anyone gone over their caffeine limit?....

[SaraL77]

I'm feeling guilty, hence the thread- torn between guilt and a lifelong caffeine addiction!

I have been pretty good only having 2 small cups of coffee a day (have a Senseo coffee machine -each pod has around 70-90mg of caffeine)but recently it's crept up to those plus a cup of tea. (and sometimes some chocolate as well)

now, I know, rationally I'm probably not harming my baby - I eat healthily otherwise and do all the right things and avoid all the right things etc etc. My sister in law (is Dutch- they drink lots of coffee) said her doc said she could have up to 4 cups of coffee a day and so now I'm thinking it's just the UK's strict (and probably overly-cautious) 'reccomendations' that I shouldn't be worrying about.

I'm interested to hear opinions or similar coffee-lovers situations!

[SaraL77]

should clarify - my SIL was pregnant at the time her doc reccomended that. And also, I'm 21+3 wks so well out of the 'miscarriage' danger zone.

[Cyclebump]

I feel your pain. I've even had bad headaches from caffeine withdrawal.

Decaff can be a decent substitute if you shop around and most coffee places will do it even if it's not on the sign.

I mentioned to my MW that I'm a coffee-junkie and had had loads before I realised I was pregnant (we discovered in week 7, Im now at 12 weeks), she just laughed and said the baby was probably fine and the worst thing I could do was get myself all stressed and worried about it.

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

I really wouldn't worry. I have made no real attempt to reduce caffeine intake this pregnancy, and nor did I with DS.

I have probably 4-5 cups of tea a day and a coffee 3-4 times a week which is my normal intake. I have gone right off chocolate though, apart from the odd chocolate digestive so I'm not getting any there.

UK unfortunately tends to follow the USA with it's guidelines for consumption of all sorts of things during pregnancy, and the tendency there is to be very cautious to avoid the risk of a lawsuit.
European recommendations are in general much less strict and I'm not aware that they have higher instance of miscarriage or abnormalities.

[nickytwotimes]

I drank my usual coffees during both pgs.

Guidelines are v.strict.

DOn't worry yourself.

[notnowbernard]

I think I quite possibly developed caffeine addiction in all my pregnancies in the 3rd trimester

I NEEDED Coca-Cola. Had to have it daily... (never touch the stuff when not pg)

Also cannot cope with life without a cup of coffee in the morning, pregnant or not

And chocolate guzzling a must, naturally...

SO am sure I definitely exceeded the limit. Babes were/are all fine

[emmyloo2]

God I have had a terrible time giving up caffeine. I have around 3 small cups of tea a day, sometimes 4 and a bottle of diet coke. I don't drink much coffee but when on holiday I had a cup of filter coffee every morning, but then reduced my tea.

No chocolate though.

I am so good with everything else that I figured a little caffeine wouldn't hurt. I am 33 weeks and my baby is doing brilliantly.

[WriterofDreams]

The risk with caffeine only really exists if you're a serious coffee drinker (ie more than 5 cups of strong coffee a day). Even then if your body is used to coffee it shouldn't be a problem. They tend to set the limits very low in order to be extra cautious as they know people will exceed them (so if they said four cups of strong coffee they know people would have 6 - 8).

I tried to be oh so good at the beginning and cut caffeine out completely but I got such horrendous headaches that I couldn't manage! Now I just have decaff tea (which tastes the same IMO) and one cafe latte a day. I have low blood pressure and it was recommended (years ago, before I wasn't pregnant) that I try to drink coffee every day as it raises blood pressure (only slightly, but enough to make me feel better). I'd imagine if you did develop high blood pressure your doc would advise you to go off caffeine, but other than that it should be perfectly fine. There's so little you can do when pregnant, cutting out tea and coffee just seems a step too far!

[TheCrackFox]

I'm just being nosey but when did they introduce a caffeine limit during pregnancy? My youngest is 5 and I don't recall it being a problem then.

[WriterofDreams]

God knows Fox, it seems like the list of things you can't eat or drink while pregnant gets longer every day. Most of it is just being overly cautious.

[QuiteFickleDobby]

I drink lots of coffee - In my first 2 pregnancies, years ago, there was not such a great hoo-ha about caffiene as there is now so I just drank my usual 5 0 cups a day.

DC3 is 8 weeks old - I also have a Senseo coffee pod machine and I used the decaff pods - I think I bought out the whole of Asdas stock 3 times over

[TheCrackFox]

I drank loads of coffee - I gave up booze, blue cheese, rare steaks etc. It has got to the stage where it would be quicker to give pregnant women a list of things they are allowed to eat and drink.

[WriterofDreams]

I agree Fox. There's a certain amount of panicky overcautiousness around pregnancy and I think it's actually because there's so little you can do to prevent things from going wrong. When people miscarry it's totally normal to want an explanation and in a way listing all these "dangerous" things helps to do that. But the truth is, sometimes miscarriages or complications just happen and even if you are super cautious that doesn't necessarily prevent things from going wrong. It's a scary thought.

[RooBear]

everyday I've had around 5-6 cups of tea, i'm over 35wks now and its not been a problem, don't worry too much

[SaraL77]

Interesting Writerofdreams, I have very low healthy blood pressure so maybe the coffee is good for me ;-) I didn't know it used to be reccomended for that!

QuiteFickleDobby I also use the decaf pods but only for my morning cup - I have a large coffee, 2 pods- one decaf one caf! But it's when my energy is flagging and I'm tired, I just can't reach for the decaf as, what's the point?! I also tried decaf in Cafe Nero last week and it tasted awful-really chemically -maybe it was just a bad brew.

the decaf tea I have sometimes is ok, still tastes different but maybe that's the difference between tetley and PG rather than the decaf-caff. I know it's all psychological wanting the caffiene over the decaf!

will try not to give myself such a hard time, as alibabaandthe40nappies says, its just the UK being overly strict/cautious

[Hermya321]

I managed to reduce my consumption to four cups of caffine type stuff a day, I didn't even think to include chocolate.

Well I can safely assume my limits have all been shot to hell my entire pregnancy.

I wouldn't worry about it.

[BigBoldAndBeautiful]

caffeine and blood pressure

[CardyMow]

I have a serious bit of a caffeine addiction at the best of times, but don't ever drink tea, coffee or coke...I live off red bull (the chep tescos version) all the time. In a normal day (when not pg), I get through 5-6 cans a day. When I found out I was pregnant this time, I was told to cut down to 200mg a day. Was never told that with my previous 3 dc's (youngest is almost 7yo). I have tried and tried, but cannot get it down to less than 3 cans a day. They have 30mg caffeine/100mls, and 250 mls in a can, so I've worked out I'm having about 75mg per can, times 3 is 225mg per day. I highly doubt that being 25mg per day over the limit is going to cause any harm, considering with the others, I didn't cut down at all. I'm 23+3 atm.

[WriterofDreams]

That's really interesting BB and B, I must tell my doctor!

[ButtonAzure]

I've seen that list Fox. A little leaflet 'what to eat while you're pregnant' was at my bumps to tots group.
It wasn't a very long pamflet.

Also my M/w told me probably not to drink more than 6 cups of coffee a day - surely thats just common sense in real life if you ever want to sleep.

[Lozario]

We're a tea family so I have about 5 cups a day, preggo or not - I haven't been able to drink coffee since my first pregnancy.

I was so worried about the what-not-to-eat list last time that I even avoided pre-packaged sandwiches! This time I'm only avoiding pate, (which I miss) liver (urgh!) and blue cheese (double urgh anyway!).

[PenguinNZ]

I think the caffeine rule came in about three/four years ago when I was pregnant with DS1.

At the time the research wasn't able to prove that it was actually caffeine that caused an increased MC risk or if highly stressed women, who are naturally more likely to MC happen to be the same women that consume lots of caffeine.

I haven't researched it since, but at 22 weeks I still treat myself to a full caffeine flat white/latte every so often. Gone right off filter coffee though. And I drink so much tea I've switched to decaf bags.....would hate to analyse my chocolate intake though.

[Deliaskis]

I've been going a bit over. Have probably 3 cups of tea a day instead of the recommended limit of 2, and also occasionally pop out for coffee at lunchtime (like once every other week) and don't tend to 'subtract' one of my tea allowances. So I'm going a bit over, but on the whole I'm trying to be careful about most things and to be honest if I didn't drink my 3 cups of tea I would struggle to compensate with water (leave half glasses of water all over the house/office) and so would probably get dehydrated.

They're just guidelines, and they're not the same in every country, so I think as long as you make an effort to cut down if you have loads then you're going in the right direction.

D

[FloraFinching]

yes, loads.
we have decaf at home, but not at work, when I need it most.

I went over with my last pg as well, to no ill effect.

[NoTeaForMe]

I couldn't drink tea (or coffee) at the beginning of my pregnancy, hence my name on this! , it tasted horrible and made me feel sick! I was hormonally upset about this as I am such a tea drinker! Once I got my taste for it back, around 20 weeks, I haven't particularly kept my eye on how much I have been drinking. But it's more often than not over the recommended 3 cups a day!

So far my pregnancy and baby have been fine and healthy!

Hope that helps!