Breastfeeding and Caffeine

I tried to drink coffee while I breastfed, I was soooo tired, but the caffiene gave my son terrible stomach pains so once I made the connection I stopped and he was fine. So it really depends on your baby. Try it out, if your baby cries like crazy, it's not colic, it's the caffiene. Just think of nursing as the 4th trimester with all our sacrifices. It too shall pass. :-)

I LOVE coffee too, so this was really hard for me. I did tons of researching on the internet as well. I drank decaf for a while and when I started having caffiene I only drank it right after breastfeeding to minimize passing it to my baby. Your breastmilk doesn't just sit in your boobs, it cycles back out so your body will metabolize the caffiene just as it does if you had a glass of wine.

Just to be on the safe side try to avoid breastfeeding for approx. 2 hours after drinking caffienated beverages.

I am a Diet Coke addict (horrible I know) and drank a few cans a day when pregnant with my son. (Trust me, that was cutting back a lot!) I am now nursing him (he is 3 mos old) and I still drink about that much (as well as lots of water). It doesn't seem to affect him, but I feel guilty about it. I rationalize that my breastmilk is healthier than formula, even if it does have some caffeine in it :(

to be honest, i LOVE coffee but hated it when i was pregnant. When i was breastfeeding, i got cravings again and started on it. It was decaff coffee (twice a day at most) until she was about 6 months and then I switched to regular caffeine since she was on more solid foods and less of my milk. I heard that if you took just one cup it should be fine. I took 2 and it was still fine. I am not a paranoid parent at all and i feel that most things in moderation is fine. Even fish when pregnant to me is ok!!! I am not saying eat four servings fish a day, nor am I saying drink 5 cups coffee a day. Don't deprive yourself or you will go crazy. My girl did not react much to my caffeine since i took decaff. Every kid is different, though. SO glad to hear of a fellow coffee lover :)

I have always been a 12 cup pot a day (or more) coffee drinker. I tried cutting back slowly to no more than 3 or 4 cups a day during my pregnancies, and think I got down to 2 or 3 for the most part. I never noticed any problems with coffee drinking and breastfeeding except for the one day I drank about 5 cups of coffee because I was insanely tired and busy. By the end of the day I was wondering why my son was so wired and refused to nap, so I cut out coffee for a few days and he was fine. If you are drinking less than 3 or 4 cups a day and spreading it out, you are probably fine. If you notice that the baby is reacting to the caffeine, but it back or out.