What’s your caffeine intake? *realistic*

[FruitLoopzz]

How much caffeine do you ladies intake daily? Including fizzy drinks, tea, coffee and even chocolate?

No judgement. Just interested x

One cup of tea and maybe half a bar of chocolate so 80mg? On a tired day 2 cups of tea so a bit more.

I cut my intake down early last year, went cold turkey which was horrendous.
Now I have 1 strong filter coffee each morning, later in day either a decaffeinated coffee or a green tea. The odd glass of Pepsi, probably too much chocolate lol. Not sure how much caffeine but certainly not excessive.

Expecting Better has a good section on caffeine so I work roughly with her calculations.

I have two instant coffees a day (one in the morning, one in the evening). A multipack chocolate bar maybe a couple of times a week and I know later on if/when sickness starts I'll probably have a glass of coke at lunch time. I drink a few more decaff (I know they're aren't zero caff) during the day.

Whilst pregnant with twins?

Couple of cups of decaf
Maybe one Diet Coke
Chocolate........A LOT!!!

I have a cuppa tea in the morning, a coffee mid afternoon and a cuppa before bed. I used to drink loads of coffee so this is a massive cutdown for me. Not a fizzy drinks drinker, I'm all about those green machine green juices at the moment 🤷🏼‍♀️

Expecting Better had a really sensible chapter on this.

I can’t function first thing without my strong filter coffee, I have to commute then work 9 hours. So I have that first thing.

Then probably two cups of tea to get me through until home-time. Occasionally a square or two of dark chocolate, but I’m not a huge fan of chocolate anyway.

No fizzy drinks at all.

Before I was pregnant I would drink daily:
2 or 3 cups of caffeinated tea
1 or 2 cans of cherry coke

When I was pregnant this changed to:
1 or 2 cups of decaf tea
1 can of cherry coke most days

Through lockdown I lived on cherry coke and cups of tea!

I've recently changed my diet and usually drink:
1 cup of decaf tea daily
1 can of cherry coke per week
The occasional can of cherry Pepsi Max

I have 3 cups of tea a day (down from 6!) and maybe the equivalent to half a normal size bar of chocolate.

I try to only have 2 cups of tea but most of the time it’s 3!

I have no idea how many mg that is. I haven’t looked.

I'm having one cup of real coffee a week. Have switched to decaf coffee and tea, and have never drunk fizzy drinks.

Probably eat a small amount of chocolate every two or three days (this is actually more than normal; I’ve developed a sweet tooth!).

I’ve had two MCs though, so I am being cautious with my coffee intake.

I drink one cup of (strong) coffee in the morning. No fizzy drinks but shed loads of chocolate! I’m not worried.

When I was pregnant I had a cup of filter coffee (black) most days, occasional chocolate. No fizzy drinks.

I didn't drink coffee at all in my first trimester as the thought made me gag.

Normally I drink/eat exactly the same except 2 coffees a day.

I've cut caffeinated drinks out completely cause I've got such a sweet tooth at the minute! On days were I'm not scoffing chocolate I'll have a decaf tea x

Thanks for sharing, I have a tea in the morning to begin my day, I’m loving Lucozade as it helps with my indigestion, I also love any other drink with fizz. So I’ll say 2/3 glasses of fizzy. And one chocolate bar a day. Is this too much?

I’ve cut it out completely as I just thought I might aswell. I don’t like tea, coffee gives me a headache which I didn’t want to deal with in pregnancy if I could avoid it. I do have a fizzy drink every now and again but I’ll get one with no caffeine like Fanta xx

I went off the taste of tea and coffee until about 16 weeks so nothing until then really other than a few sips of coke here and there as it was all I could keep down.

To be honest I just have what I want now, sometimes it might be 5 cups of tea in a day and other days it might only be 1.

@FruitLoopzz I think you'd be well well within the recommendations on that- I'll dig the book out later but I remember tea has less caffeine than coffee and milk chocolate is also surprisingly low. If your fizzy drinks aren't caffeinated you'd have to eat a seriously big chocolate bar every day to be worrying.

Ice cold fizzy drinks really helped me too, I switched type every week or so last time for some reason!

@FruitLoopzz Tommys has a calculator where you can work out if you're having too much:

www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/calculators-tools-resources/check-your-caffeine-intake-pregnancy

Bear in mind it's based on the 200mg/day recommendation, as others have said Emily Oster makes a case in Expecting Better that you can actually have a fair bit more than that.

I have a cup of tea everyday, very occasionally 2, and usually a small glass of coke zero in the evening when I get a bit of indigestion or feel a bit nauseous. Chocolate usually a few bites a day in the form of biscuits, haven't had a bar in a while as try not to keep it in the house otherwise it would be a lot more!

Luckily since pregnancy I've really gone off coffee, I used to be a coffee fiend before, drinking 3 to 4 cups a day. I'll occasionally have a flavoured Starbucks coffee or a mocha from a cafe but always get decaf even though I probably don't need to.

I use the Tommys calculator as a guide.

I have one cup of instant coffee a day, maybe a cup of tea at lunch if work is particularly bad. Usually have a kitkat a day too! Rest is all decaffel tea, herbal teas or water.

When I mentioned this to my GP and asked if it was too much she actually laughed at me (not in an unkind way) and said it was fine so I reckon yours is too @FruitLoopzz

I cut it out completely until around 12 weeks...now I'm 14 weeks and for the past 2 weeks I've been having around a half cup of milky coffee a day just to stay awake for work. Not really having tea or chocolate and no fizzy drinks x

2 coffees in the morning, instant.

One or two teas later in the day.

A small amount of chocolate if anything.

Double espresso to start the day and then it's on to decaf, caffeine-free herbal tea or hot lemon water with ginger. No sodas or energy drinks but maybe the odd nibble of chocolate.
My midwife is cool with it, which is great, because I don't think I'm a very nice person if I don't have my morning caffeine hit!

I definitely have a caffeine problem...

I probably have 3 instant coffees a day (substitute one for a tea/filter or flat white depending on the day) and perhaps a couple cubes of dark chocolate.

I know it's too much but I feel really rough without it. I did cut it out completely in the first trimester through nausea but then tiredness and headaches hit hard in the second trimester and I'm back to it. I used to drink 5+ cups a day.... definitely NHS work provoked.

Most days one proper tea first thing (then onto yucky decaf). Lots of chocolate. Some days I drink diet coke (a big glass or two). Two or three times a week I have a medium latte from a coffee shop. In my first trimester I couldn't stomach any caffeinated drinks. I've read Expecting Better too. I would go back to regular tea all day but I had a lot of caffeine in my first pregnancy and carried on while breastfeeding and my firstborn was a terrible sleeper! So I want to try breastfeeding on less caffeine this time.