Red bull and breastfeeding

[NightOwl19]

Posting here for traffic so apologies.

I have a 5 week old baby who is EBF, she had a horrific night sleep last night and I'm desperate for a red bull, online some things say yes one is fine and other pages say no. So I'm turning to the wisedom of MN

I wouldn't, but I think if you Google breastfeeding and caffeine you should get some guidance?

I wouldn't. With my first I drank a few coffees and had no issues. 2nd baby, drank a few coffees and she screamed and screamed. Then I thought - oops might be the caffeine. So I cut back to one in the morning and the screaming stopped. I'm utterly ashamed when I think about how stupid I was... Red Bull is pretty high in caffine so I would probably leave it.

I would think it is too much caffeine in one hit, particularly if you have already cut down on it during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

It isn’t what you need. You need sleep. Do you have a partner? Can they take baby out for a walk for a few hours so that you can sleep without risk of “they want you”?

Oh god no I wouldn't. I once drank Lucozade without thinking while feeding DC2 and she was hyped for hours.

Argh I thought not that's why I haven't had one and I don't want to do anything that will cause upset to the baby. My partner is brilliant and will take her but I find it impossible to sleep in the day regardless of how tired I am and with other DC in the house it's like mission impossible.

I’m very relaxed about these things but RB is rank and toxic. Just try to get some help and grab a couple of hours kip.

Listen to an audiobook or something to distract your ears while you try to doze off.

It's fine. A can has about 8mcg of caffeine, coffee has more! La leche league says 300mcg is fine a day, and the NHS is more cautious at 200; but one can falls well below that anyway.

80mcg*

Just reading the below would put me off for a while

Signs and symptoms of caffeine stimulation in a baby include rapid heart rate, fussiness, and insomnia.

Does caffeine affect your baby? Personally I had probably 2 cups of coffee a day every day while bf. It never affected mine. Actually, he slept great, much better than my ff baby. Red Bull (I think?) had other things in it besides caffeine which I might avoid (guarana?). But I wouldn’t hesitate to have a coffee, which has about the same amount of caffeine. If it bothers your baby, just don’t have more tomorrow.

I don't know how caffeine affects her as I don't drink coffee and only have minimal fizzy pop

Yuck! I wouldn't, but I wouldn't touch the stuff anyway, full of nasties.

Surely you managed 9 months so a few more months shouldn't be too hard. Something with sugar in would be better if you really need something.

@mindutopia

Does caffeine affect your baby? Personally I had probably 2 cups of coffee a day every day while bf. It never affected mine. Actually, he slept great, much better than my ff baby. Red Bull (I think?) had other things in it besides caffeine which I might avoid (guarana?). But I wouldn’t hesitate to have a coffee, which has about the same amount of caffeine. If it bothers your baby, just don’t have more tomorrow.

As long as you are within the recommended limits caffeine is fine. No wonder so many people struggle through breastfeeding (which is already tough) when they make it harder for themselves. Of course it's personal choice whether you want to have caffeine or not, it's understandable if not, but a reasonable amount of caffeine is fine.

I have managed without it but after a rougher then normal night today I'm shattered and would murder one.

It is within the limits of the recommended amount of caffeine you can have but I don't want to risk having a worse night tonight because of it

It’s got a similar amount of caffeine as an instant coffee, so 1 occasionally will be fine.