Chocolate and breast milk

[onemodestdiva]

Hi eveyone,

How long does it take for something you ate to affect your breast milk and therefore give your baby gas? 

Now how long does it take for it to exit your system and quit making your baby miserable?

if anyone knows the timing on these it might help me to solve my issues.  Thanks

[Petunia]

How long does it take for something you ate to affect your breast milk and therefore give your baby gas?

I would think a couple of hours at the most - but it would depend on how fast the substance gets into your bloodstream.  For instance, I had a caffine laden soda one night with dinner when my son was a week old.  About 30 minutes after I ate I nursed my son.  He was one wide-eyed fella for a couple of hours!  But foods would enter your bloodstream a bit more slowly.  Also, if you were already full up for a feed and you tend to hold a lot of milk in your breasts then your little one would get less of the substance than if you had just fed and your body was in the business of restocking your breasts.

Now how long does it take for it to exit your system and quit making your baby miserable?

That depends on the substance and how much of it you had.  Caffine, for instance, stays in your bloodstream for about eight hours.  However, it is diminishing in quantity the entire time and at some point you no longer feel the effects of it, although it technically is still in your system.  I would guess that most substances would no longer be a problem after four to six hours.

[Marisa's Mom]

I don't really know, but thought I would share one of my experiences...

I had a period where my baby would be wide awake after her middle-of-the-night feeding (roughly anytime between midnight and 2 or 3 AM). It boggled us. We couldn't figure it out. She wasn't calm, and she didn't want to get drowsy & fall back asleep. She was active & wide awake. What was up with that?

Then one night DH made the connection between the ice cream we consumed sometime after dinner but before bedtime, which could be anywhere between 9 PM and 11 PM. So we stopped having our late night ice cream. Guess what! Baby was no longer active after middle-of-the-night feedings.

So that is how I learned that foods I consume had an effect on baby through breast milk. Ever since then, I was very careful about my sugar and caffeine intake, especially later in the day and at night.

[JacobMarksMummy]

I found this in a leaflet my HV gave to me HTH

'Chocolate contains a chemical called theobromine that's a gastric irritant some symptoms may include fussiness and diarrhea. Cut out the chocolate bars for about a week (long enough to get them completely out of your system) to see if your baby's condition improves'