Lawrence says that caffeine accumulates in the infant and that after the
mother's discontinuing it, it takes a week to disappear from the infant's
plasma. Symptoms were gone after a few days of no caffiene.

I have found that, in some infants, her mother's consuming one cup of
regular coffee in the A.M. or a caffeinated soda in the day will lead to
wakefullness and irritability in the evening and night, especially if this
is an every-day occurance.  In the mother, the effect was gone after a few
hours, but the effect seems to compound in the infant.

The same thing happens to many people as they grow older.  A cup of coffee
in the morning has them wakeful at bedtime or even 2:00 A.M.  It depends on
how the body processes it.

Why do you think a woman finds it easier to eliminate a substance while she
is pregnant for fear of harming her baby than to eliminate it when she is
breastfeeding?

Patricia Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee