Is it okay for breastfeeding moms to drink coffee?

Can nursing mothers drink coffee? This question is often asked not only by young mothers, but also by all women who cannot live a day without coffee. But the main thing you need to know is that coffee during breastfeeding can not only harm the child or mother, but it can also be useful. Therefore, you need to know about all the consequences and negative effects on the child that can occur when drinking coffee during lactation.

The benefits of coffee during breastfeeding

When you feed your baby, he gets all the vitamins and minerals he needs from your breast milk. If you choose to eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, and dairy, you are giving your little one what he needs and you are also supporting healthy milk production. The drinks you choose should also be nutritious. Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated and produce enough breast milk. Caffeinated drinks, including coffee, may have a small place in your diet unless your baby is sensitive to such caffeinated drinks.

Coffee is a drink made using coffee beans, which are taken from green coffee berries and roasted, resulting in brown coffee beans. This drink is loved by many women, including pregnant and nursing mothers. Currently, there are no restrictions on coffee consumption for most people, but young mothers are advised to limit their caffeine intake when breastfeeding. What is healthy about coffee?

There are two main factors that could be considered as benefits of drinking coffee. The first is related to its high antioxidant status. Antioxidants are important for health because they prevent our cells from being oxidized by toxins, chemicals, and inflammation. The second factor is the stimulant effect of caffeine, although this also presents potential risk factors if consumed in excess and for certain people who may be vulnerable to its effects. Coffee also contains some B vitamins, magnesium, and potassium.

When coffee is consumed, it is absorbed into the bloodstream and travels to the brain where it “fires” certain neurons that can lead to improved memory, mood, energy, and cognitive function when consumed in moderation. The benefits of caffeine can then be even greater when it comes to athletic performance, as it can help increase the amount of oxygen consumed during exercise, as well as stimulate the nervous system, which can help break down fat deposits and turn them into energy.

In addition, there are a number of other health benefits associated with coffee consumption. Researchers have found that those who drink 1-3 cups of coffee per day have a low risk of developing liver cancer. Another benefit of coffee: the risk of developing gout decreases with increased coffee consumption.

The benefits of coffee are also supported by the fact that walnut coffee is associated with longevity and heart health. Another study showed that women who consume coffee have a lower risk of dying from cancer.

Coffee can prevent retinal damage due to oxidative stress. Caffeine is not the main cause, but chlorogenic acid, which is found in coffee and is one of the strong antioxidants, plays a direct role in preventing this pathology.

Black coffee kills bacteria on the teeth that cause cavities. Adding milk or sugar to coffee negates this benefit. Therefore, coffee is a preventative against cavities. Coffee can also protect against periodontal disease.

Coffee may protect against melanoma. The risk of melanoma decreases with coffee consumption, and this risk decreases with each cup consumed.

Taking all this information into account, it must be said that coffee can certainly be a healthy drink, but many factors must be taken into account. If you are breastfeeding, it is difficult to predict the child's reaction to coffee. Therefore, you should not immediately pounce on this drink. But if you regularly drank coffee during pregnancy and throughout your life, you should not stop abruptly, because this can only negatively affect the mother and child.

Negative effects of drinking coffee during lactation

What kind of coffee can a nursing mother drink and does it affect the health of the baby? There are two main types of coffee beans - Arabica and Robusta, and depending on where they are grown, the taste of the coffee is determined. For example, Brazilian coffee usually has more of a chocolate and spice taste compared to Ethiopian coffee, which has a stronger, sweeter berry aroma. Coffee comes in different forms: whole beans, ground coffee, and freeze-dried. But despite the different types of coffee, they all contain caffeine in different amounts.

Caffeine is a stimulant, and everyone reacts differently to it. Caffeine can act as a diuretic, which can cause the body to produce urine faster. People who are more sensitive to caffeine or who drink a lot of caffeinated beverages sometimes report dizziness, tremors, and insomnia as side effects.

Although the caffeine you eat and drink does end up in your breast milk, most studies show that the amount is less than one percent of what you consume. Just because the levels of caffeine in breast milk are low compared to what adults typically consume doesn’t mean those amounts are necessarily safe for your baby. How much coffee can a breastfeeding mom have without harming her baby? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than three cups daily, or up to 200 mg per day. If you drink more than one cup per day, you’ll want to minimize the amount of coffee in your breast milk by spreading your coffee intake throughout the day or choosing lighter drinks, like lattes, which have less caffeine than regular coffee.

It is very unlikely that your baby will show any effects from the caffeine you drink. But if you really feel that your baby is too restless after you drink coffee, you can try an experiment. Remove caffeine from your diet for a week and see if there is a change in your baby's behavior. Then add caffeine back into your diet and see if the irritability returns.

Breastfeeding studies suggest that if moms have more than moderate amounts of caffeine in their diet, it may disrupt their sleep. However, we can't be sure that these sleep problems are definitely related to the caffeine in their mom's milk, since babies often go through phases of awakening.

The younger your baby is, the longer it will take for caffeine to clear from his system. This is because your baby's liver and kidneys are still immature. However, premature and younger infants metabolize caffeine very slowly and may have serum levels of caffeine and other active caffeine metabolites similar to their mothers. By the time your baby is nine months old, he should be able to eliminate caffeine from his system at the same rate as you. So the younger your baby is, the more likely he is to have a reaction.

Contraindications to drinking coffee are pathologies in the mother, which are accompanied by poor filling of blood vessels. If the mother has a circulatory disorder in the form of Raynaud's syndrome, it is better to avoid caffeine. Raynaud's syndrome occurs when your blood vessels constrict, making your fingers, toes and skin cold because they receive less blood. Possible complications when drinking coffee with such a pathology in the mother are disturbances in the feeding process. Caffeine aggravates the narrowing of blood vessels, making breastfeeding painful and milk flows with great difficulty.

Drinking more than 450 ml of coffee per day may reduce the iron concentration in breast milk and lead to mild iron deficiency anemia in some breastfed infants.

If your baby shows signs of caffeine sensitivity after breastfeeding, it may be wise to reduce the amount of coffee and try to increase it as your baby gets older. However, moderate caffeine consumption while breastfeeding is perfectly safe.

The effects of caffeine on infants will vary depending on a number of factors.

If you drank caffeine during pregnancy, it is likely that your baby will be less sensitive to caffeine consumption after birth. However, if you made sure that you did not drink coffee at birth, then your little one may have more of a reaction to caffeine if you start drinking it after birth. Caffeine can build up in breastfed babies if their mothers consume large amounts and can cause irritability, insomnia, and constipation. The buildup occurs due to the baby's body's inability to break down and eliminate caffeine. Premature or sick babies can also have problems due to their inability to metabolize caffeine.

Older children tend to react less to caffeine than babies under 6 months, so if your baby reacts when you drink coffee, wait a few months to see if your little one can handle it later, when he or she is a little older. So the risk of an adverse reaction to coffee in a child depends directly on the child's age.

Can nursing mothers drink instant coffee? Different types of coffee have different amounts of caffeine. Brewed coffee is considered stronger, but it contains fewer impurities. Therefore, a mother can drink instant coffee, it is softer and contains less caffeine. But such coffee processing implies the content of different types of coffee and various additional components. Therefore, sometimes brewed coffee is better, because it is pure and its composition is balanced. Another question that is often asked is whether nursing mothers can drink 3-in-1 coffee. Such types of coffee contain various impurities of coffee from different unrefined varieties, different types of milk, dyes, which are not very useful for the mother and the baby. Therefore, it is better to drink pure natural coffee.

Can a nursing mother drink decaffeinated coffee? If a mother cannot go a day without coffee, and the baby is very excited from the effects of caffeine on his body, then decaffeinated coffee can be a great solution. The main beneficial substances in such coffee are hydrocinnamic acids and polyphenols. Other minor elements include potassium, the recommended daily intake of magnesium, niacin or vitamin B3. Therefore, mothers can drink decaffeinated coffee while breastfeeding.

Caffeine is not only found in coffee, but also in tea, soda, chocolate, and even some medications that relieve headaches. In this regard, many mothers are wondering if a nursing mother can have chocolate? Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, contains a fairly high amount of caffeine. Therefore, it is necessary to limit not only coffee, but also chocolate when your child becomes restless.

Cocoa and chicory can be drunk by nursing mothers as an alternative if the child has a bad reaction to caffeine. But it should be remembered that, although to a lesser extent, these drinks can have a stimulating effect, so this issue should be approached very individually.

Therefore, for mothers who regularly drink coffee, there is no great need to limit themselves. If the child shows symptoms of anxiety and you are sure that the cause is caffeine, then only then can you take some measures.

There are several ways to reduce the stimulation of caffeine:

1. limiting caffeine intake while breastfeeding;
2. drinking coffee throughout the day in small portions, excluding coffee in the afternoon;
3. breastfeeding before the coffee drinking procedure or one hour after consuming caffeine;
4. monitoring the child's reaction to caffeine consumption;
5. You can also drink several glasses of water after consuming caffeine to dilute its effect in the body.

Can nursing mothers drink green coffee and does this type have any advantages over regular coffee? Green coffee bean extract is a natural product made from unroasted coffee beans. Green coffee is used as an herbal homeopathic product to lower blood pressure and promote weight loss. Green coffee bean extract, which comes in dosed forms, contains caffeine. The higher the dosage, the more effective it is in lowering blood pressure, and the more caffeine it contains. This caffeine is also passed through breast milk to the baby. The baby receives 0.06-1.5% of the mother's dose of caffeine through breast milk. Therefore, green coffee is no different in properties from black coffee and can be consumed if you drink regular coffee. But it should be noted that the instructions do not indicate that it can be used during breastfeeding. Therefore, you can try taking it at your own risk.

Can a nursing mother drink coffee with milk or cream? The amount of caffeine does not decrease when adding cream, which is important to remember. But cream or milk can cause an allergy or intolerance in the baby. Therefore, it is better to refuse such a drink. But if you consume dairy products daily, then you should not worry about allergies and you can drink coffee with cream.

Reviews of nursing mothers regarding the baby's behavior while drinking coffee are very different. Everything is very individual, so there are children whose mothers actively drink coffee and the babies are not bothered by it. Therefore, you should not focus on others, but rather try it yourself.

Nursing mothers can eat and drink a variety of products, including coffee. The main rule is to monitor the baby's reaction, and if there are no changes, then you can drink coffee, but in moderation. If you cannot live without coffee, and your child does not tolerate it, then decaffeinated coffee can always be an alternative.