Now pregnant women can't drink more than 2 cups of coffee

[blithedance]

Did I just hear that correctly on the radio? Only 2 cups of coffee or 4 of tea?

Apparently the risk is of low birth weight.

That's what I was told when I was pregnant in 2006.

I don't remember the reasoning behind it. I had gone off caffeine anyway, so it didn't seem like a big deal at the time.

Just been told this by MW this morning as am 9wks with no.4. Apparently you are not supposed to have more than 300mcg of caffeine a day and per cup of coffee is supposed to be 100mcg
tea and cans of coke are about 50mcg

The next thing we'll be back to being 'confined' from conception to 6 weeks after birth.
Another day another 'finding' .
A lot of good has come from some of them but when I read them I somehow always see the words:
'think' 'suggest' 'could' 'might' 'if' 'indicate' - very rarely see 'prove unequivocally'.

Ah yes but they can drink alcohol now, so it is not all bad.

I'm not suggesting anyone ignore this advice but I drank far more coffee than the recommended limit when pregnant with DD1. She was 8lb 8.5oz. I wonder what on earth she may have been if I had abstained.

I'm 11 weeks and gone off coffee and even coke since about 7 weeks (all very un-Cote).

I was told (in 2003) not to take in too much caffeine because I could end up with a hyper baby who had trouble sleeping!

Well DS was a whopping 9lb 12 so I'm upping my caffiene limit - I am of course joking.

However, if I fancy more than one cup of coffee per day (extremely rare anyway) I'm not going to stop myself.

Well there wouldn't be an ethical way to prove anything unequivocally, would there?

I don't think it's something to fret over, just to bear in mind. And it's not new - I was told it in 2006.

The random things worried me more: 'don't eat soft cheese' and so on, but advice on alcohol, smoking and caffeine just seems to me to be saying 'look after your body'.

Having said that, I have not yet been pregnant through the 'no alcohol' regime. I may well have moments of weakness.

I was told to keep cafine intake to a minimum when I was pregnant with DD in 2006/7. The advice was two cups of coffee or 4 of tea then too.

I became a bit of a tea addict when pregnant with DS4. He was only just short of 9 lbs (biggest of my 4 babies). Thank goodness for caffeine, I reckon, he was big enough for me!

Aw ffs.
All pregnant woman shoud be kept in a holding pen for the duration where they can be kept an eye on. Everyone knows they are not to be trusted.

I think people really forget that caffeine is a drug. Just because it's widely used with no legal controls it doesn't mean we shouldn't treat it as such. Personally I used to love strong black coffee but went off it the minute I fell pregnant, even the smell made me barf. Only a few weeks ago (DS is 11 months) did I start drinking it strong and black again.

If you really can't stop drinking tea/coffee in large quantities when pregnant than just stick to decaf, it's not that hard.

Yes, it's not the most important issue in the world but I do find it a little strange that people are so dismissive. It's a purely cultural thing.

For example in Romania coffee is seen as something that only adults drink and it's controversial if a teenager decides to start drinking it (almost same implications as alcohol). A woman I spoke to giggled about leaving home at 21 and going to college and drinking her first coffee and smoking her first cigarette!!

I drank coffee and cola when I was pregnant with DS1 and he was 8lbs 13oz so gawd knows how big he would have been had I completely abstained. I've been drinking a few cups of coffee at work every day since before I even became pregnant and baby #2 shows no signs of being a tiny baby, quite the opposite in fact.

I could get on my high horse about 'studies' like these but I won't because they're not worth the time or effort for either me to spout off about them or you to read them. Needless to say, I'm in the "things in moderation, trust your instincts and common sense and don't pay too much heed to old wives' tales or bollocks studies hyped by the media" camp.