We’ve all got our favorite treats.
Nothing beats going to your favorite cafe in the morning to pick up your usual brown sugar boba drink.
Or if you’re not quite a brown sugar person— wintermelon, cheesecake, matcha, or even chocolate-flavored boba, perhaps?
My personal favorite is matcha milk tea. (I love anything with Matcha!)
However, almost everything in your life changes when motherhood comes along. This includes, but is not limited to: your body, your schedule, and most especially your diet.
When you’re a breastfeeding mom, whatever you eat or drink is transferred to your breast milk, which is your baby’s main source of nutrition. This means you not only have to look out for yourself, you have to take into account the wellbeing of your little one as well.
Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that despite your tired and hectic state from staying up all night trying to get the baby to stop crying, you’ve found yourself craving for some taro milk tea. You stop yourself to ask…
Can I drink taro milk tea while breastfeeding? Is drinking milk tea even good for the baby? Will drinking milk tea affect my breastfeeding in any way? Say no more, all this will be explored within this article.
What are the ingredients of milk tea?
First, let’s examine the brief history and components of milk tea.
To say that boba milk tea is a widely popular beverage is an understatement: it’s all the rage these days!
It is especially popular in Asian countries such as South Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Taiwan, where the drink originated from. 1
Although it has been around for a long time, the hype for this sweet drink only started to emerge during the era of quarantine somewhere around 2020. The craze started through how most things get exposure in this generation… social media! 2
The sleek designs and cute aesthetics of most milk tea cups are very visually pleasing indeed, but they aren’t the only thing attracting customers: its warm, sweet taste is a sensation desired by many. But what is it composed of?
Other than the gooey tapioca pearls that milk tea usually comes with, it is of course made up of milk and tea. The type of milk and tea used depends on each store or depending on the drink’s recipe. And like regular tea, it also has caffeine as a component.
There are a variety of different flavors as well, which may or may not include: taro, wintermelon, okinawa, cheesecake, and matcha. Some flavor variations may not do well for your baby’s milk diet, so be careful when selecting one.
Is milk tea good for lactating mothers?
So… is milk tea okay for breastfeeding moms?
Tea itself is usually considered a healthy beverage with its numerous health benefits. For example, green tea is rich in antioxidants that can help improve mood and enhance cognitive function. 3
And yet, since it contains caffeine, something that pregnant or breastfeeding mothers are usually advised to stay away from, it’s not exactly the best choice for a drink.
However, you could still drink it without any severely harmful effects as it has less caffeine than coffee.
Just as long as you don’t have an intake of more than 300 mg a day, as recommended by professionals. 4
Your breast milk will only have less than 1 percent of the caffeine you consume, so if you just stick to under 300 mg of boba per day, you and your baby should be a-okay! 5
There are other health factors to take into account as well: the amount of milk, sugar, and the carbohydrates found in the tapioca pearls.
Milk itself can be beneficial when drank in moderation, but it could potentially raise cholesterol levels. (Note: Newer research in this area suggests otherwise.) 6
And though there is no lack of sugar in milk tea, it can somewhat be controlled with the sugar level options milk tea shops usually offer.
Typically, it is categorized according to percentages: 25% sugar, 50% sugar, 75% sugar, etc.
Meanwhile, boba pearls are made from tapioca starch and empty carbs. It’s estimated that a 1-ounce serving of these pearls have 95 calories and 24 grams of carbohydrates, which is something you may want to keep in mind in order to maintain a proper diet. 7
It also depends on the kind of tea used for the drink. Typically, black tea is used for milk tea because of its warm mellow flavor and how well it pairs with milk.
Other kinds of tea which have little to no caffeine are white tea, chamomile tea, ginger tea, peppermint tea, and so on.
Will drinking milk tea affect my baby?
Well, it definitely could, depending on how much milk tea you ingest.
It is strongly advised not to allow children under 12 to drink caffeine as it can affect their growth and development. The same principle applies to infants.
If you happen to drink more than the recommended amount of caffeinated drinks while breastfeeding, you can expect your baby to start acting fussy after being fed. They may become more irritable or experience trouble with sleeping.
Compared to adults, caffeine can stay in a baby’s system for way longer so these effects may last for a while. And we wouldn’t want a fussy baby, would we?
That’s why if your baby starts to show some of these signs, it’d be wise to consider minimizing your intake of milk tea and other caffeinated products.
To Sum It Up
Now to answer the big question: can I drink milk tea while breastfeeding?
Yes, it is possible and mostly harmless just as long as you have the right amount of intake.
Too much of it won’t be good for either you or the baby.
Stick to the occasional regular-sized cup (regular by milk tea shop standards, anyway) and you should be good. It’s up to you to determine what works for you and what doesn’t.
It can be challenging at times to discern what type of food or drinks you’re allowed to consume that is both good for you and your baby.
But with enough research and consideration, you should be able to find a suitable diet for you to follow!
References:
- Krishna 2017, A Brief History of Boba, Food and Wine, accessed 13 March 2024 https://www.foodandwine.com/origins-of-boba-tea-6406857
- Fortune Business Insights, Market Research Report, accessed 13 March 2024 https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/bubble-tea-market-101564
- Musial, C., Kuban-Jankowska, A., & Gorska-Ponikowska, M. (2020). Beneficial Properties of Green Tea Catechins. International journal of molecular sciences, 21(5), 1744. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21051744. Retrieved 13 March 2024 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32143309/
- Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed®) [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; 2006-. Caffeine. [Updated 2024 Jan 15]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK501467/
- American Academy of Pediatrics 2019, Alcohol and Breastmilk. [Updated 2020 Jul 17]. Accessed 13 March 2024 https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/breastfeeding/Pages/Alcohol-Breast-Milk.aspx
- Vimaleswaran, K. S., Zhou, A., Cavadino, A., & Hyppönen, E. (2021). Evidence for a causal association between milk intake and cardiometabolic disease outcomes using a two-sample Mendelian Randomization analysis in up to 1,904,220 individuals. International journal of obesity (2005), 45(8), 1751–1762. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-021-00841-2. Retrieved 13 March 2024 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34024907/
- USDA, Food Data Central. Accessed 13 March 2024 https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/2443181/nutrients