why is caffeine bad?

[geranium]

bottles of vanilla flavoured coke are the only thing I seem to be able to stomach right now and they do calm down my insides. Could you remind me why caffeine is bad?

[NotQuiteCockney]

I think it's not great for the baby in huge quantities. But I think it's something like, more than six coffees a day, is where it starts being a problem.

[DoesntChristmasDragOn]

Can make your baby smaller (although that's no necessarily a bad thing in my book!)

[pol25]

it inhibits your absorption of iron, I think!

[jersey]

I think I read that is causes problems with the blood flow to the baby!! I'm watching mine this time as I and pre-eclampsia last time which they told me is to do with a problem with blood flow through the placenta, so thought it was worth a go to try and avoid pre-eclampsia as DH has threated divorce if I end up in hospital for 2 weeks again and he has to look after hyper-active DS (will be 2 then) full time .

[kreamkrackers]

i always thought it was tea that stopped the absorbtion of iron, but maybe it's both.

caffeine is a drug and you should try to avoid drugs as much as possible in pregnancy as they can interfer with the development of the baby. but small quantities are alright but try to choose caffeine free when you can.

[kreamkrackers]

i dont mean stops the absorbtion of iron altogether but it stops it absorbing as well as what it should do!

[PrincessPeaHead]

If you drink masses it increases the miscarriage rate in the early stages. It does have to be quite a lot - so 2 cans of coke prob OK, wouldn't go much above this though.

Rest of it is more about not exposing baby to unnecessary stimulants, I've been having my coffee or two a day without worrying about it too much though

[tortoiseshell]

The recommended amounts are something like 8 cans of coke(!), so a couple would be fine. I'm drinking diet coke still, like you in the early stages was only thing I could drink without throwing up!

[Enid]

I have a lovely one cup of real coffee a day

I did drink coke quite often in the early days as it helped with my ms, but only 1 can every two days