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Drinking caffeine while nursingMany mothers have the same questions when it comes to breast feeding their child, not only do they question the benefits. But also the affect it may have on their daily life, one such question would be; does caffeine I consume transfer into my breast milk, and can it harm my child? Well, this question amung many others have been answered by the dedicated researchers, and advocates of breast feeding. It is known that caffeine does in fact enter your blood stream, and some portion of what you eat or drink may show up in your breast milk. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is important to restrict your intake of caffeine while you are breast feeding. This is especially so, because if you consume more than three hundred milligrams of caffeine a day (approximately what can be found in one strongly brewed eight ounce cup of coffee) It may in fact affect your infant in an adverse way.
While one or two cups of moderately caffeinated tea, coffee, or soda aren’t very likely to affect either yourself or your child. Any more than this amount may very well make both mother and child irritable, jittery, agitated, as well as sleepless. If you do however choose to consume any caffeine it is important while nursing, to remember that the caffeine in your breast milk will peak approximately an hour after you have ingested it. For this reason it is important to make a conscious effort to drink it at least eight glasses of water every day, as caffeine can cause your body to become dehydrated; and may affect your breast milk supply and production. If you do consume caffeine, and it seems to bother your infant; you may wish to cut it from your diet until after you have stopped breast feeding. Remember that your child’s body will process caffeine more slowly, than yours would; so it may take a few days before it is completely out of his or her system. Along with this question, many parents often stop to ask how much caffeine is in their daily intake of food and beverages. As you might imagine caffeine is in all of the usual “known” sources such as coffee, tea, and sodas. However not too many people stop to think much past these universal caffeine drinks. Things such as chocolate, some orange sodas, root beers, energy drinks all have trace amounts of caffeine within them. Also believe it or not, some decaffeinated beverages may show slight amounts of caffeine as well. While food and drinks are usually the first suspects, caffeine may be found also in some over the counter drugs such as headache, cold, and allergy medicines. The amount of caffeine contained within all of these varieties of items can vary greatly; which can also be dependant if they are brewed or instant, weak or strong in the case of coffee or tea. When you cut caffeine from your diet during this time, it is important to remember that you are doing the best for your child. Also with the money you have saved on all of these items, you could very well treat your infant to a new onesie or hoodie quite easily; as all of these caffeine pumped items can get very expensive. Related information topics:Your growing baby: Taking the next steps |
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