Where do you all stand on caffeine consumption?

[LizzeyBenett]

Just wondering if you have all continued to drink tea & coffee obviously within reason . I had my first cup of coffee since my BFP last week and it was delicious but not sure it's worth it . Took me 2 years to get pregnant after a MC I'm very nervous.

I've given up coffee completely which to be honest wasn't too hard as even the smell of it makes me feel sick currently! I will have the odd cup of black tea if and when I feel like it though.

One cup of coffee every day for me (from my coffee machine so stronger than instant). If I only had instant I might treat myself to 2 cups.

The NHS guidelines are usually over cautious, so I feel comfortable sticking within them.

I have one diet coke a day. Any other drinks are non caffinated. I'm suffering from horrific constipation, though, so I might switch the diet coke for a low caffeine coffee, and that might help me a bit.

I cut out my normal tea consumption and limited caffeine to occasional (maybe 6 the whole pregnancy) glasses of coke while socialising. It helped that I completely went off tea! I don't drink coffee.

I completely went off coffee and tea during both pregnancies. Just didn't fancy it at all, bizarrely, and I didn't get caffeine withdrawal symptoms. When I have previously stopped drinking tea or coffee I've had dreadful headaches so it was and is a surprise to me that they didn't reappear when I stopped drinking tea and coffee during pregnancy.

The only time I started to miss the effect of caffeine was when I had low ferritin levels. I also found myself craving less healthy foods during that time. Once I went on iron tablets, and my ferritin levels started to increase, I found that stopped.

I have, however, been missing sushi, rare steak and red wine. I'm due in early/mid December so I'm looking forward to Christmas Day!

I had the odd cup of tea or coffee near the beginning of my pregnancy(like maybe one a day) but I'm at 19 weeks and stopped completely now. Mainly because I just don't fancy it any more at all! Crazy as I used to love my coffee.

As others have said, I think as long as you follow the guidelines it's fine though.

Went off the smell & taste of coffee and tea until about 6 months or so into pregnancy. Since then I've had a cup of coffee in the morning and then one or two cups of tea throughout the day, sometimes a coke.

I just switched to decaf. I never got the ‘hit’ from caffeine so it wasn’t a big deal. I’m breastfeeding now and still drink decaf, I can’t tell the difference anymore.

I still drank 3 cups of tea when breastfeeding. Didn't bother my son. He still slept well

Im nearly 12 weeks and had no idea this book existed. Im gonna get OH to read too, its fascinating so far, Im with her on the data reassurance, give me numbers!

@Screwballs I didn't read it until about 18 weeks, I wish I'd heard about it earlier, would have saved me a whole heap of worry! On the plus side I'm currently on my babymoon at the moment and I enjoyed a guilt free glass of wine yesterday so it's paying off!

Thats the thing, I decided i'd never live with the guilt if my child gets FAS so im really not bothered about drinking whilst pregnant, BUT Christmas day, I might have one? And it'd be nice to do that guilt free!

Same with coffee, Im happy having one full fat coffee and then decaf for the rest of the day, but I accidentally had a coke last week without thinking about it until after and at least if I know that isnt a habit, its not something I need to sweat about :)

Baby Loss Charity “Tommy’s” recently updated their advice off the back of new evidence:

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

@Screwballs yes I'm already looking forward to my Christmas morning glass of bucks fizz (will probably be the next and last alcohol this pregnancy)!