Ladies: Shooting while breastfeeding?

[Knuckles]

Well....not at the SAME TIME!   

My wife wants to go to the range with me today (for about an hour) since she hasn't been able to make a CAS shoot in a long time due to the arrival of our twin boys. 

Our concern was her exposure to lead, etc. while at the range and whether that would be a danger to the babies since she's breastfeeding.

Is is hazardous to her health with such a short exposure time?  Have any of you had a similar experience?

(of course, you can't ask a doctor because before you get the question out their eyse bug out and they stammer out "G-G-G-Gun!?!  Stay away from those?!?"

[Frank Wolf]

I've had similar thoughts lately, thanks to my two sons, born a year apart, who've been busy keeping my wife off the shooting range. Lead is very harmful when digested but normal shooting outdoors is no risk for her or the babies as long as neither of them eats the stuff. She can shoot safely but washing the hands could be a good idea before handling the kids.

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

I'm no doc and my doctor is a good old fashioned country doc, so I wouldn't be afraid to ask him.

If it were me, I'd take the normally safe handling practices, and add a bit, such as washing my hands after each stage and certainly before eating or drinking anything, then taking a shower and putting on clean clothing as soon as I got home.

AnnieLee

[Book Miser]

Kiddo and Cash Caldwell have been bringing their baby to the monthly shoots since the child was about three months old, and there don't seem to be any ill effects. The baby became the youngest life member of SASS, at the age of two weeks, and they have had little ear-protectors fitted for her, of course.

Otherwise I don't think they've done anything more than follow the normal common-sense precautions people ought to use when shooting and when handling/feeding babies. I expect to see them this Saturday, and I'll ask, though.

Bear in mind that the child won't be on the firing line, and probably no closer to it than about fifty feet. (You don't want her getting hit by any splashback.) I doubt the lead problems in the common areas of an outdoor range are anywhere near as bad as you might fear.

So what's the child's alias?

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

Book,

Knuckles has been "blessed" with TWINS.



AnnieLee

[Camille Eonich]

The baby became the youngest life member of SASS, at the age of two weeks, and they have had little ear-protectors fitted for her, of course.

I think that Harland Wolff may have actually signed his daughter up before she was born.     Katherine A. Klizum ("Kat" for short)

[Silver Creek Slim]

My wife has done it. Just make sure hands are washed before handling the babies.

Slim

[Doc Shapiro]

Our doc said it was ok outside.  Indoors the airborne lead level is just too high.

Doc

[Book Miser]

Doc, the more I think about it, the less I like indoor shooting for myself as an adult, because of lead levels. There's a really nice gun shop in Myrtle Beach that has a small but sturdy indoor range. But the amount of dust there was downright frightening.

[Lou Graham]

ROFLMAO! The title gave me quite a mental image of a lady duelist, gun blazing in one hand and baby on the other side.............

..................and the inevitable post "We need a new catagory"

Noise would be my worry.  Make sure to keep the babies well back from the line.  Do whatever you gotta do to let that poor woman get out for awhile.  She's nursing twins    -- buy her a new rifle and a pretty hat.

[Book Miser]

True, Lou. I cringe at the idea of someone with post-partum depression and her own set of guns. 

[Cactus Cris]

Lou--I knew we could count on you.