It is one of the strangest questions they have ever asked me and yet one of the most asked questions and that is why I wanted to dedicate a little time to explain the answer: Will my child have more gas if I drink Coca Cola while breastfeeding?
I can understand the doubt because there are many myths related to the foods that mothers take and the effects they have afterwards on the baby through breast milk, but I don't think it's a reasonable doubt Because it doesn't make much sense. In fact, I wanted to look for information in breastfeeding manuals and I have not been able to find anything related to carbonated drinks.
Who says Coca Cola says carbonated drinks
First of all, so that this does not look like an entry dedicated to the well-known drink say that I have titled it Coke because it is, I think, the most consumed drink with gas. However, I am referring to all carbonated drinks in general and I intend to explain what happens when a breastfeeding mother drinks this type of soda.
The fault is ours
Any. The answer to what happens is any. However, many mothers have stopped drinking Coca Cola and company because someone, perhaps even dressed in white, has told him that If you drink Coca Cola, your baby will have more gas. The bottom line is our fault (I say ours now positioning myself as a nurse and pluralizing to encompass health personnel), and sometimes we say some of the most absurd things staying wider than long.
Many babies complain a lot during the day and at night, or only at night, or only during the day, whether due to immaturity, hunger or not being completely at ease. As it is very difficult to give an explanation to "what's wrong" there are those (dressed in white), blame those discomforts on gas, on colic (when they grow up they will talk about "teeth"), and end up even advising the mothers who, to avoid them, stop drinking carbonated drinks, among other measures.
However, it is absurd, because the gas does not reach the milk
I don't know if I have a peculiar sense of humor or sometimes I overdo it with sarcasms, but when a mother asks me if her son will have more gas from drinking her drinks with gas I usually answer, seriously, if she have noticed that the milk comes out with gas, to which they answer me whenever not.
It is assumed that by drinking liquids with gas, mothers' milk will have gas and that babies will have gases: gas, gas, gases. However, I do not know anyone who, after drinking a Coca Cola, urinates with gas, nor do I know anyone who in an analytics shows that they have gas in their blood and, logically, I do not know any mother whose breast milk comes out with gas . Not having milk with gas, you will tell me what we are talking about.
More absurd is even when Coca Cola does not cause gas
In any case, if we were to believe that carbonated drinks get gas into breast milk and, consequently, our children had to stop breastfeeding every little time to overcome the itchy throat that causes them gas, neither would they have more gases than usualAt least not at the intestine level. Belching would be a few, as we adults do when we drink soda with gas, but more farts and cramps I doubt they had because it is not a common symptom of this type of drink either: "Be careful when consuming Coca Cola, which produces abdominal pain and windiness" ... emm, no, I have never heard.
Definitely…
Taking into account that the gas that enters through the mouth also comes out through the mouth and knowing that the mother's milk is not gasified the answer is no, your son won't have any more gas if you drink Coca Cola, so if you cry at night, if you squirm and if you throw pedets think if you want what it can be, but don't think about the gas in the can you took a few hours ago because it makes no sense.
And the caffeine?
Anyway, the Caffeine contained in cola drinks does pass into breast milk (like that of coffee), but you would have to drink too much to have effects on the baby, such as insomnia or irritability. Caffeine has a half-life of about 4-5 hours in the body, so if the doses are controlled and the time taken from the time it is taken until the breast is taken into account, it has no harmful effect.
According to e-lactation, Coca Cola has Low risk, which means that its use could cause very minor adverse effects on breastfeeding or the infant.
