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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Caffeine worries

22 replies

hannahlucyellen · 07/03/2014 19:01

Evening all,

I had 2 cups of tea and a diet coke throughout the day at work. This is fine and my usual in take.

A colleague then went out and bought me a decaf latte, but I am convinced by the way my body has reacted it was not decaf… This may sound ridiculous but I am freaking out about the 'overdose' effect of caffeine on my body and the baby, am nearly 20 weeks, and had a missed miscarriage 8 months ago…

Anyone had a similar experience?

Hannah x

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Antidote · 07/03/2014 19:10

It will be absolutely fine for one day!

I'd be more worried about the artificial sweeteners in the diet coke.

MrsCosmopilite · 07/03/2014 19:14

A one-off is no problem. I'd ditch the diet coke though, as that's just full of horrible stuff.

TeenageMutantNinjaTurtle · 07/03/2014 19:14

You are fine.

You can have up to 200mg every day... A cup of coffee is about 100-140mg and a can of coke is 40mg.

So you've gone a little over today but just take it easy tomorrow.

Original poster

hannahlucyellen · 07/03/2014 19:17

Thanks guys, I'll be ditching the diet coke then! To be honest I'm thinking of ditching the caffeine all together, it's not worth the worry!!

Is it a cumulative effect that's detrimental then? If I drank a lot day after day rather than a 1 off?

H x

OP posts:

PenguinsEatSpinach · 07/03/2014 19:23

You will be fine.

The studies on caffeine are long term, high level intake. And in any event they are at the weak end of the spectrum in terms of risk. I would try and relax a little, or it's going to be a long nine months....

Standinginline · 07/03/2014 19:26

A one off will be perfectly fine. When they give limitations during pregnancy it more often than not means don't go overboard. You're allowed upto 200mg a day when pregnant. When I asked the midwife about whether I could continue drinking my redbull ,she looked at me like I was mad ,and said that's fine.

Standinginline · 07/03/2014 19:27

My ONE can of Redbull ,lol ,not like twenty cans !!

lljkk · 07/03/2014 19:33

Oh gawd, I must have had like 300-400 mg /day in some of my pregnancies. I forget what bad effects that is supposed to have, but they didn't happen.

Original poster

hannahlucyellen · 07/03/2014 19:40

Thanks for helping to put it in perspective Ladies- I shall commit to worrying less, as it will be a long 20 weeks! I need to remember that some pregnant ladies do all sorts (smoke, drink, take heroin (in extreme circumstances) and can go on to have normal babies, so my extra coffee is small fry!!

:) x

OP posts:

Strongecoffeeismydrug · 07/03/2014 20:03

I didn't know I was pregnant until I was 23 weeks and I'm a coffee adict.
I must drink at least 10 mugs full a day ( I cut down to 2 as soon as I found out I was pregnant).
So my poor little girl had a lot of caffeine when she was developing inside .
She's almost 5 weeks old and fast asleep on my knee with no lasting effects from her caffeine intake .

squizita · 07/03/2014 20:17

They actually say on the NHS website it's no biggie if you go over 1 day. It's vast amounts, every day, which slightly increase risk in some women. So it will be fine! :)

HelenHen · 07/03/2014 22:13

If you're really worried, there are some really nice decafs out there. I switched for dc1. This time I have a toddler to run after so I'm keeping my morning coffee

moomin35 · 09/03/2014 11:03

I've been having 3 cups of tea a day and on top of that sometimes coke and chocolate so according to the guidelines I am going waay over. Im just hoping theres not too much truth in the guidance :-/

squizita · 09/03/2014 11:25

Moomin don't worry! Cut down if it makes you feel better- but you're not way over by far. They're talking about several real coffees plus coke when they're talking risk: tea has lower, chocolate has tiny amounts.

I drink redbush partly on principal that decaff tea/coffee companies are targeteting pregnant women with what I call 'fluffy scaremongering'. They can p*ss off. Like decaff is required equipment for a bump.

The vast, vast majority of losses are chromasomal or something beyond the woman's control (e.g. a blood condition or thyroid) which thankfully usually gets picked up.

There was an unhelpfully reported survey recently about how 25% were 'avoidable' but this was a clinical study: the 'avoidable' part (to the scientists) was mostly comprised of getting pregnant ages 37+, have very chaotic sleep-free lives and/or undiagnosed thyroid, APS, diabetic etc'. I.e yes it could be avoided technically if we all became nuns at a certain age or we were tested for every medical condition first- but it wouldn't even increase live births as the solution would be "you've got a higher risk, never get pregnant".
The proportion of losses that can be firmly attributed to caffeine are very very low: it was found that women who use a lot of caffeine have a slightly higher risk BUT they didn't cross reference this against other factors.

A very long winded way of saying don't worry .

If anyone things 'easy for you to be blase' ... I've had 3 losses (one a partial molar with a chemo scare) so I know exactly the fear and self blame hence I arm myself with facts!

moomin35 · 09/03/2014 20:12

thanks Squizita, that's reassuring to know :-) x

ElleDubloo · 10/03/2014 09:47

Truth is, many people drink caffeine during pregnancy and have no problems. Also, many people drink alcohol and take drugs during pregnancy and have no problems. It's just an increase in risk. Conversely, many people behave perfectly but still end up with problems.

If you exceeded the safe limit of caffeine as a one-off, don't worry about it too much. If you want to minimise the risk of complications, then don't do it again.

Evie2014 · 10/03/2014 10:21

Love the post squizita. I'm going to copy it and quote it at people- sums up nicely what I have been trying to explain succinctly for weeks. (Risk tiny, plus actual risk called into question because the study didn't control for nausea which would have reduced coffee intake in participants anyway.) It drives me INSANE when people tell me I should be drinking decaf.

The coffee thing is fast becoming the new judgy-pants thing to say to pregnant women. I've had so many people say "I hope that's decaf!" when they see me with my Costa. One of these days I will respond with, "I hope you run headfirst into a fucking tree!" (getting grumpier as getting heavier).

Jess03 · 10/03/2014 11:13

I'm planning to enjoy a proper coffee once I get out of the first trimester - the evidence is it's worse early on, at 20 wks I wouldn't worry.

ladythatlunches · 10/03/2014 17:51

I stopped caffeine all together for my pregnancy. opted for decaf tea and a treat of decaf coke every now and then.

but once I started drinking it again it made me ill so don't have it at all now

ithoughtofitfirst · 10/03/2014 19:29

I probably had about 8 cups of

hubbahubster · 10/03/2014 19:52

I switched to redbush a while ago because I have BP issues and needed to cut my caffeine intake. But I still have a coffee or tea if I want it. Can't stand this judgy 'I hope that's decaf' nonsense you get while pregnant!

ithoughtofitfirst · 11/03/2014 07:19

Ha pressed post too early. I wouldn't worry i have somewhere between 4 -8 cups of tea a day. Did last pregnancy too and it was fine :)

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