How much coffee are you drinking?

[bunny85]

I drink one cup of coffee in the morning (Lavazza ground coffee made in Mocca machine) but instead of few teaspoons I would normally put I put about half teaspoon and lots of water. The result is very weak, almost see-through liquid that tastes like coffee. I also have a cup of white tea (leaves) in the evening, but again the concentration is similar.

I had a growth scan the other day due to GD and expected them to say my baby is too big as it's the usual worry with diabetes, but he is in fact on the 10th centile weight wise! I'm now thinking if this could be related to my caffeine intake?

I know guidelines say 200mg a day of caffeine is ok but I don't know if that's how much I'm drinking or more.

Any thoughts appreciated!

I have 1 cup of instant a day which I think is just under 100mg (real coffee is apparently more in quantity of caffeine, but not a huge amount). I also eat chocolate and probably have a bit more fizzy drink than I'm meant to (my system crashes and of course that's my 'go to' place). I haven't had a growth scan, but my baby has always measured around the 65%, with the MW raising no concern. Sounds to me like you are keeping within the limit, you cannot be a saint about everything. Perhaps make a list of what you generally have on a day to day bases if you're really worried, and share it with the MW. Best of luck with your baby!

The caffeine research is a bit sketchy to be honest. I wasn't hugely convinced by it.

I don't like coffee, but I am still drinking as much tea as I want. I went completely off it up to about five months then suddenly I wanted it again!

The guidelines are 200mg of caffeine. Honestly, you can have a nice, properly Brewed cup in the morning with no worries at all, don't give up on a decent cup a day plus a tea in the afternoon, that amount will not harm the baby at all.

Re: 10th centile - it's still normal :) and it isn't terribly accurate either. I think the scans can easily be out 20% each way. When they worry is when the baby deviates from its growth curve, so if you had a 10th centile baby hovering around the 10th centile the whole time, it's likely they are just small. If you have a 50th centile baby suddenly dropping to tenth, you may have issues.

they can monitor all this via things like Doppler scans to look at placental function, but if they're not worried, then you shouldn't be either.

Enjoy your coffee tomorrow morning - no need to brew it like dishwater!

Thanks to you both for responding.

Skipton, you reassured me as always :) As for centiles, that's exactly what happened, although he wasn't on the 50th, but probably about 20-30 centiles before and then dropped to 10. They did Doppler yesterday and placenta was functioning perfectly as they said so no issues there. That's what made me worry about caffeine now... I must have something to worry all the time it seems. But still don't know why he dropped! Don't know if related to the hypos I've been having with my GD...

I'm having a coffee machine Latte in the mornings which has 60mg of caffeine, and a cup of instant coffee or tea (depending on how tired I am) in the afternoon. I've occasionally gone over the 200mg a day, but I'm not sweating it. I really don't think if you stay within the guidelines most of the time you've got anything to worry about!

I'm usually having two cups of filter coffee in the morning, which is probably around the 200mg limit. I don't drink tea and if I have coffee at any other time I have decaf. Diet Coke only very occasionally. On occasion I buy the half-caff blend from M&S, but OH grumbles about it! MW hasn't raised any concerns, and all of the scans have been positive so far, so I'm not worried.

I'm not a coffee person at all, but you can't beat a nice cup of tea! I used to drink 4-5 cups of tea a day, however I've cut down to 2 cups a day and then don't worry about anything I eat, really. If I drink Pepsi Max (very rarely) or diet coke, then I tend to just have 1 cup of tea in the morning.

Come hell or high water... Noone will separate me from tea!!!!!

I think I took everything to the extreme with being pregnant as I basically tried to cut caffeine out as much as possible, I have a decaf latte in the morning and hot squash during the day. I have also cut of chocolate (although I recently found out White Chocolate is fine as there is no caffeine in it) have also given up coke etc. Have zero idea if it has helped or not - I didn't know I was pregnant until 8 weeks in and had been to Italy a few weeks before helping myself to plenty of awesome coffee...I think your intake is fine though!

I make my own mix of 2/3 decaffeinated coffee to 1/3 caffeinated; I make it in an individual cafetiere cup. So, no weak taste and just the gentlest of bumps to get me going. I usually have two cups a day.

If I'm feeling really 'challenged', then I've been known to drink a can of coke, but that's just occasional. Honest.

I've switched entirely to decaf tea, still drinking as much as I was before. I'll possibly have a can of Coke Zero in the evening and I sometimes have chocolate. Chocolate biscuits don't count

I'll have a cup of instant coffee in the morning and then maybe a can of Pepsi max later in the day, I use to be a 6 cups a day girl and thought it would be hard to cut down but have actually gone off the taste (tastes bitter and yuk) so has been pretty easy

I have 2 or 3 cups of proper tea each day and generally stick to decaff coffee, although sometimes I'll do a half and half (instant). I also often have a very passable douwe egberts decaff ground in my cafetiere at the weekends. Don't even think about the caffeine in chocolate but then again I've not been eating piles of it, and I don't have fizzy drinks.

My tea-addicted friend who had her babies 7 years ago was horrified that I would restrict my tea intake - she said she carried on as normal!

Interestingly during the morning sickness phase I went off both tea and coffee for a couple of weeks.

I do like rooibos as an alternative to tea, the vanilla one is especially nice (although has to be the dragonfly one, the Tetley stuff is horrible).

Along the same lines as thruxtons I make a cafetière in the morning- 2 cups worth but half caff half decaf. So equivalent to one cup caffeinated.

Then I usually drink decaf tea for the rest of the day.

The amount you're having sounds tiny OP, I wouldn't have thought there's any link between that and your baby's size. And as PPs have said, 10th centile is still normal!

How I wish I was drinking any kind of coffee at all, but unfortunately the early days nausea had me go right off it, and I still can't stomach it 34 weeks down the line!

Coffee is my all time favourite drink, so you can imagine the torture it's been

The very occasional coffee - very milky if at home. Other than that mostly decaff tea (Yorkshire is amazing) or decaff coffee if out, and then the odd can of diet coke, and normal amounts of chocolate (quite a lot). :)

The drop could just be the difference in measuring him, if you see what I mean?

So my little one had a big dent in his growth curve one measure (from one fundal measurement to the next) but I think it was because he'd been transverse one time and then squirmed around to go head down the next - overnight you could see the shape of the bump change! If they've used fundal then a scan it's highly likely they'd end up with different measures and if they've seen everything is ok on the Doppler then I think you're alright. They will monitor it though - and mention it if you're worried, that's what they are there for!
My little one has been measuring right at the top for all the others (eeek! Mega baby!) so I'm intruiged to see what size he is when he's out - I've put about 7-8kg on in total, which I don't think is too bad, I'm due next week and my sugars have been low every time (and I'm a shortarse!) I suspect he won't be as big as they think he is ;)

You should definitely chat to your team about the hypos. They're not in any way as dangerous for the baby as for you, and it doesn't have the same negative effects as hyperglycaemia, but it's an indication that you may need to tweak your diet/meds a bit.

I think it's normal to worry - I've certainly found pregnancy has brought out my world class worrying abilities...

I have one instant coffee during the week but I'll have two or more at weekends. I've not cut down, that's what I normally would drink.

Measuring fine at 36 weeks.

I have one medium coffee (often Nero, Leon type) and one tea a day. Possibly over the limit slightly for me. I had no idea it was linked to fetal growth- will reconsider how much I'm having. Had read about miscarriage risk in first trimester and reduced coffee intake to almost nothing but I'm back on my morning hit (until reading this anyway!).

Please don't think your one brew has caused your baby to be small. Although a lot of babies of mums with gd are big, the gd can also make some babies small (although growth scans not always accurate!)
The evidence surrounding caffeine is very sketchy and I really wouldn't worry. I drink as much tea and diet coke as I fancy x x

Yorkshire decaf tea and decaf instant coffee for me. The odd coke/ dr pepper or real coffee, maybe twice a week. Can't say I miss the caffeine at all!

I'm having one grande skinny cap from Nero a day... Same as with DS (minus the Diet Coke a day I also had then but have since given up)... Who was born weighing 8lbs and very healthy...

Coffee isn't sitting well with me, but I drink around 3 cups of tea a day. I prefer fruity soft drinks (San Pellegrino etc) to cola so that's not an issue.

Thanks everyone! Feeling better now. Lumpy, I didn't know GD can also make babies small! Going to do some serious googling now while enjoying my morning coffee guilt free now, haha.