Appease my curiosity please

mskatiep · April 2014

I have the beginnings of a theory relating caffeine consumption during pregnancy and infant sleep postpartum.

I know a study has been done which found no link between caffeine consumption and an increase in infant wakeups. Considering that while in utero babies are said to sleep during the day since mom is moving around, essentially rocking baby to sleep. I'm curious as to if daytime caffeine consumption keeps babies awake during the day in utero, and if they have less issues figuring out their days and nights.

I realize that this is not a true study, and I can't control for all of the variables. I'm really just looking for personal experiences. Feel free to tell me I can't possibly be right:)

mskatiep · April 2014

I tried to just keep it simple. I'm more curious about when our babies were younger as I know the 4MW threw a lot of us off of sleep routines. In general, did your baby sleep most at night or during the day for oh let's say the first 2 months?

YummeeCookee · April 2014

I had very little caff while pg and have kept it up since I BF. I have found my DD to be a great sleeper. She started STTN around 2.5 mo old, aside from the odd days during growth spurts.

Dreamingmommy4 · April 2014

I didn't drink any caffine at all (not an anti-caffeine person, just not a huge fan of most things that contain it. Except chocolate, I love chocolate). L figured out days vs. nights pretty much right off the bat. There were a couple nights where she was up until 2 or 3am but it didn't last long.

cagoldi · April 2014

We never had any day/night confusion to speak of, really. I didn't consume much caffeine at all while PG. I had only a few cups of coffee the entire time.

Chargersgrl33 · April 2014

I drank coffee pretty much every day and had a soda randomly. LO has never had an issue sleeping and has slept through the night since about 5 weeks old with no issues.

Mum2Be28 · April 2014

I didn't vote, *confused.* But I had 1-2 caffeinated drinks a day while pregnant. One always being coffee, but if I had 2 it was usually a sweet tea on occasion at lunch. In utero I felt like baby already knew his days and nights. I felt most movement during the day. I was very rarely woken up by movements from him at night-- although it's possible I just slept right through them.

The first two months he was a pretty good sleeper all around as long as he was in the swing or on me. And he always did a longer 4-6 hour stretch at night from the beginning so I think he had the night/day thing down.

I EBF and I have 2 cups of caffeine a day. He's been STTN in his crib since he was 11.5 weeks old (with a handful of bad nights for unswaddling, a cold, etc).

mskatiep · April 2014

Thank you everyone for the responses. I'm actually pretty pleased with the results. It looks like caffeine is moot in terms of early sleep issues. My next pregnancy I intend to do a better job avoiding caffeine, and I'm happy that it looks like it will have no effect on sleep good or bad. Sorry if this poll confused some, thanks for bearing with me!

JaysonandKristin · April 2014

I drank way more coffee than they recommend... its my one damn vice!! She has never had any day/night confusion, and none of my 3 kids have had any issues with 4MW. I can tell they are becoming more aware of their surroundings by nursing distractions, and they hit physical milestones, but their sleep is generally the same.

mamasoup030 · April 2014

I skipped all caffeine during my pregnancy. We have had no sleep problems. I also exposed baby to the sun in the morning to help the circadian rhythms, even though that's backfiring a bit now that the sun rises earlier and so does she on sunny days. I'm dying for a real coffee but afraid to start caffeine now until I'm done bf incase it does make a difference.

Ashleyfurillo · April 2014

I consumed 1-2 cups of coffee a day and LO has no sleep issues day or night

cagoldi · April 2014

mskatiep said:
Thank you everyone for the responses. I'm actually pretty pleased with the results. It looks like caffeine is moot in terms of early sleep issues. My next pregnancy I intend to do a better job avoiding caffeine, and I'm happy that it looks like it will have no effect on sleep good or bad. Sorry if this poll confused some, thanks for bearing with me!

@makatiep I know that I read not long ago that the most recent research suggests sleeping patterns of newborns and infants are largely influenced by genetics. I'm sure I saved that article somewhere. I'll link to it later if I can find that once I'm on my laptop.

Good news, it's not that we're doing or have done anything wrong if the baby isn't a great sleeper. Bad news, it's mostly out of our control.

More bad news, so far A is a lot like me in many ways and I didn't consistently STTN until I was almost 2. Scary.

mskatiep · April 2014

@cagoldi‌
Did the article happen to address why some babies in the same family have different sleep patterns if genetics play a large role?

cagoldi · April 2014

mskatiep said:
@cagoldi‌
Did the article happen to address why some babies in the same family have different sleep patterns if genetics play a large role?

I don't recall but I don't think so. I guess the only way you'd know for sure is if there were a large number of identical twins sampled.

Completely anecdotal, but my Mom has always said she feels like the oldest child has the worst sleep problems. I've noticed this is true with friends and family. Like I said though, it's 100 % anecdotal. There are plenty if STMs having sleep issues with their second LO when their first baby was a great sleeper.

Appease my curiosity please

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