I'm craving tea - help

[BiscuitStuffer]

How many cups am I allowed a day?

Apparently it's not just the caffeine that's the issue with tea becuase it has other stuff in too.

I WANT TEA!!!!

[BlueChampagne]

My daily max is 3 teas and 1 coffee (with caffeine). If I don't have some (don't always max out!) I start getting ratty.

If you like Earl Grey, the Twinings decaf is good.

Doesn't seem to have done DS any harm.

[mellifluouscauliflower]

I think giving up tea and coffee is much harder than giving up smoking. After 3 days the nicotine craving is gone. I still have never actually got the point when the tea craving goes...

[Kingsroadie]

I'd say just have one. However, if you really don't wan to to drink the caffeine, PG Tips decaf are really good I think. I drink both decaff and normal (tbh I tried to drink decaff before I was pregnant anyway if I wanted more than 2 cups a day as I felt it became a vicious circle with the caffeine cravings!)

[Unbuffy]

What about really weak black tea? Early pg and mucho cravings for weak black Earl Grey. Hmm. Usually like fairly strong 'normal' tea with milk and hate Earl Grey. Does it count as water if the teabag barely touches the cup and you can still see the bottom?

[NatashaE29]

I love tea and baby seems healthy enough so why change a habit of a lifetime.

What did they do years and years ago before health officials started scaring everyone!!??

[ruddynorah]

no i think it's the tannin that stops the iron.

[MrsMc82]

Some decaf tea is awful but i found that decaf yorkshire tea is fab....

[comeonbishbosh]

I'd forgotten about the iron absorption thing. Is that the caffeine, in which case you would be OK if you have decaff afterward a meal? I am a tea addict in general but am trying to mix in with decaf / roobish / peppermint for at least some of my cuppas.

BTW, can highly recommend Yorkshire Tea (made by Taylors) decaff... apparently it's the only decaf tea that isn't 'decaffed' using a bleaching process, and must say tastes a lot better than all other decafs I've tried.

[ruddynorah]

yes it's that it inhibits iron absorption. if you have tea too close to or with a meal, you absorb 90% less of the iron content in that food. i've been reading up, as my iron levels are very low.

[Tigresswoods]

I LOVE TEA!!!!

Currently limiting myself to roughly 4 cups a day and its fine.

Its mostly hot water and milk, right!

[jardins]

Drink it! But don't forget it blocks the iron absorbtion so be careful not to get anemic or drink your heavenly beverage 2 hrs before or after eating meals.

[bubblesincambridge]

I like decaff tea - it tastes almost as good as normal tea so try it!

[blondiep14]

I try to limit myself to 6 cups a day but am a total addict.
Decaff tea is horrid and I don't like rooibus.
I drank fewer cups in my 1st trimester (mainly because I felt so sick) but can't seem to cut down further now.
I gave up smoking with DS and rarely have a glass of wine so don't feel too bad. As said, I can't imagine many British women in the past passing up a cuppa!

[SpawnChorus]

If you feel strongly about limiting your tea consumption, you could try rooibos (redbush) tea. I never thought another hot beverage could rival Proper Tea, but rooibos is delicious! (And you can drink it like normal tea with milk).

I think it's an appropriate time for "Cup Of Brown Joy

[Bubbaluv]

You can have a few cups a day from memory. I remember thinking that I would never want to drink as many cups as was allowable.

[Tillyscoutsmum]

Have a cup...

You are supposed to limit intake to 200 mg per day - a cup of tea (8oz ?) has about 30-40 mg I think

[fatslag]

Just drink it. I drank my normal coffee ration through 2 pregnancies. Only gave up alchohol.

[abra1d]

'It's being normal tea.

[abra1d]

Decaff tea is horrid.

Just drink it. Honestly, most women in Britain have drunk it during pregnancy for centuries.

[Habbibu]

There have been some studies which suggested that green or black tea may have some impact on the metabolism or bioavailability of folic acid/folate. I really don't know how well accepted they are, nor do I know enough about the subject to assess the studies for themselves - I was just twitchy as we lost our first baby to a neural tube defect. The risk is, I guess, very small, and I did drink tea with ds, though not with dd2. Just make sure you keep taking folic acid!

[hairyclaireyfairy]

i'm limiting my tea drinking to 3 cups a day and am drinking decaf coffee, just a thought but can't you buy decaff tea?

[Bramshott]

Web research seems to say 4 cups.

[thatsnotmymonster]

I wouldn't worry.

I think my mum must have drank tea by the gallon throughout her 3 pregnancies- she does now

[Harimosbroomstick]

Feck.. I must've had 7-8 cups of breakfast tea with each of my kids.

I love tea. I never thought of it as a problem?