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Confused about caffeine guidelines

9 replies

redandyellowandpinkandgreen · 11/03/2010 20:48

The Food Standards Agency says 2 mugs of tea is the limit but other sites seem to suggest you can have more. I'm not worrying about it too much and some days have 3 mugs (woohoo I'm a rebel!) but do I take the Food Standards Agency as having the most up to date information about all 'safe' foods in pregnancy?

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FatSeal · 11/03/2010 22:05

FSA is the one that makes the guidelines so I would follow their advice.

Found a link outlining the various amounts of caffeine in drinks here
According to them a cup of tea is approx 75mg caffeine, with a daily limit of 200mg you go slightly over that with the 3 cups, but as you say, a rebel!

Also, this 200mg limit is lower than the 300mg limit that was in place when I was pg with dd, so 3 cups was OK 5 years ago! I don't think I changed my tea-drinking habit much for that pg and had probably 4-6 cups a day anyway.

A couple of mcs later and I took it all a bit more seriously, converting to decaf tea (recommend the Co-op 99 tea, big blue box!)

My Mum really freaked when she heard about the caffeine limits and reckons she drank tons of coffee when pg with me. Could explain why I'm so irritable

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Emster30 · 11/03/2010 22:17

Can I just add that Tetley's decaf is minging. Seriously minging. Do you think they will let me take the box back? I've only used one bag...

I have a cup of instant coffee and two cups of tea a day - I try to stick to one caffeinated tea but it normally ends up being two. I don't worry too much.

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14hourstillbedtime · 11/03/2010 22:42

I am powered by tea... seriously, if I didn't have my three (sometimes four...) cups of tea a day, I would never make it beyond about 3pm!

However, this is second preg, and I

a) have an active toddler to take care of by myself for between 10 and 12 hours a day (week days) and

b) think a lot of this stuff is old bollox... as long as you're not mainlining heroin, your baby is probably doing just fine and hey, if you stress too much about it, the stress hormones are probably even worse for the fetus than the odd bit of caffeine!

(And for what it's worth - this baby is measuring a bit larger than average for dates, heart rate perfect, my weight gain has been textbook and blood pressure nice and low)

Emster - agree with you completely about decaf teas!! YUCK!!!

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CardiCorgi · 12/03/2010 10:03

I asked my doctor and was quite surprised when she said to just carry on as normal, didn't give me any limits at all. I've cut down a bit, just to be on the safe side, I can go without coffee, but take away my morning cup of tea at your peril!

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midori1999 · 12/03/2010 13:14

I went right off tea and coffee when I had bad morning sickness, and haven't really got back into it. I do fancy the odd cup though, but due to complications with my pregnancy it is suggested that I avoid caffeine as much as possible, I think mainly as it is a diuretic. So, I have switched to decaff tea, despite only having the odd cup. My hubby bought Asda'a own and it is fine if made strongly.

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redandyellowandpinkandgreen · 12/03/2010 17:14

Thank you, I guess it is better to cut down otherwise I just get the guilts!

I have bought some Yorkshire Tea decaff to try and extra stocks of my usual spiced apple and camomile tea. I think I'll just have a couple of 'normal' teas in the morning and then switch.

I would always say I don't have much caffeine but looking at it properly I do have quite a bit, I hadn't realised tea had so much in it before.

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LilQueenie · 12/03/2010 17:27

Im a bit confused too so I cut out coffee completely as well as fizzy juice. The only tea I drink is mint or peppermint. Ovaltine has tons of nutrients though so that is a favourite in our house.

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brockleyD · 12/03/2010 20:53

I love tea! There is no way I am giving it up like so many of my friends did. I am drinking 2 mugs or 3 small tea cups a day and I think it fine, its not as strong as coffee and most people have it with milk anyway which dilutes it. Its hard enough giving up wine and being tired all the time and look at all those women who don't even know they are pregnant until 8-10 weeks who drink and smoke etc and baby is fine, we worry too much!