Coffee while pregnant- thoughts?

[ilovecatsabittoomuch]

Hi all, hope you are having a good day despite the rain.
I'm currently 12 weeks pregnant with a baby boy (and so happy!). I had a difficult first trimester and suffered from hyperemesis and severe fatigue to the point where I was signed off work and actually really struggled with all the changes going on in my body. I have found it pretty easy to give up everything you are meant to (alcohol, smoking, soft cheese etc) for the sake of bump but the one thing I just can't crack is coffee. It is literally what gets me out of bed in the morning and I would say I am now having 2 cups a day (before midday). Problem is, I have read SO many conflicting things online about the safety of coffee in pregnancy and whether or not to drink it that I just don't know what to do. If it was dangerous I would absolutely give it up no matter how hard it would be (and this would be a huge wrench for me) but there are a lot of articles saying it's fine to have 200mg (but a lot saying it's not!). Was wondering what you thought? Xx

Youre allowed 2 cups of instant coffee a day as the limit in pregnancy is 200mg a day. I had a coffee in the morning and then decaff during the day if I fancied more than one a day, caffeine is linked to low birth weight and stops certain vitamins been absorbed. Enjoy your coffee! X

Thank you for the advice all feel a lot better now! Nothing like pregnancy hormones to freak you out! Xx

I recently heard of a male barista refusing to serve a pregnant woman coffee and his moral high ground really really pissed me off.

Today I had two small coffees and one very strong cup of tea (two teabags).

If I want coffee I’ll have coffee. My consultant told me to drink at least one coffee a day to ward off migraines. I’m not drinking alcohol and I’ve come off gabapentin completely (for severe neuropathic pain).

I have to work, and I had more caffeine today than I usually do despite having over 8 hours sleep and a sleep in this morning.

If I don’t feel like coffee I’ll still try and have one a day (although sometimes I’m too sick to finish it).

There is a correlation between coffee consumption and miscarriage. Emily Oster makes the very good point, however, that there is also a correlation between lack of morning sickness and miscarriage -- so women who have more sickness may drink less coffee (I know I went off it naturally in the first trimester), rather than it being the case that caffeine causes miscarriage.

OP, post 12 weeks I've been fairly relaxed r.e. coffee - I try to only have one coffee and a couple of caffeinated teas a day, but I wouldn't stress about having say another cup in the afternoon!

I'm early days (only got my BFP on Sat!) but I have been drinking 1 cup of coffee per day - very constipated and it really helps! And an additional 2 cups of weak tea.
I'm not too worried, if it's just a little bit. Happy to be corrected and I'll get on the prune juice 😂
I had 2 cups of weak tea per day through previous pregnancy.

I'm exactly the same op. Smoking was a blast, it hasn't crossed my mind once since finding out, even when people mention it I dont feel the urge or craving.

But coffee.. I just cant stop. I did used to be on about 8 or 9 cups a day, I have massive cut that down to 2 caffeinated and a few decaf a day. But jesus decaf does nothing for me!

‘You’re allowed’

You’re allowed to do whatever you want!

There seems to be a real ‘thing’ these days around pregnancy, where people seem to relish having rules to follow, without bothering to find out the reasoning behind them. So you get people panicking because they’ve eaten a certain type of cheese and not realising it’s not the cheese in itself that’s potentially harmful. It’s the tiny risk the cheese is carrying a certain bacteria. It all just creates so much...angst.

When I was expecting my first, I arrived at MILs for Xmas with my box of fruit teas (even though they taste like dishwasher) and MIL, who had had four healthy pregnancies, was like...’you can’t have a cup of TEA?!’

It was then I realised that previous generations had probably gone through pregnancy powered by tea and the human race had survived.

Enjoy your coffee, OP. It sounds as if you’re past the risky miscarriage stage anyway

All my pregnancies I've had my morning coffee. I need that at least and then if I have anything throughout the day it's just water or a decaf tea x

Thanks so much for the advice, I have been drinking my morning coffee guilt free :) and love the book! Xx

For Emily oster fans I've just ordered the follow-up which focusses on stats for babies and toddlers- I'll report back when I've started reading but I expect it will be just as good.

I was hopping on to say just stick to NHS guides and the Oster book but I'd be repeating everyone else 🙂 FWIW I stuck to two instants a day til 12 weeks then had an occasional extra cup of tea (visiting friends and family over the winter, not much decaf to be found!). After 20 weeks I allowed myself a can of coke per day if I fancied it on top of my two instants. Will find out in a week or two of that was a bad idea but baby has ticked the boxes all the way through (midwife comments on how quietly active but chilled in terms of heart rate lately!). I'm really looking forward to a proper brewed coffee or two though! Percol or L'or decaff is nice and tbh once I've scratched the proper coffee itch I think I'll keep myself at one or two cups of real coffee a day and have decaff the rest, it's surprised me how quickly I've adapted to it as previously a coffee fiend.

There are 80mg if caffeine in red bull to put this in to perspective.

A coffee shop worker asked me if I was allowed caffeine when I was pregnant. I just about ripped his face off in my sleep deprived hormonal haze.

Follow the NHS advice and it's fine.