The term “pumping and dumping” refers to expressing breast milk and discarding it instead of feeding it to an infant. This process is primarily used to maintain a consistent milk supply and prevent painful breast engorgement when a parent cannot safely breastfeed due to a potentially harmful substance in the milk. While the act ensures the baby does not consume contaminants, it is often misunderstood as a way to speed up the clearance of those substances. The decision to pump and discard milk is rarely necessary but serves as a temporary safety measure.
Alcohol Consumption Guidelines
Alcohol passes into breast milk at a concentration nearly identical to the parent’s bloodstream. For moderate consumption, pumping and dumping is generally not required to make the milk safe, as alcohol must metabolize out of the system naturally over time. The common guideline suggests waiting approximately two hours for every standard alcoholic drink consumed before breastfeeding again.
Expressing and discarding milk during this waiting period does not speed up the rate at which alcohol leaves the breast milk. Pumping during this time is done only to relieve uncomfortable breast fullness or to maintain milk production. If a parent consumes more than one standard drink, the waiting time increases proportionally. Test strips are available that can indicate the presence of alcohol in milk, which may help parents feel more confident about the timing of returning to feeding.
Medications and Medical Procedures
Most common medications, including many antibiotics and pain relievers like ibuprofen, are considered safe for use while breastfeeding and do not require interruption or discarding of milk. However, a small number of specific pharmacological agents and medical procedures necessitate a temporary pause in breastfeeding and the use of the pump and dump method. This is typically required for drugs with a known risk of infant harm, a long half-life, or those that pass into milk at high concentrations.
Specific Agents and Waiting Periods
Certain chemotherapy agents, radioactive isotopes used in diagnostic scans, and specific sedatives may require a temporary cessation of breastfeeding until the drug is fully eliminated from the body. The concept of drug half-life—the time it takes for the drug concentration to reduce by half—is an important factor in determining the necessary waiting period. Parents should consult resources like the National Institutes of Health’s LactMed database or the InfantRisk Center for evidence-based information on specific drug safety.
Procedures involving contrast dyes, such as those used in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) or Computed Tomography (CT) scans, rarely require discarding milk, as most contrast agents are minimally absorbed by the infant. The decision to pump and dump in these situations ensures the baby does not consume the substance, while the pumping action maintains the milk supply for when breastfeeding can resume. Always discuss any prescribed medication or scheduled procedure with a healthcare provider who understands lactation safety.
When Pumping and Dumping is Not Necessary
Many common situations lead to the unnecessary discarding of milk due to misunderstanding about contaminant transfer. Illness in the parent, such as a cold, the flu, a mild stomach virus, or mastitis, does not require the milk to be dumped. In these cases, the parent’s body produces antibodies that pass directly into the milk, offering a protective benefit to the baby.
Vaccinations, including the flu shot and the COVID-19 vaccine, are safe during lactation and do not necessitate the interruption of feeding or the discarding of milk. The antibodies created by the vaccine are beneficial, and the vaccine components themselves are not harmful to the nursing child. Only in rare instances involving live vaccines, such as the smallpox or yellow fever vaccine, is specific medical advice required.
Minor environmental exposures, such as short-term contact with common household cleaning chemicals or strong odors, are not typically a cause for concern. Discarding milk that was stored improperly or has exceeded its safe storage time is a quality issue, not a “pumping and dumping” scenario related to clearing a contaminant from the body. Discarding milk should be a last resort, as most circumstances allow for continued safe breastfeeding.