coffee and pregnancy

[pookie81]

Hi everyone,
Just wondering if anyone has been drinking coffee or did during their pregnancy. I have about two cups a day just cos I am finding it tough to completely give up!!! Will this cause any defects??

I´ve been have an occasional coffee but to be honest i´ve gone off it. The recommendations for Spain, where i live, is 3 cups a day but I think it´s probably less in UK. Coffee is integral to Spanish life

Yes, I had cravings for coffee in my third pregnancy. Tried to take intake down, but with drinking coke too I probably got more than my recommended dose of caffeine. My Starbucks coffee addiction came first, baby second....

Yes, I had cravings for coffee in my third pregnancy. Tried to take intake down, but with drinking coke too I probably got more than my recommended dose of caffeine. My Starbucks coffee addiction came first, baby second....

Yes, I had cravings for coffee in my third pregnancy. Tried to take intake down, but with drinking coke too I probably got more than my recommended dose of caffeine. My Starbucks coffee addiction came first, baby second....

No. 2 cups a day is fine.

Really cold coke helped my morning sickness a bit, so I did take in caffeine even though I went right off tea and coffee.

I thought that it can make your baby small. Which is no bad thing IME. (Precious First Born, gave up coffee, 10lb 1oz, Neglected Subsequent Children, didn't give up coffee... all under 9lb).

Just google: coffee pregnancy
Should come up with the recommendations.

Makes your baby small? Thank God for the coke then. Dd was 9.10, and that was quite big enough.

this is from Food Standards Agency:

You should limit the amount of caffeine you have each day, but you don't need to cut it out completely. Caffeine occurs naturally in a range of foods, such as coffee, tea and chocolate, and it's also added to some soft drinks and 'energy' drinks.

It's important not to have more than 300mg a day. This is because high levels of caffeine can result in babies having a low birth weight, or even miscarriage.

Each of these contains roughly 300mg of caffeine:

3 mugs of instant coffee (100mg each)
4 cups of instant coffee (75mg each)
3 cups of brewed coffee (100mg each)
6 cups of tea (50mg each)
8 cans of cola (up to 40mg each)
4 cans of 'energy' drink (up to 80mg each)
8 (50g) bars of plain chocolate (up to 50mg each). Caffeine in milk chocolate is about half that of plain chocolate
So if you eat a bar of plain chocolate and drink 3 cups of tea, a can of cola and a cup of instant coffee in a day, you'll have reached your 300mg limit.

Remember that caffeine is also found in certain cold and flu remedies, so always check with your GP or another health professional before taking any of these

i just switched to decaf and even now actually prefer it to full strength.

2 cups a day is fine.. read some nasty things about decaf though, it has quite toxic stuff in it and feel safer drinking a bit of the real thing..

I have a massive builder's mug of strong filter coffee every morning.

Does decaf really have toxic stuff in it?

Yes, decaf is bad for you but just in different ways! It raises your cholesterol (which normal coffee doesn't) and I think has nasty chemicals in to take out the caffeine.

I love my coffee and have found it really difficult to cut down. I limit myself to 2 cups a day but always crave a third. My nutritionist did her thesis on the link between caffeine and miscarriage, and she told me the upper limit is 3 cups of coffee a day.