Panicking about accidental caffeine consumption

[Ellebel]

I am absolutely devastated. I have just discovered that my partner has not been properly checking the coffee we keep in our freezer and has been filling up our coffee tins wrong. So through possibly my whole pregnancy (I am now 31 weeks) I have been drinking on average 3 cups of caffeine coffees a day thinking they are decaf, sometimes more.

Does anyone know if there is anything I can do now? Do I need to go to hospital to get checked for anything? Have I inevitably damaged my growing baby?

I am so upset and angry I’m not sure I can ever forgive him 😢 I have been so healthy and active throughout pregnant, tried so hard to do everything right, I have gestational diabetes so have had to be so restrictive with what I eat/ drink. He had literally one job, sort the coffee and make me cups.

Sorry for rant I am just furious.

I would have been like this when pregnant with DD as I avoided all caffeine after a miscarriage, so I do get it, but even the NHS state up to 200mg of caffeine a day is fine (so depending on the actual strength of your coffees you might not even be over that).

I’m now nearly 32 weeks with my second and honestly don’t think I could function without coffee (the joys of chasing after a 2yo whilst the size of a house!) Ironically DD was on the 25th percentile whereas this time around baby is on the 50th, so clearly no harm done.

Completely agree. Society needs to chill out a bit. This level of anxiety over a couple of coffees is the result. Pregnancy and bringing up children is no longer pleasant as you’re constantly having so many do’s and don’ts. No wonder young people’s anxiety is through the roof.

According to my medically qualified husband it’s because the general public can’t be trusted to moderate intake, so say alcohol and caffeine guidelines are zero in case pregnant women decide several Red Bull and vodkas are the way to go.

There is a section on caffeine in Emily oster’s book. The evidence against caffeine is very unclear and there is a chance that it is correlation not causation, for example older women are more likely to drink coffee and are also more likely to have a miscarriage, so therefore could be the older age and nothing to do with the coffee. This is just one example she discusses. It is interesting recommend reading it to calm your nerves . You could mention it to the midwife for reassurance, I doubt they will be concerned or do anything though.

Agree with you, @bozzabollix

My close friend's husband is a paediatrcian and he was fine with her having beer and wine during pregnancy. Her daughter is physician herself now. No health or cognitive issues.

The paranoia these days is off the charts.

I'm so curious - are these tiny espresso cups, or standard mugs (or a mix of both)? A standard mug would make it over 6L of fluid a day!

I see that in another comment you've said you only drink tea/coffee - fair enough, I know people who are the same. But there's a huge volume difference between 10 cups of tea a day and 25 coffees!

No it's proper mugs and I'd say it was more like 7 teas and the rest coffees. I've always been a big hot drink fan and as I say I don't have any other fluids, unless we're in a heatwave and I'll then drink flavoured water

@Devilsmommy WOW. Six litres of hot drinks every day would kill me. I am astonished and impressed by your ability to put them away! 😮