Coffee - to have or not to have?

So, we're all pregnant again and chasing after twin toddlers all day long! It can get tiring ;-)

I should start by saying that I took my last sip of (caffeinated) coffee the moment I found out I was pregnant with the twins and never had another drop until months after they were born because I didn't want it to be in my breast milk.

Suffice to say, I wasn't so tired then. Well, at least while pregnant
There is nothing I would love more most mornings than to have one cup of coffee. I usually refrain. I talked to my OB and she said that one reasonably-sized cup a day is fine. I personally think that's too much (for me); maybe because that is what I drink when not pregnant (sometimes two cups). I have, though, been having a cup about twice a week on days when I feel like I'm dragging (other days I'll have decaf or tea). I have to say, it really makes a difference. But, I feel a little guilty, too.

So, what do you do/think? Do you drink any coffee/caffeine? What do your OBs tell you is okay? I should probably do a little bit of actual research into it to make myself feel better. I certainly don't want to do anything that might be risky.

Thanks.

 

I drank a cup of coffee daily when I was pregnant and a diet coke in the afternoon.

But then again, I also drank wine and beer too. Anything in moderation.

 

I had one cup every single morning. OB said it was fine.

 

that is seriously like weighing the costs of different meds--do the benefits outweigh the consequences?, and with something as simple as caffeine while chasing big kids too? probably! :wine:

 

Yup, I was told one cup a day. So I made it a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Mm, it was so good.

 

I was the same as you except my singleton was first...I stopped caffeine even before I conceived him (crazy!). When I was pregnant with the girls I couldn't imagine not having any so had a cup a day (my OB and midwife agreed this was fine).

I also would occasionally have an extra decaf since I LOVE coffee but the place I like to get my coffee from doesn't use Swiss Water decaffeinated so I figured it was a toss up between the damage the caffeine would do and the damage the chemicals in the decaf would cause, usually I opted for a little extra caffeine :laughing:.

 

Mid second trimester, I started having a cup a day and I never miss a day!

 

I couldn't drink coffee at all until recently and caffeine was giving me heartburn but I've started drinking caffeine again in the past few days. I believe a cup a day is totally fine. :good: My OB is okay with it... but they're usually okay with anything in moderation (except crack/cocaine )

Same here. :good:

 

I have to have a HUGE cup each morning and always have. In the beginning it made me soo sick just to smell it but I STILL drank it to get on w/ my day!

Fun fact: I was getting HORRIBLE migraines in my twin pregnancy and had to go to the ER, Peri met me there and said "You can either start Percocet now or start drinking MORE coffee!"

Bring on the coffee!

Caffeine is actually given to preemies sometimes to mature their lungs!

 

I still drink regular coffee. 1 full strength in the morning and then decaf for the rest of the morning. I rarely drink coffee in the afternoon even when I am not pregnant.

 

I've been told that 300 mg a day is safe. It depends on the content of your drink how much you can have. Starbucks obviously packs more of a punch than weaker drip coffee or diet coke.

With the twins I tried to limit my caffeine but I had a job that sometimes woke me up at night. So, many mornings I did have 1 cup to get me going. Now, I work a job where I work nights and long shifts. Sometimes it is a necessity for me to have caffeine in order to survive a long drive home. This pregnancy I haven't had much coffee because of the heartburn, but whenever I work I usually have a diet soda both on my drive to work and then on my drive home the next day.

 

I stopped drinking coffee when I found out I was pregnant with the twins. As a 2-3 cup a day drinker, I started having terrible headaches and taking tylenol every day. My doc finally said, having coffee every day is safer than taking medicine every day. So I would have one cup in the morning and maybe one in the afternoon (half caff) if I was feeling sluggish and the headaches stopped. With Sullivan (I was chasing two babies under age 1 around) I definitely had my one cup in the morning and one cup in the afternoon. I also would drink a ton of water, milk, orange juice, etc. so the only thing in my system wasn't coffee. I even had coffee when I was breastfeeding - she did fine and was never jittery or over-stimulated. I made my own coffee at home and never made it too strong which I'm sure helped.

 

I had already mostly stopped while we were trying to get pregnant (on the RE's advice), and I stayed off it for the first 3 months. There's a fair amount of evidence that caffeine in the 1st trimester isn't good, and while one cup a day is probably below the threshold to make a difference, I figured why take chances (especially after having done IVF).

I did start drinking about a half-cup a day in the 2nd tri to get me through the extreme exhaustion, and I think I kept that up for the rest of the pregnancy.

 

I drank one to two cups daily while pregnant with the twins (off and on)... my logic... my OB said 2 cups was fine, preferably one... I'm thinking to myself, well, there's two babies in there so it stands to reason that they'll split the caffeine. Hehe. One of the NICU nurses actually asked me to drink coffee WHILE breastfeeding to help them stay alert longer so they would eat more. I think she just meant any time during the day, not WHILE actually feeding them... I had fears of spilling hot coffee on my sweet babies! Not cool! Anyway, listen to your body. If it doesn't want you to have coffee, it will let you know. I didn't want coffee at all the first trimester of all three pregnancies, but by the middle of my second tri, my body was saying bring it on. :spiteful:

 

For every study you will find that says some caffeine is bad you will find another study that says caffeine in moderation is fine. I take 2 Benadryl everyday and I drink one can of Coke everyay. No worries. My OB said it was all fine.