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Caffeine And Breastfeeding Effect On Baby

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Breastfeeding can make you feel thirsty, so you would be tempted to drink beverages—either water, a cup of tea or coffee to keep you going. Broadly speaking, coffee is found mostly in coffee, tea, energy drinks and chocolates. The American Academy of Pediatrics, categorized caffeine as maternal medication compatible with breastfeeding. And it’s a good choice to limit your intake to 300mg of caffeine or less per day.

If you’re a lactating mother and loves to drink coffee, well, there’s no need for you to stop drinking. However, you have to keep your caffeine consumption in moderation-or an equivalent of around 200 mg a day. Once caffeine is in your blood, low levels of it will go to your breastmilk.

According to experts, caffeine levels peak in breast milk is around hours after drinking it and there’s only a very little caffeine that passes through your breast milk. It is found that it is between 0.06 to 1.5 percent of the maternal dose of caffeine reaches your baby while breastfeeding.

So How Caffeine and breastfeeding effect on baby?

Though caffeine consumption is unlikely to harm your baby, you must limit your caffeine intake or take it in moderation. When you’re into extreme caffeine consumption, you may notice these side effects on your babies:

Irritability
Wakefulness
Jitteriness

Babies are not able to metabolize or excrete caffeine quickly, so they may experience those side effects in your babies. There are some babies who are very sensitive to caffeine giving them those effects.

The potential risks of caffeine consumption during pregnancy is scared but during breastfeeding, the risk is mild. Some people also believed that the acids in coffee lower the iron content but there’s no strong evidence to confirm it. In general, there’s no medical reason to avoid caffeine consumption while breastfeeding.

The more caffeine you have, the more will go to your baby’s circulation. The younger your baby, the longer it takes him to excrete caffeine out of his system. The amount of caffeine you baby absorb can build up if you keep on consuming caffeinated products since your baby’s liver and kidneys are too immature to process it shortly. He should be able eliminate caffeine when he reaches nine months old.

If you find your baby as restless, try minimizing your daily caffeine intake and observe the difference. On the other hand, caffeine has been also used safely to help premature babies breathe.

If you have a circulatory disorder Raynaud’s disease, better avoid taking caffeine. This disorder happens when your blood vessels constrict causing your fingers and toes change color form white to blue then red as the blood flow changes. Caffeine makes the constriction of your blood vessels worse making your breastfeeding painful.

Research on breastfeed suggest that when you, the mother consumed caffeine moderately may disrupt your baby’s sleep. But there’s no evidence yet linking baby’s poor sleep pattern to mother’s caffeine intake.

If you want to reduce the risk of passing on caffeine to your baby, make sure to have a cup of coffee right before feeding your baby. Caffeine amounts vary from brands and brewing time or even preparation method. The estimated caffeine for one cup of coffee may range from 30 to 700 mg depending on how big is your cups s and the type of coffee you are brewing.

Experts recommended a define cup of coffee with an 8 ounce of brewed coffee or 1 ounce of strong espresso.

Here are some ways to consider to manage caffeine intake while breastfeeding.

Monitor your baby. Since there are babies sensitive to caffeine it might cause a poor sleeping pattern when your breast milk has too much caffeine.
Maintain a healthy diet not just caffeine. A higher sugar intake may also affect your baby as much as caffeine.
As a mother, you should keep healthy too. If you take caffeine to boost energy, make sure to take it in moderation.
When baby is premature totally avoid caffeine. When baby has medical condition or premature, it is best to avoid or consult your doctor if it is fine to take caffeine.

Espresso Expert Member since November 3, 2018

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