Half Life of Caffeine and its affect on your baby

Caffeine is excreted into breast milk. Estimates suggest that an infant receives 1.5 to 3.1 mg of caffeine after a mother drinks a cup of coffee. As you can see, since the amount in the mother's coffee is likely to be c. 100mg, the amount the baby gets is fairly low.

Pregnancy increases the half-life of caffeine (ie the time it takes for your body to break it down) in the blood from 2 hours to 20 hours - in a newborn baby this figure may be as long as 30 hours (source: Shyu JK, Wang YJ, et al.)

Because of this, if the breastfeeding mother is a heavy caffeine user, caffeine can accumulate in the infant. (Worthington-Roberts BS, Williams SR. Nutrition in Pregnancy and Lactation, 4 th ed. St. Louis: Times Mirror/Mosby, 1989 ). Babies have immature livers that are unable to adequately process caffeine, which is a drug. A baby who is irritable and sleeping poorly may be reacting to caffeine in the mother's diet.

However remember that in pregnancy the baby receives your bood filtered by the placenta, and in breastfeeding, your body is breaking down the caffeine in 2 hours, assuming you're not also pregnant, so since the baby would get a level in their milk proportionally similar to the level in your blood, after 2 hours there should be no caffeine at all.

Also remember that caffeine affects the body's absorption of iron, and also of calcium, so it's not ideal for those Mums who are breastfeeding and therefore need to make the most of the calcium and iron in their diets as their own stores will be depleted by breastfeeding!

*** Excellent article on kellymom about caffeine in breastfeeding CLICK HERE ***

There's also lots of information on healthy eating in the book 'Birth to Five', available free from your GP, midwife or health visitor if you are a first-time parent.

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/youafterthebirth/nutrition/caffeineandbreastfeeding/

Does the caffeine I eat or drink get into my breast milk? Could it harm my baby?

Caffeine does enter your bloodstream, and some portion of what you eat or drink appears in your breast milk. If you consume more than 400 mg of caffeine a day (about what you'd get in four mugs of coffee), it might affect your baby. That's why it's probably best to restrict your intake while breastfeeding.

Though one or two cups of coffee, tea, or cola isn't likely to affect either of you, more might make one or both of you irritable, jittery, agitated, and sleepless. If you want to have a cup or two of coffee or tea a day while breastfeeding, make a conscious effort to drink at least eight glasses of water every day as well (good advice whether or not you're taking in caffeine).

And if the caffeine seems to bother your baby, abstain for a bit until after you've weaned them to drink it again. If you decide you want to kick the caffeine habit, click here for tips.

How much caffeine is in my favourite foods and drinks?

You might be surprised how easily you can get a big dose of caffeine. This chart highlights just a few common foods and drinks that contain the stimulant.

http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/life02breastfeeding.pdf

"Small amounts of whatever you're eating and drinking may pass to your baby through your breast milk. So it's a good idea to think carefully about how much alcohol and caffeine you're having. These may affect the baby in the same way they affect you. If you do have alcohol or caffeine, try to have them only occasionally, because having them regularly, or in large amounts, will affect your baby."

If you have any further info to add to this piece, please get in touch