Is Caffeine in Breast Milk Bad?

06/11/2014 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

It’s a question any coffee/tea loving nursing mother has probably asked, and for good reason; no one wants to hurt their baby because of what they consumed. Same goes for fathers for the same reason.

I never finished detailing my birthday weekend from yesterday’s post as I only covered Saturday, the day before my actual birthday. As I mentioned then, we stopped at the restaurant Brewed after the 5k race for coffee and brunch. I didn’t eat, but enjoyed their locally roasted coffee with many, many refills.

Going Mom also partook in the coffee consumption, and rightfully so, she was up early and boldly drove us around some of the “unpleasant” areas of Forth Worth to get us to the race. Kelley has only had one full cup of coffee a handful of times since having Avery, but that day, she had 4 cups. Yep, and we don’t add cream, sugar, and all of that crap, so the cups were purely coffee.

Avery had been up for a long time with minimal napage (it’s a word), and we fully expected to have her hit the crib hard and sleep through the night. WRONG! Kelley nursed her to sleep after bath time as usual, but just a few hours later Avery was wide awake crying.

We knew something was wrong when the crying didn’t subside after 5 minutes like usually would happen at this time. Kelley marched back in the nursery, loaded with fresh breast milk, and proceeded to calm and nurse Avery back to sleep. An hour later, she was back asleep in her crib, and we tried to go back to sleep as well.

Silly parents, Avery didn’t feel like sleeping that long; she was sitting up crying maybe an hour and a half later. Kelley did her thing once more, and finally made it back to bed again only to have Avery again! My poor, tired wife didn’t want me to have to go in there for my birthday, but I insisted on giving it a shot.

Keyword, “shot”, because I did nothing to help! She wouldn’t take a bottle and all she did was make it very awkward to hold her. At one point, she let out a blood curdling cry which had Kelley in the nursery faster than you can say “crazy baby”. At this point, this sun was rising and we decided to give up and stay awake.

I asked her if she wanted coffee and then we both laughed. We actually have a non-caffeine herbal coffee alternative that I make her, so I prepared a cup for both of us as we sat on the back porch with our ~~spawn from hell~~ sweet baby.

That’s Avery’s head and you can see my legs in the background. As long as she was being held, Avery was happy, and it was actually a pleasant way to start my 30th.

After sitting outside for a while, we went back inside where Kelley had my gifts sitting out on the island. Sneaking lady, that wife of mine!

Schneider Weisse Aventinus is my favorite beer, and I got three; one for each decade. I’m not a big drinker, and usually keep it to one glass on most days (unless I’m at a brewery!), but I expect high quality from my beverages and Aventinus is just that!

Kelley made the card herself as she knows I think buying cards is unnecessary most of the time and handmade is more thoughtful. She did a lot better than my handmade cards to her and I loved it! Inside the card I found this…

A Microbrew Beer of the Month Club for US Beers! Most of you probably think I’m lying, but I promise, I don’t drink a lot, just want good beer when I do. I’ll be getting 12 beers from different US microbreweries for the next four months to enjoy. Perfect timing since Avery is showing signs of teething!

With 12 beers each month, I bet we’ll have a nice stash by the end since we haven’t finished the 6 pack I bought over a month ago. I expect to share these with Kelley so we can enjoy together, because drinking alone is just sad.

The brown bag had fresh cremini and portobello mushrooms; one of my favorites! I could eat a huge bowl of mushrooms (the non-trippy kind) and go back for seconds; yum! For my 28th b-day, my co-workers knew how I avoid sugary, processed food, and that I love mushrooms, so they even gave me a Portobello mushroom cake!

They didn’t have the right candles, so a “0” had to do, and I loved it.

I’ve been enjoying several birthday mushrooms on top of my salad every night since and am glad Kelley bought them for me. Thanks, Kelley….and Avery too!

Despite our earlier than expected start to the day, we ended up have a great time together and even brought Avery for another trip to the pool. Thankfully, the caffeine must’ve finally wore off as she slept a little better that night. I need to extend my b-day weekend stories to another post as it’s late and my bed is beckoning.

Oh yeah, to answer the question; a little caffeine shouldn’t be of concern and is generally safe to have while breastfeeding. From what I read, only around 1 percent actually ends up in breast milk, and up to 300mg/day should be okay. Of course, everyone is different, so drink at your own risk!

Do or did you drink coffee or another caffeine source while breastfeeding?

Fathers, same question but for your wife/girlfriend/partner.

Have you ever had a non-traditional cake?

Life, Parenting

My Birthday Weekend and Baby’s First Brewery

06/10/2014 R.C. Liley 8 Comments

Well, it happened, I’m another decade. No more starting with a “2” to enter my age, now it’ll be a big “three-oh.”

I keep thinking I see gray hairs now, but Kelley just laughs telling me I’m crazy/paranoid. Secretly, I think she’s thinking, “Oh crap, those are gray!” Oh well, I’ve come to terms and am learning to embrace the thirties; and hey, at least it’s not the forties!

My birthday weekend was off to a “winning” start when Avery and I placed first overall in a small 5k run.

After the race, we headed to a unique restaurant called Brewed that offers local food, coffee, and beer, and an atmosphere that would fit perfectly in Colorado. To us, that’s a good thing, we love Colorado and it’s health-focused environment!

I’ve mentioned before how I am averse to eating out as I am keen on knowing exactly how my food is prepared and want to keep it healthy, so I didn’t expect to eat there. I did see a tasty egg white omelet option, but I have those every day and don’t need to pay $8 for someone else to make it. I know, I’m a fun guy to go out with, huh? You know who else is? This guy….

Sorry, I crack myself up every time with this one!

So, I just ordered an Americano after the waiter promised to give me free refills of their drip coffee. Kelley ordered the egg white entrée and since it included mushrooms, she just requested those be left on the side and kept raw for me to enjoy. Yes, I love mushrooms!

Since I was the non-eater of the group, I held Avery most of the time so everyone else could eat. She was a little squirmy, nothing new, but we made the most of it.

Since she’s so cute, I couldn’t keep her all to myself and she made her rounds at the table. While G-ma was holding her, Paul took a picture of Kelley and me since we thought the curtains made a great background. What do you think?

Isn’t she beautiful? That guy in the picture…he’s pretty damn lucky!

The ultimate plan for the day was to visit a small, local brewery called Martin House Brewery, but it didn’t open until later in the afternoon so we had time to burn. We were right next to downtown Forth Worth and decided we’d check out the new (to us) area. I think the “new” things have been around for some time now, but since we don’t get out much (by choice), we haven’t seen it before.

We mainly wanted to see the new splash pad in the center of downtown and headed there first. Our initial thought was that we could let Avery get in there a little bit, but we soon realized the shooting water would be too much right now. So we just stood in front of it for a picture.

Not sure what that look on my face is all about; I think I was talking. Meh, oh well. The sun was beaming down on us and with the buildings blocking any breeze, sweat was seeping through our pores like they were tiny faucets. Luckily, we found a nice shaded area to sit down and kill time until we were ready to head off to the brewery. Paul enjoyed a little Avery time as she grabbed at his face in curiosity.

Finally, it was time to head out, so we journeyed back to our parking spots and drove maybe 5 miles to the brewery. They had just opened when we arrived which made for a quick entrance and kept us from standing in the sun. It cost $10 to receive their beer glass and a bracelet allowing 3 drinks.

Kelley was the designated babywearer and driver, so she didn’t have to pay. G-ma, Paul, and I all got our glass and had our first round poured in no time; refreshing!

Of course, since I just ran that morning and only had several cups of coffee, three beers would’ve put me way under, so I shared with Kelley. Besides that, I’m not the drinker I was in college, which saves a lot of money and my health, so it doesn’t take much anyway.

Within a few sips I was already feeling nice and warm…..oh wait, that’s because it’s Texas and almost Summer! But I was feeling good, and I think it shows in this picture with Kelley and Avery.

G-ma let Kelley borrow her glass so she didn’t look out of place in the picture. Ummm, Kelley, I think you were the only one wearing a baby, so too late dear!

The beer was great and I’ll be buying several of their brews soon. As expected, it was loud inside the brewery with live music and groups of people trying to talk over one another, but that didn’t keep Avery from sleeping soundly.

How do they do that?

3 beers and several samples later, and I was feeling good, maybe too good. I was ready to leave as were the rest of us, so we said our goodbyes G-ma and Paul and headed back home.

I fully enjoyed my day with the ones I love and always wish it would last longer. We just need to remember to cherish the “now” and not worry so much about the past and future. I’m the worst about this and need to remind myself every day to calm down.

The day after, Sunday, was my actual birthday and it was spent with Kelley and Avery at home most of the day. I meant to share this day with you, but right now I have a baby calling my name (slash crying) and must tend to her needs. I’ll share the rest of my birthday weekend tomorrow….I think.

Do you celebrate birthdays for more than just one day?

Do you ever get caught up worrying too much about what’s to come or what happened in the past?

Goals, Going Strong, Life, Parenting

Our Baby Won the Overall 5k!

06/09/2014 R.C. Liley 6 Comments

Yep, Avery and I won the entire 5k! Technically, since she was in front of me as we crossed the finish line in our first race together last Saturday, June 7th, she was the winner.

This picture confirms I was just the weird shirtless guy behind his speedy, first place princess. And check out the gap; no one in sight. After seeing the race results posted, we had a very comfortable lead of around 5 minutes!

Honestly, though, it was a very small race and I don’t think anyone else took it very seriously. My thoughts were confirmed after the race director and photographer yelled my name and asked me to run back across the finish line so they could get a picture. Yep, not kidding. Glad my lovely wife was there to take pictures!

Our day started before sunrise, but we were still very late to get on the road. The race said it started at 7:30am and we left our house at around, ohhhh, 7am. Did I mention it was about 22 miles from our home? Yeah, go us.

Going Mom, diligently drove us to the location we input on our GPS, but only one problem, the race wasn’t there! Thankfully, my mom just had the same thing happen to her and her boyfriend Paul, and they found the actual race location.

It wasn’t too much extra driving, but since the surrounding area has a history of being the bad part of town, we weren’t trying to take the full tour. The park where the race was held used to be run down and only a popular place for the homeless to hang out. But recently, it was cleaned up and is now an inviting family-friendly park with trails. The surrounding area is still less than stellar and not a place we’d go to ~~often~~ ever again.

Back to the story, we made it to the race with a few minutes to spare thanks to a faulty microphone delaying the pre-race warm-up. My mom picked up my bib which I hurriedly pinned on my shorts and situated Avery in our B.O.B. stroller.

She had her game face on and was ready to roll! Traditionally, I made quick use of the port-a-potty since I always have to use it right before a race starts, then we got in line waiting for the signal to start.

Another key indicator of the size of this race was the start was sounded off by someone saying “Ready…..go” in a low tone and without a microphone. For any decent sized race, it would’ve been hard to hear, but for this one, we heard just fine.

I’m not one to push myself up to the front of the line in races, so I just tried to find a good spot in the middle where the stroller would fit. After we crossed the start line, I began weaving around the other runners/walkers and within 2 minutes we were only behind one person.

I kept sight of the other runner, but once we hit a slight incline, he started pulling away. Meanwhile, behind me, there was emptiness, so Avery and I only had to focus on the one guy in front.

Surprisingly, when we made it to the turn around point, he stopped and just waved us on saying to turn around and just go back the way we came. Ha, he was part of the event acting as the race leader, not a participant! At that point it was just a competition with myself to see how fast Avery and I could run a 5k.

I’m happy with the sub-20 minute time as I was just hoping to get under 22 minutes. Immediately after finishing, I set out to complete my last set of 30 burpees before turning 30.

As Avery and I were basking in the glory of triumph (or maybe that was just the sun), Kelley captured our victorious moment.

As you can tell, Avery was overly ecstatic about the whole ordeal…..

Everyone at the event was warm and inviting and it was obvious the majority of the folks were all from the same church. Their church put the race together and the proceeds went towards the fight against family obesity.

This is what motivated me to sign up for the run, and I am happy we did since I obviously have strong feelings towards living a healthy life! I love being able to show our girl how to live a happy, healthy lifestyle!

We made sure to hang around for our 1st place overall medal, and thought I’d get a second medal for my age group too. By the way, another sign that a race is small is when their age group awards go from 0-6, 7-12, 13-17, and then 18-64. But, when they made it to the 18-64 awards, I was never mentioned.

Not that it was a huge deal, but I would like to get a medal if I am supposed to. Greedy? Maybe, but it’s only because I earned it fair and square. Anyway, we accepted our single medal and left to have coffee and breakfast. As we were driving with my mom and Paul in front of us, I looked at my bib and quickly realized why my name was never called for the 18-64 awards….

Notice the age of “0” and Gender of “F”? When I filled out the online registration form, there was another form for children 6 and under. I didn’t understand why since they are free, but I filled out Avery’s information just to be safe. Well, somehow they lost her name and my real information, and kept my name and her information.

I’d say that takes the father-daughter race up a notch, and someone, somewhere, might be thinking “Holy crap, that’s a fast 0 year old!!”

Such an eventful day at was only 10 in the morning! We spent the remainder of the day with my mom and Paul to celebrate my birthday since we wouldn’t see them the next day on my actual birthday.

After leaving the race, we headed to a restaurant called Brewed that serves excellent coffee from local roasters who source their beans through Fair Trade. We enjoyed ourselves there before heading out to sight see a little and then go to a local craft brewery, Martin House Brewery.

Yeah, we’re starting Avery early with the beer scene, but I don’t think she was too aware of what was going on anyway.

The entire day was great and spent in good company, but I’ll tell you about it in another post. For now, this 30 year old dad is tired and needs to rest his aging body.

Ever catch a typo or information error on something about you when it’s too late?

Do you enjoy craft beer?

Any local breweries near where you live?