Can you drink coffee when you are breastfeeding?
It’s a bitter-sweet paradox of motherhood-at a time of life when “tired” reaches levels that you were previously impossible, you are advised to drink LESS coffee?!
It seems that part of the reason some mothers find their morning cuppa affects their baby and some others find no problem, is because the age of the baby makes a big difference:
How long should I wait to breastfeed after drinking coffee? Does caffeine pass into breastmilk?
Caffeine passes through your milk when you breastfeed. And it takes much longer for caffeine to clear young babies system as compared with an older baby. The half life of caffeine is about 96 hours in a newborn, 14 hours in a 3 to 5 month old baby, 2 to 6 hours in a baby older than 6 months.
The good news is moderate caffeine consumption rarely causes a problem.
Signs to look out for in your baby are fussy behaviour, irritability, jitteriness and restlessness. If any of these things are troubling your family then cutting caffeine out or cutting down for a few days may help you to rule-out caffeine as a cause.
Another consideration in this picture is that in the early months it may be wise to “go with the flow” and “sleep when baby sleeps” whilst accepting one can rarely plan when baby will sleep. If other obligations allow, then it may be wise to avoid caffeine to ensure that you can get your head down and catch up on sleep during the day when your baby snoozes.
So how much caffeine is OK when breastfeeding?
Wendy Jones, expert pharmacist is a great source, she states “From research maternal consumption below 300 milligrammes a day should not cause issues for breastfed babies”.
LaLeche League International; States 200mg per day.
The European food safety authority also states 200 mg per day.
How much caffeine is in your favourite cuppa?
This chart is from Caffeineinformer.com
And of course consider tea, cola , chocolate etc while wondering whether to have another cup.
If you have any questions regarding anything mentioned in this post, please feel free to get in touch. You can also share your experiences on the Baby-Thrive breastfeeding cafe info here.
Sally
Sources:
Nancy Mohrbacher Breastfeeding Answers 2nd Edition
McNamara PJ, Abbassi M. Neonatal exposure to drugs in breast milk. Pharm Res. 2004;21:555–66.
Berlin CM Jr, Denson HM, Daniel CH, et al. Disposition of dietary caffeine in milk, saliva, and plasma of lactating women. Pediatrics. 1984;73:59–63. AND. Stavchansky S, Combs A, Sagraves R, et al. Pharmacokinetics of caffeine in breast milk and plasma after single oral administration of caffeine to lactating mothers. Biopharm Drug Dispos. 1988;9:285–99
https://breastfeeding-and-medication.co.uk/thoughts/caffeine-and-breastfeeding