Drinking coffee and breastfeeding?

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Had a midwife say drinking coffee while breastfeeding was a bad idea - that babies can't digest it properly, that it builds up inside them over time, that it can affect their sleep.

My LO is 12 weeks now. The last week or so I've had the odd coffee and GOOD LORD it was amazing but I couldn't shake the guilt / worry about babies sleep.

So wanted to hear some stories. Did you / do you drink coffee and breastfeed? Have you noticed any symptoms in LO?

Just hoping I can drink a small coffee a day. Around 11am with a nice biscuit or three! Lol. Thank you!

Drink decaf?

According to the NHS -

Caffeine can reach your baby through your breast milk and may keep them awake.
Caffeine occurs naturally in lots of foods and drinks, including coffee, tea and chocolate. It's also added to some soft drinks and energy drinks, as well as some cold and flu remedies.
Caffeine is a stimulant and can make your baby restless. It's a good idea for pregnant and breastfeeding women to restrict their caffeine intake to less than 200mg a day:
1 mug of filter coffee: 140mg
1 mug of instant coffee: 100mg
1 250ml can of energy drink: 80mg (larger cans may contain up to 160mg caffeine)
1 mug of tea: 75mg
1 50g plain chocolate bar: up to 50mg
1 cola drink (354mls): 40mg
Try decaffeinated tea and coffee, herbal teas, 100% fruit juice (but no more than one 150ml glass per day) or mineral water. Avoid energy drinks, which can be very high in caffeine.

I still drink caffeine, I'd say looking at the guide above 250-350mg a day and I'm BFing a 7 month old. Am now wondering if I cut it slightly it might help his sleep as he's still a rubbish sleeper...anyone had success with this? Didn't seem to affect my first!

There's still some caffeine in decaf. Chocolate is the main culprit in this house not only does it cause reflux for my wee one the caffeine isn't good either. Can't stop eating the stuff though. I drank double the recommended caffeine with my 1st,she slept and DS dosent even though I've cut it right down. I think it depends on the baby.

I drank coffee after about 3 months and never noticed dd sleep worsening. Although she was a hideous sleeper from day one and I needed the caffeine!

I've definitely noticed a link between my caffeine intake and how well my LO sleeps. I have two cups of proper tea a day, and have decaf everything otherwise and it's made a real difference. The Nescafé Azera decaf is really nice, although I can't say that I've found a decaf tea that isn't basically vile - redbush all the way for me!

Interesting, I might give it a go for a week (? - would that be long enough?) and see if it helps. Might not help me stay awake though

The Yorkshire tea bedtime tea (has various herbs in it) is lovely @WobniarRewolf

A moderate caffeine consumption won’t affect your baby. I’ve always drank plenty of coffee whilst breastfeeding and both my babies have been great sleepers.

@Tinyteatime I expect you're right. DS1 was a fab sleeper so not sure whats happened with DS2, he had a few great weeks at 3 months and now he's up at least 3 times a night and generally won't settle for anything except boob!

I drank loads of coffee while BFing all 3 of my babies and their sleep was fine.

Also had the odd glass of wine (SO KILL ME!)

Up until my LO was about 3 months I only had 1 cup of decaf a day. From then on now I have normal coffee, chocolate, coke. Not to excess but I don't deny myself anything (I've already given up my freedom for BF so not willing to sacrifice everything else that gives me the slightest bit of pleasure and feeling like myself again).
Some nights my DS sleeps well some nights he wakes up loads. As I have pretty much the same amounts of caffeine daily I don't think it's linked with it in my case. During some periods where I had more coke in fact he slept better which made me come to the decision it's just him not me

I have 2 drinks with caffeine a day be it tea or coffee, also love chocolate.
Have noticed no side effects on DD.
But I always have the no more than 2 caffeinated drinks rule a day and that also includes pop. I wouldn’t have thought one coffee would make a difference really.

Did you drink caffeine when you were pregnant? Obviously a lot of women have none at all when pregnant. I mentioned on another thread that I had drank it all the way through my pregnancy with DS and never felt like his sleep was affected (was always a good sleeper) and theorised that if you have it when pregnant they build up a tolerance. Another poster said that this fact was mentioned on kellymom, here
kellymom.com/bf/can-i-breastfeed/lifestyle/

Whoops

kellymom.com/?s=Caffeine+

Paradise laundry, that's interesting as it's the same for me! Drank it throughout pregnancy and breastfeeding and no issues with sleep

I stuck to the 200mg guideline (or 300mg as it was when my older two came along) when pregnant and did up that slightly when bf, but, like a pp, I needed a bit of stimulant tbh just to keep going - all mine have fed at night well into their second year. I switched to decaf tea (we like Tetley) after a certain time of day. I've never liked decaf coffee so still drank the proper kind but just kept an eye and avoided having too much in the early months. Never liked cola etc and when I have chocolate it's small amounts at a time so didn't need to worry about that.

I drank coffee throughout pregnancy and breastfeeding and had no issues. My bf baby was an excellent sleeper. I think some babies are just more sensitive to things (mine have always been quite easy and robust, no reflux, no allergies, none of that). But if your baby is sensitive to it, just cut down or cut it out entirely.

I religiously avoided caffeine through my first pregnancy and over two years of breastfeeding, convinced it would affect sleep. She was a horrific sleeper. Second pregnancy/ bf thought fuck it, that made no difference, just be normal and had coffee and chocolate, she sleeps fine. I’d say unless it’s huge amounts it makes little difference, it’s the babies’ temperament that dictates how well they sleep, in the main.

Ps clipper decaf is pretty good though.

I’m doing what I did when pregnant, one cup of proper stuff in the morning then decaf for the rest of the day. I don’t really eat chocolate and don’t have normal tea, baby sleeps very well!

Best decaf instant, and I tried them all, is Kenco millicano. Lovely stuff!

I drink 2-3 cups a day pregnant and/or breastfeeding
I don't believe in going without coffee, so I just try and cut down and be sensible

I stick to two (weakish)cups a day max but it's not the caffeine that I am bothered about, so much as the other things in coffee. Chlorogenic acids in coffee (even the decaf kind) gets into your milk and inhibit iron absorption--a study found that iron status was worse in EBF babies if their mothers drank three or more cups of coffee a day.

MW is talking bollocks..... unless you are drinking a whole pot of coffee twice a day..... will find some links for you

www.llli.org/breastfeeding-info/caffeine/

So a single cup of coffee should be fine. Enjoy it!

Of course if your baby is super sensitive then avoid but lots of mums do enjoy a daily cup of coffee with no ill effects on their baby.

TBH with mine we discovered the major issue was not the coffee. It was the cows milk!!!