Ttc with alcohol and caffeine

[JuneySunshine]

Hello,

I'm 31, been off the pill a few months and currently hanging around in the TWW.

Just wanted to ask how everyone TTC deals with alcohol and caffeine.

I ordinarily would drink 3 cups of tea or coffee a day and have one drink 5 nights a week. This cycle I've started taking vitamins, stopped drinking completely and cut down to 2 hot drinks a day with one being green tea.

I think the caffeine is fine and not drinking has been OK so far. But it does feel a bit of a sacrifice to miss out on a pint at a country pub etc and I don't want to start resenting it/ feeling like it's making the ttc wait longer.

Just wondered how everyone else approached it and if you change you behaviour according to the point in your cycle or think being consistent is best.

Partly asking as if AF arrives might be tempted to take a week off

I'd recommend ready "Expecting Better" amazon.co.uk/Expecting-Better-Conventional-Pregnancy-Wisdom-ebook/dp/B00D434A38

What I would say is maybe swap to some decent decaf so you can still enjoy your coffees (nescafe azera is half decent unless you're a coffee snob) and cut back on the alcohol primarily in the TWW (as it could interfere with implantation) but don't deprive yourself if you feel like having a pint in a country pub etc.

Ultimately LOADS of women get pregnant despit alcohol and caffeine so all these hoops feel more like a cherry on top rather than absolute essentials.

I'm 20 cycles in and used to do all of the above until I realised there was no point being miserable the whole time!

Hey,

That's really helpful, thank you

The book looks really good and I've been reading things myself (specifically about reduced fertility after 35) which show a lot of advice or commonly held beliefs are dated or not fully reflective of the facts.

Some decaf does sound like a good idea, I think I could then deal with just one proper cuppa a day.

I think you're right about drinking too, I think I'll lay off it in the TWW but not at other times, as you say, we can't stop doing everything we enjoy otherwise it's like a ttc holding cell!

Best of luck with it

God Almighty if alcohol inhibited conception the world would be barren.

TTC is stressful enough if you ask me.

@ElspethFlashman 🤣 true!

Tbh I'm also 5kg heavier than I'd like to be so sure cutting down won't do any harm in either sense.

@ElspethFlashman haha exactly!

@JuneySunshine With my first, it was completely unplanned and I had been drinking and having my coffees like normal (a few nights out in there too).

TTC baby number two and I'm still having a couple of glasses of wine per week and coffee each morning

Like @ElspethFlashman said TTC can be really difficult and draining. It's the least we deserve!

With my first (and only) DS, I took it really seriously - switched to decaf, took 'Trying for a baby' pills 2 months before trying, no alcohol at all, vegan diet (had been vegan for 1 year already so not a change), ate pineapple core, lots of leafy greens, tried to have a good sleep pattern, tracked ovulation... the list goes on. We conceived 1st cycle.
Although I did have 3 alcoholic drinks the night before I found out I was pregnant yet had a perfectly healthy textbook pregnancy.

We're planning on TTC next month and I honestly don't think I'll really do anything special except the pills which I've already started.
I'm not planning on cutting caffeine (during the fertile window) or alcohol.

I don’t drink coffee so I’m not sure how much caffeine 3 cups of coffee is... so I’d say that if that’s about the 200mg per day recommended in pregnancy (if you’re sticking with that recommendation) then I’d try to cut down now but only so you’re not suffering withdrawal symptoms. I stopped drinking for a few months during the TWW but honestly TTC is hard enough without adding to that. It made no difference to the outcome and I got my BFP when I’d had a few drinks in the TWW. DH doing dry January also didn’t work for us, I did however get my BFP in March after DH had reintroduced beer.

Thanks @InTheNightWeWillWish
Goes to show there's not too much point worrying about the odd beverage then.

My OH is definitely getting lots of beer with the Euros being on so let's hope that works for us 😅

This is some good info!

This is our first time TTC but we have both said we will just see what happens and will not change anything to drastic like drinking and caffeine, however I don't drink much caffeine apart from 1-2 weak teas a day and then I'm
I'm decaf.

We don't want to stress about it but if nothing happens in a few months then we will look to make some changes.

I had coffee every day throughout all my pregnancies.
I drank alcohol until I ovulated, then stopped (had the occasional sip after the 1st trimester). My line of thinking was that there is no embryo before ovulation so a bit of alcohol would be okay! Don't know if that Makes much sense.