Breastfeeding your baby comes with lots of new challenges. Breastfeeding tops Australia can make a big difference to your experience, but so can the right diet. One of the biggest debates surrounding breastfeeding diets is whether or not you can drink caffeine while breastfeeding. Small doses of caffeine are perfectly healthy for adults, but a baby’s small, developing body won’t handle it the same way. In this article we’re going to dig deeper into the issue of caffeine and find out whether it has any effect on breastfeeding success.
What Is Caffeine?
Caffeine is a drug that’s a mild stimulant. Consuming caffeine increases the amount of activity in your brain and nervous system, which produces the alert and focused feeling most of us are familiar with. Caffeine is found in popular drinks like tea and coffee, but it’s also found in other food and drinks like chocolate, soft drink and energy drinks. The effects of caffeine begin about 5 minutes after consumption. As the caffeine is absorbed into your bloodstream, it causes chemicals like adrenaline to circulate, increasing your heart rate and producing a feeling of focus and wakefulness.
Drinking Caffeine While Breastfeeding
If you’ve ever had too many cups of coffee in a day then you understand that big doses of caffeine can be quite uncomfortable. Now, if you consider the difference in size between an adult and a baby, it’s easy to see that babies can’t handle much caffeine before they start showing signs of overdose.
For that reason, it’s best to limit caffeine intake while breastfeeding. It’s generally considered safe to have 200mg – 300mg of caffeine per day. That’s equivalent to 2-3 cups of brewed coffee, or 5-6 cups of black tea. When minding your caffeine intake make sure you’re keeping track of everything you eat and drink that contains caffeine, including chocolate (and other chocolate products). The amount of caffeine in breast milk peaks about 60 minutes after consuming it, so it’s also a good idea to try and time your coffee around regular feeding times.
Caffeine Content of Common Foods
Minding your caffeine intake during pregnancy and breastfeeding is the best thing you can do for your baby. You don’t have to cut it out entirely if you don’t want to, but drinking too much tea and coffee can cause a range of adverse effects on your developing baby. You can use the rough values below to calculate your daily caffeine intake:
| Food/Drink | Caffeine Content |
| Espresso | 145mg per 50mL shot |
| Energy drinks | 80mg per 250mL can |
| Instant coffee | 60mg per teaspoon |
| Black tea | 50mg per 220mL cup |
| Cola | 36mg per 375mL can |
| Milk chocolate | 10mg per 50g bar |
Remember that you’re trying to keep your caffeine consumption under 300mg per day, but less is better. Don’t forget to factor in things like chocolate or chocolate-based drinks. There’s only about 10mg of caffeine in a small bar of milk chocolate, but dark chocolate can contain much higher amounts of the stimulant. Also keep in mind that caffeine can have an even bigger impact on your baby if you also smoke cigarettes, so limit your intake accordingly.
How Caffeine Affects Babies
Caffeine affects adults and babies very differently. The adult body is fully developed, so it’s able to absorb, process and break down caffeine much faster. An adult body will begin absorbing caffeine about 5 minutes after consuming it. The stimulant is absorbed into your bloodstream where it travels to your liver to be processed and broken down. This takes about 3-7 hours total, after which the amount of caffeine in your system drops dramatically. On the other hand, babies’ bodies are still developing, and their liver takes between 65-130 hours to process caffeine. Although they only consume small amounts of caffeine through your breast milk, the slow processing time means it can build up in their system and cause problems like:
- Fussy behaviour
- Jitters
- Colic
- Restlessness and poor sleep
Don’t forget that excessive caffeine affects your health too! Especially if you cut back on caffeine during your pregnancy, going back to drinking coffee can also affect your sleep patterns. Given that new mums often have trouble sleeping as it is, reducing caffeine intake is a great way to make yourself more comfortable while looking after your newborn. Alongside other tricks like wearing breastfeeding friendly dresses Australia, reducing your caffeine intake is one of the best things you can do to enjoy a positive nursing experience.