if you’re breastfeeding, especially when your baby is under 3 months old.
Yes, but the milk should be brought to room temperature before testing. Once at room temperature, gently swirl the bottle containing the breast milk and pour a small amount into a container. Use milk from the container to perform the test.
The two-minute mark is what’s important. Because it’s exposed to oxygen, the test pad may continue to darken over time, even if alcohol is not present. The colour of the pad exactly two minutes after saturation is the most accurate result.
Yes. The expiration date is embossed on the back of each foil pouch. You’ll also find it on the outside of the package, on a sticker under “LOT.” The expiration date will be shown by year and month (e.g., 2016-08).
Maternal self-confidence is critical to maintaining breastfeeding. If you have an occasional alcoholic drink, you also want the peace of mind of knowing that your breast milk does not contain alcohol. If alcohol is still present at feeding time, you can provide your baby with an alternate source of breast milk (from a supply pumped earlier).
A feeling of intoxication is not an accurate measure of determining if there’s alcohol in breast milk. Every woman metabolizes alcohol differently, and the amount of time it takes for the alcohol to leave the breast milk supply also varies. Body weight, type and amount of alcohol consumed, and food intake will all affect alcohol metabolism.
Pumping and dumping doesn’t speed up alcohol metabolism. As long as alcohol is in your bloodstream, it’s in your breast milk – they metabolize at about the same rate.
Test for the presence
of alcohol in breast
milk in just 2 minutes.