The best time of the day for a nursing mother to drink coffee is right after breastfeeding. Most caffeine is metabolized after 3–5 hours.
What’s the best time to drink coffee for a lactating mother?
Infant is younger than 6 months
Lactating mothers shouldn’t consume any coffee when the infant is younger than 6 months. Caffeine may reduce production of breast milk, and decrease its iron concentrations, causing infant anemia!
Moreover, infants are very sensitive to caffeine. They lack the enzymes that metabolize it. Thus, caffeine can stay in their body for days! Caffeine may cause adverse effects to infants, such as fussiness, jitteriness, and poor sleep patterns.
Infants older than 9 months
But, infants older than 9 months can metabolize caffeine at the same rate as adults. Hence, lactating mothers could consume some coffee.
The best time to drink coffee is right after breastfeeding. In the next few hours, most caffeine will have been metabolized. Caffeine effects last about 3–5 hours.[1]
In any case, pregnant and lactating women shouldn’t exceed the maximum safe dose of caffeine.
Above all, you should consult your physician before consuming coffee or other foods with caffeine, such as tea and chocolate.
What’s the worst time of the day to drink coffee?
The worst time of the day to drink coffee for a nursing mother is 1–2 hours before breastfeeding. Caffeine isn’t absorbed instantly. It needs at least 45 minutes to be metabolized.
Keep in mind, that food delays caffeine absorption.
Furthermore, smoking significantly decreases absorption rates of caffeine. In contrast, alcohol delays caffeine absorption.
