Can palm wine induce new mums to produce breast milk?
It can be frustrating for new mothers when they are not able to lactate immediately or express enough milk to breastfeed their newborns.
This can lead some new mums to lean on their mothers, grandmothers or friends for foolproof ways of inducing lactation. Most often, older women are seen as carriers of ancient wisdom that would always be dependable proof.
Among the litany of ancient recommendations is that of drinking fresh palm wine to induce lactation. This ancient act still actively practised in some societies has been believed to help a new mother lactate.
To many people who still hold on to traditional beliefs, it is believed that drinking fresh palm wine can help stimulate breast milk production.
A mother of four kids under 10, Onyinyechi, told our correspondent that she recalls her mother endorsing the practice in her days adding that some new mothers are still practising it but she could not due to her low tolerance for alcohol
The woman, a hairdresser in her late 30s said, “It was during my mother’s time that it was rampant. Some women still take it to be able to lactate but it is not everybody that palm wine is good for. Like me, if I take palm wine, I’d be intoxicated no matter how little I take but some women still do it.
“It is what our mothers in those days used to help with lactation then but these days, some foods are much better. As for me, when I had difficulty lactating I drank tea, took uda and uziza pepper soup and also yoghurt. Not everybody likes it and can withstand it,” she said.
Also, some social media users on Facebook have attested to how drinking palm wine has helped them lactate when they couldn’t.
One user, Awy Harrison Eromosele attesting to the effect of the natural palm drink during her breastfeeding days wrote, “It increased mine and helped me lactate after delivery. It absolutely works for some of us. Tested and trusted. I recommend it for new moms. Fresh palm wine.”
Another Facebook user, Nkeonyere Biji Adigun said, “Please, it worked for me. I couldn’t lactate for about 3 days until a neighbour introduced me to fresh palm wine.”
Palm wine is an alcoholic drink with an alcoholic content of as little as three per cent, but the percentage of alcohol in fermented palm wine can go as high as 12 per cent.
It is noted that no quantity or level of alcohol is good for a breastfeeding mother and when palm wine is taken during breastfeeding, it passes on to the breast milk which has raised concerns about the safety of the new born.
A professor of nutrition, Mrs Obioma Mbah clarified that because palm wine is liquid, it would induce lactation just like any other liquid.
She debunked the belief that there is something special about taking palm wine that causes it to induce lactation explaining that it could just be a result of one’s belief that it would work for them, hence it does. “So, when people tell you that it helps, psychologically, you believe it and it will start working for you but scientifically I don’t see anything in palm wine that will enhance lactation but generally because palm wine is a liquid it will do the same thing just like any other fluid.”
Notwithstanding, she expressed concern that palm wine, which naturally contains alcohol, could have an impact on the forming child, just as it is having on the mother.
The professor said, “There is some concern regarding the alcohol content of it because whatever you are eating you are giving your baby.
“Alcohol is not the best for an infant that is still developing their brain and other parts of the body.
“You know alcohol is never the best for anyone because it affects and subdues most of the processes in the body.”
Explaining in detail she said “The central nervous system cannot use energy from alcohol that is why when someone takes alcohol in excess, you’d see the person acting like a mad person, unable to coordinate their action because the brain and nervous system cannot use energy from alcohol. It could affects that of the baby too so there’s a lot of concern.”
Rather than rely on palm wine, risking the health of the newborn, she suggested other alternatives like tea and pap. They will enhance lactation, she said.
Another professor of food science, Gabriel Okafor agreed that palm wine may have some properties that made it a solution preferred over the years. He however expressed concern over the uncertainty of the quantity of it that could pose harm to an infant
“Traditionally women use it and it works for them. It stimulates breastmilk flow and helps in so many other ways for the new born. For the alcoholic content, it depends on the quantity being consumed but there hasn’t been practical research to confirm the truth about it,” Okafor added
In 2019, some Nigerian researchers performed a study on some rats to understand the effect of palm wine on lactation.
The research titled, ‘Effect of Palm Wine Administration on the Histology of the Mammary Glands of Postpartum Female Albino Wistar Rats’ and suggested that fresh palm wine increased the quantity of milk produced by some lactating lab rats.
One of the researchers and a lecturer at Cross River State University, James Ikpa speaking on the result of the research, said that it was observed during the study that moderate intake of fresh palm wine promoted breast milk production and also the quality of the breast milk in the rats used for the research.”
He however clarified that the research is purely scientific, not clinical explaining he said, “We have tested it on only rats so far hence the conclusion you see there but what is supposed to be obtainable is that we go to higher animals.”
But a former head of Nutrition services with Ondo state, James Oloyede in an earlier interview with The PUNCH stated that palm wine does not stimulate lactation in women expressing worry about the alcohol content and how it may affect the new baby.
Oloyede explained that “The alcohol content of palm wine, which is far greater than that of beer, can flow through breastmilk to the baby and alcohol is unfit for babies.”
Oloyede listed anxiety, stress, overworking, poor positioning and attachment, scheduled feeding, and long separation of the mother from the child as factors that can distort the flow of breast milk from a nursing mother
A good psychological state, adequate and healthy diets and good nutrition can help a mother’s breastmilk flow easily, he said.
“Rather than taking alcohol at all, it is advised for such mothers to drink water or pap to stay hydrated, a condition that facilitates the flow of breastmilk,” he added
Also lending his voice to the concerns about palm wine consumption by breastfeeding moms, a child and public health physician, Rotimi Adesanya in an article stated that “While large amounts of alcohol in breast milk can have a sedative effect on the babies, it is more likely to make the babies agitated and disrupt their sleep patterns. When a nursing mother takes it, it gets into the breast milk and the baby sleeps and is unable to suck. 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 is alcohol present, so they’ll 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.”
While palm wine has historical and anecdotal support for inducing lactation, experts caution parents of the practice because of the effect it could have on the child thereby urging parents to consider alcohol-free methods of assisting lactation during the breastfeeding phase.
