Does drinking rice wine increase milk production?

Yellow wine is widely used in our lives. Due to the warming and tonic nature of rice wine, it can not only be used as a daily alcoholic beverage, but also has very high medicinal value. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that rice wine can be used as a medicine guide, because rice wine can stimulate the medicinal properties of traditional Chinese medicine to the greatest extent. There is also a folk practice of drinking rice wine specifically to help with milk production after childbirth. So can drinking rice wine really help increase milk production? Let’s find out together.

Yellow wine also has unique effects on human health. Drinking yellow wine in moderation is very beneficial to the human body. According to the Compendium of Materia Medica: "All kinds of wine have different alcohol content, only rice wine is used as medicine." The rice wine mentioned here refers to yellow wine, which has therapeutic effects such as clearing the meridians, thickening the intestines and stomach, moisturizing the skin, nourishing the spleen, supporting the liver, removing wind and relieving gas, and has great medicinal value.

Yellow wine is hot in nature. Drinking a small amount of it after childbirth can dispel wind and promote blood circulation, facilitate the discharge of lochia, promote uterine contraction, and relax the meridians and activate the collaterals for postpartum wind. However, drinking too much can cause internal heat and can affect the baby through breast milk. Do not drink it for more than 1 week to avoid increased lochia discharge, which will last too long and be detrimental to recovery.

Rice wine helps with milk production, but it cannot be drunk alone. Adding a little bit of it when drinking salty soup is very helpful for milk production, but the amount should not be too much. Drinking more crucian carp and adding rice wine to pig's trotter soup has good effects.

Recipe for milk production:

(1) 60 grams of peanuts, half a liang of rice wine, and half a liang of brown sugar. First cook the peanuts, then add the rice wine and brown sugar and cook briefly, then eat the whole thing with the soup; or cook the peanuts into porridge; or stew the peanuts with pork tripe (or pig's trotters) and eat the whole thing with the soup.

(2) Cook about 1 jin of fresh crucian carp in clear soup with 0.5 liang of rice wine. Eat the fish and drink the soup.

(3) Remove the scales and intestines of a live crucian carp (about 500 grams), wash it, cook it until half-cooked, add half a liang of rice wine, stew it, eat the fish and drink the soup once a day; or take one live crucian carp. Add 10 grams of tongcao, boil it into a thick soup without salt, and take it once a day.

Through the above introduction, I believe everyone has clearly understood that drinking rice wine alone cannot help mothers increase their milk production, and rice wine will be directly absorbed by the baby through breast milk, which is particularly detrimental to the baby's growth and development. However, rice wine can be added to food to help increase milk production, for example, rice wine can be added to crucian carp soup and pig's trotter soup.