Caffeine during pregnancy - barista freaked me out!

[fionnthedog]

I'm 27+3 with my first and (obviously!) freaking out about a lot of things, but I wanted some advice r.e. a comment by a coffee barista which is bothering me.

Pre-pregnancy I was a coffee fiend! Since being pregnant I have cut my intake back to one caffeinated coffee per day (either from the coffee shop at work or from my tassimo machine). This should be well below the 200mg per day NHS guidelines.

When picking up my one skinny caff cappuccino today the barista said upon seeing my belly (meaning well I think), oh, sorry was this supposed to be decaf?

Am I being unwise in my coffee intake? I love real coffee, but obviously don't want to do anything to put the little one in harm!

Help please!!! xx

One coffee per day is totally fine.

A tall cappuccino from Starbucks has 75mg of caffeine, a grande has 150mg, both according to their website, so well below the recommended maximum and not at all worth worrying about. Enjoy!

One coffee a day is fine! The barista probably gets lots of pregnant people asking for decaf drinks, that's all.

Sorry just noticed that was the US website, both drinks have 150mg caffeine according to the UK one.

He was probably just checking, I had a bar man refuse to sell me a small glass of champagne when I was 8 months pregnant, my dh let me drink his instead! all my dc are fine by the way, and I'm not a raging alcoholic either :)

It's fine, honestly.
I was surprised by the number of people who assumed I'd gone completely caffeine-free when preg with my first. Felt a bit bad saying em, actually no I'll have a real coffee thanks!

I don't think it's people being judgy as such, it's just all of this no-alcohol no-caffeine no-anything is such a pregnancy media narrative that people feel vaguely surprised when pregnant women actually just go on as normal to a certain degree!

Anyway, I empathise because I'm a coffee fiend too and if I get pregnant again I'll really have my work cut out reducing down to one a day :)

Emily Oster has a good presentation of the research surrounding coffee consumption in 'Expecting Better'. Basically, you're fine! Coffee dude has probably just got told off before for making a caff when it should have been decaff.

Absolutely fine. I don´t drink coffee but Diet Coke saved me during HG and all seems good so far! I was having 2 cans or so a day or a large one from McDonalds to get me through the drive home.

If you were knocking back 10 expressos a day then perhaps you might want to curb it but one Starbucks is not going to hurt your baby.

I've cut down from 4 to 1 and i sure as hell aint cutting out that last one. It's bad enough that my beloved cheese and wine are both off the menu!
Plus, i'd be completely constipated without my 'one' coffee..sorry, tmi :)

Don't stress, if your baby is happy at 27 weeks, it just goes to show you're doing everything right. Just an over zealous barista i would say! I have 1 proper coffee a day too, really enjoy it and have no intention of giving it up.

The main issue with high levels of caffeine is mc risk and you are past that stage now. You are below high levels with one a day anyway.

I drank coffee in moderation (2 cups of instant a day, every day) and ate loads of chocolate during my pregnancy and my baby was just fine. In fact she is very chilled out. Enjoy your small pleasures!