Is it good for breastfeeding mothers to drink coffee?

You are breastfeeding but are addicted to coffee or prefer caffeinated drinks. In case if you are wondering whether drinking coffee is good for the health of young children or not when the baby often shows signs such as restlessness, crying, difficulty sleeping ... then you should follow the following article. Please!

Today, it can be seen that most women also love to drink coffee, even addicted to this drink. Therefore, many people also wonder if breastfeeding mothers  can drink coffee or not and the effect of caffeine on the quality of breast milk is. Don't worry, here aFamilyToday Health will help you troubleshoot the above questions.

Answers whether mothers drink coffee while breastfeeding is really good

In fact, if mothers drink coffee or consume chocolate while breastfeeding, a small amount of caffeine will enter the bloodstream. Once this is done, about 1% of that caffeine will continue to enter the breast milk stream. Not only caffeine but also some other foods can go through this path as well. However, this issue needs to be studied more carefully.

Back to the original question, is the caffeine in breast milk harmful to your baby? The answer is that there is still no definitive information on the effects of this ingredient on breastfed infants. However, each baby's body is completely different, so some children may be sensitive to caffeine; while others are not.

Some experts believe that children under 4 months of age do not easily break down and excrete too much caffeine. Mechanism of elimination of this substance in children does not work as well as adults, so the amount of caffeine can accumulate, making the baby show less sleep, restlessness and irritability. But there is another opinion that caffeine may not affect children's health.

How is it safe for a mother to drink coffee while breastfeeding?

It is normal for you to feel tired a few weeks or months after giving birth. At the same time, when you breastfeed, it is very easy to become thirsty. So you may not be able to resist drinking a cup of tea or coffee to feel less tired. But it's best not to consume too much caffeine while you're breastfeeding.

Most experts advise women not to consume more than 300mg of caffeine a day, which equates to about three cups of instant coffee or six cups of tea or seven cans of cola. In fact, if mothers drink more than this amount of caffeine, it will not harm the baby much. However, if you observe that your baby seems restless or has difficulty sleeping, cut down on caffeine or stop caffeine consumption to see if your baby makes any difference.

You can try decaffeinated tea or coffee, juices, milk or mineral water instead. You can also drink herbal teas . However, you should not drink more than two or three drinks a day while you are breastfeeding. Remember, some herbal teas like green tea also contain caffeine.

How much caffeine in foods and drinks do you normally eat?

Just now you know how good it is to drink coffee while breastfeeding ? In fact, caffeine is plentiful in the everyday foods you eat, like coffee, tea and chocolate. Certain beverages or energy drinks, and some cold and flu medicines also contain caffeine. Below is the amount of caffeine in some familiar foods and drinks every day that you should note.

Coffee: In 200ml of coffee, there are 102-200mg of caffeine. For instant coffee, the amount of caffeine is 27 - 173mg

Tea: 200 ml of tea contains 30 - 75mg of caffeine

Carbonated drink: In a 330ml can of coca, contains 30 - 56mg of caffeine

Chocolate: One 50-gram bar of chocolate can contain 10 - 50mg of caffeine

Cocoa: There is 4mg of caffeine in 142 g cocoa.

It is also important to note that the amount of caffeine in tea and coffee can vary depending on the size of the cup or cup (standard cup capacity is about 200ml, cup is about 350ml and applies to the table above). . In fact, the amount of caffeine more or less depends on the brewing method and the quality of the coffee beans or tea leaves.

Example: The amount of caffeine in a cup of instant coffee is different from a cup of filtered coffee. Or a cup of cappuccino that you make yourself will not have the same amount of caffeine as this drink you buy out of a coffee shop.