decaf mama

So I've officially been off coffee for 2 arduous weeks. Insert sympathy here.

While I breastfed Maggie I hardcore avoided caffeine. Since I've been chasing a 2.5 year old Maggie while breastfeeding baby Jane, I was allowing myself one precious cup per day. Two weeks ago, I admitted there might be a connection between this wonderful morning ritual and Jane's excessive wakings. Sigh.

Initially I replaced my one small coffee with two large teas. Oops. Same caffeine intake. Caffeine is a lovely drug with a biological half-life of approximately 4-6 hours for an average adult. No wonder I could drink a cup of coffee at 8AM (about 200mg of caffeine), continue to feel alert until 2PM (about 100mg left in my body), then not really feel tired until after 8PM! While it might take me 12 hours to eliminate the caffeine from a cup of coffee, it could take my baby up to THIRTY to work that out of her system...so for months she was never free of its effects......... Oi.

Today, I am fully decaffeinated. I'm past the headaches and the bleary exhaustion. I'm drinking decaf Via in the mornings. Expensive? Yes. Delicious and almost as good as the real thing? Good enough. Most significantly, baby Jane is sleeping like a dream. I'll still sneak in an espresso drink here and there because she can handle minor disruptions, but damn I'm glad I got off the bean.

It's all about the baby Janes,
C.