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Do I need to give up my coffee????

WildFlower2350WildFlower2350 member
in Breastfeeding
Here's the quick run down....my almost 5 month old is a non-napper, like no more than 30 min in one shot, usually 2-3x a day.  Never a min. more.  Doesn't sleep through night....During day very, very active and he is never cranky (really, just a super happy, super chill little guy).  But I am exhausted.  I do drink, on average, one mug of coffee (reg size in am) and sometimes a second in PM.  It has dawned on me...am I the reason he is not sleeping?  Ive heard of irritability in babies that don't tolerate caffeine but he is so happy.  My lactation consultant told me 2 cups a day is fine and they even offered it and supported it when I was in hospital when he was born.  I tried giving it up for like 2 days and saw no difference in him and just had a massive headache myself.  Do I need to give it up for longer to really see if that's the culprit for why my son never sleeps during the day?????  He is so active, like I said, arms flapping, legs kicking like crazy.  Anyone else breastfeeding that can shed some light on the coffee/caffiene debate?  I am so tired that I need it to function but what if its me that is causing the chaos!?
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Re: Do I need to give up my coffee????

  • NeonNoonNeonNoon member
    Only a small amount of caffeine (0.5% -1.5%) from the coffee makes it to the breastmilk. The bigger problem is that babies metabolize it a lot slower than adults. Here's a useful half-life chart:
    https://kellymom.com/bf/can-i-breastfeed/lifestyle/caffeine/

    Assuming your LO is a slow metabolizer, you could be dosing him with more caffeine before he has gotten rid of most of the last round, causing a caffeine build up in his body. To be sure he's not sensitive, you would have to eliminate it for a week or so (see previous link).

    I hear you on the exhaustion. I have half a cup of french-press coffee (not as strong as filter) in the morning to keep my sanity. My LO is also hyperactive. I think his is just personality. He does the flapping/kicking thing all the time too, but gets 14-15 hrs of sleep per day at 4.5 months. I'm a FTM, but you can see from other boards that napping 30 mins is quite common.

    Good luck getting to the bottom of this. If you go the elimination route, maybe do it gradually so that you don't get the withdrawal headache?
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  • harmonicbabe26harmonicbabe26 member
    edited July 2015
    NO! You do not need to give up coffee. Some babies are crappy sleepers until they grow out of it. I drank coffee every day of both my pregnancies and every day of BFimg with both my girls. My older started STTN at 11w, but took only 30min naps till she was about 6mo. After that she slept 1hr max, never longer until she dropped to just 1nap per day at 15m. My younger started STTN at 7m and just now at 8mo she started taking longer naps, some days up to 2.5hrs. Previously she was sleeping 30mins, I could set my watch to her nap times! I did not change a single thing in what I eat or drink. I did tweak the younger one's routine and apparently her body was ready for it and responded well. Do not give up on coffee! :)
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