Caffeine ?...

heidi

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Jun 10, 2008
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How do you feel about caffeine during pregnancy? What is your experience?

I love my coffee. I've reduced to 1-2 cups every day or every other day during this pregnancy... though i still feel like I'm doing something bad, bad, bad.

Opinions, thoughts...
 

Nikita

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Jun 10, 2008
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I completely cut out coffee with my first and I hated it. I'm a coffee addict and need my caffeine.

With my second, I cut down to 1 cup a day at most. It was still tough, but kept the crankyness away, well except when the hormones kicked in. :) Both of my boys are perfectly healthy, so I don't see much of an issue with it.
 

Sirk

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Apr 1, 2008
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Lita went through caffeine withdrawl after she was born and I felt like the worst mother ever. :(

I can't wait for the day we have rapid detox for caffeine. I'd be first in line.
 

Dadu2004

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May 16, 2008
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I loved caffeine during my ex-wife's pregnancy...it kept me awake to get her Peanut Butter and Pickle sandwiches at 3am. Oh wait, you're talking about the females... :goofy:
 

musicmom

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Dec 4, 2007
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Sirk said:
Lita went through caffeine withdrawl after she was born and I felt like the worst mother ever. :(

I can't wait for the day we have rapid detox for caffeine. I'd be first in line.
How much caffiene were you drinking?? Expresso?
 

musicmom

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Dec 4, 2007
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Labor is soooooooo long I have a hard time believing a baby could be in caffiene withdrawl by the time they are born. Maybe if you had drugs in your system (pain meds)
Ari...........where are you?
 

Sirk

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Apr 1, 2008
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musicmom said:
How much caffiene were you drinking?? Expresso?
Naw, I had cut down to 1 cup a day.
Lita's all sorts of diet sensitive to this day.
 

Cthru

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May 11, 2008
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Yah new to me too. I drank quite a bit of diet coke when preg.. everything was fine. Sounds like you are really having minimal amounts.
 

Ari2

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Jan 7, 2008
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musicmom said:
Labor is soooooooo long I have a hard time believing a baby could be in caffiene withdrawl by the time they are born. Maybe if you had drugs in your system (pain meds)
Ari...........where are you?
Infants can have caffeine withdrawl. And it can last for months, with feeding problems, vomiting, lots of crying, bad sleep, and other bad things. Poor Lita and Kris. :( I understand feeling bad about it, but I'm assuming (and not asking) that no one such as an OB or midwife told you of this possibility. It probably happens a lot more often than folks think and is attributed to "colic" - it's just not widely known and most women aren't on guard against it.

Read Yulia's link for more info. ;)

I would guess the more the more common worry with caffeine is the increase miscarriage if you consume even what I consider to be a wimpy amount (the exact amount isn't known, but the guess around 200 mg and over).
 

Sirk

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Apr 1, 2008
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Ari2 said:
Infants can have caffeine withdrawl. And it can last for months, with feeding problems, vomiting, lots of crying, bad sleep, and other bad things. Poor Lita and Kris. :( I understand feeling bad about it, but I'm assuming (and not asking) that no one such as an OB or midwife told you of this possibility. It probably happens a lot more often than folks think and is attributed to "colic" - it's just not widely known and most women aren't on guard against it.
You hear about the possibility, but then everyone says "oh, I did X and I was fine" so you think it's no big deal.
If I hadn't known about it, I wouldn't have felt as guilty as I did. :(
 

Anna78

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Jul 8, 2007
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I've drank tea throughout my pregnancies and my babies have been fine. However, I don't think theres that much caffeine in just 2 cups a day. I didn't realize that babies could be born with caffeine withdrawal though
 

budnkota

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Mar 28, 2008
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I worked in a coffee shop for a while, and we used to have a woman come in at least twice a day for a double shot of espresso in her iced coffee. Sometimes she'd have us throw in an extra. ugh. that poor baby inside her! I used to worry about her - I wonder if she had those problems when she was born? I'd assume she must have.

I had a little pop now and then when I was pregnant. I probably had some tea too (don't like coffee). I didn't have any problems, but I can definately see this. It makes sense. I had caffiene w/d headaches yesterday, so it'd make sense that a tiny little baby would suffer from w/d too..
 

Mindy

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Feb 20, 2008
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My cousin has been trying for a baby for awhile now, and has an easy enough time getting pregnant, but it's staying pregnant that's the problem. :( She's had 3 miscarriages and the doctor told her to cut out ALL caffeine because after you've had a miscarriage it like doubles the chance you will have another one if you don't cut the caffeine. She now drinks only green tea with no caffeine and is now pregnant and over the crucial period :)
 

Mindy

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Feb 20, 2008
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<r>Oh oh, can I be Yulia? <E>;)</E> <br/>
<br/>
Anyway, I just read this a few months ago, after doctor told us about the caffeine/miscarriage correlation.<br/>
<br/>
&lt;URL url="&lt;/s&gt;http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4159798&amp;page=1&lt;e&gt;&lt;/e&gt;&lt;/COLOR&gt;&lt;e&gt;[/SIZE]</SIZE>&lt;/e&gt;&lt;/SIZE&gt;&lt;e&gt;[/FONT]&lt;/e&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;e&gt;[/URL]&lt;/e&gt;&lt;/URL&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;B&gt;&lt;s&gt;&lt;/s&gt;Caffeine Consumption Raises Miscarriage Rate: Study&lt;e&gt;&lt;/e&gt;&lt;/B&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;B&gt;&lt;s&gt;&lt;/s&gt;Two Daily Cups of Coffee Found to Double Rate of Pregnancy Termination&lt;e&gt;&lt;/e&gt;&lt;/B&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;B&gt;&lt;s&gt;&lt;/s&gt;By AUDREY GRAYSON&lt;e&gt;&lt;/e&gt;&lt;/B&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
Jan. 21, 2008 &lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Expectant mothers have been confused for years about whether drinking that morning cup of joe could do harm to their unborn child. &lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Some previous studies have shown that consuming caffeine during pregnancy increases a woman's risk for miscarriage, while others have found that drinking just a couple cups of coffee a day doesn't pose much of a threat. &lt;br/&gt;
The latest research to examine the risk of caffeine consumption during pregnancy reveals that women who said they drank more than two cups of coffee per day had nearly double the risk of miscarriage compared with women who consumed no caffeine. &lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Research Division in Oakland, Calif., followed 1,063 women during their pregnancy and asked about their caffeine intake. From October 1996 to October 1998, researchers examined the effects of the stimulant among the women who said they never decreased their caffeine consumption during their pregnancy. &lt;br/&gt;
They found that women who consumed 200 milligrams or more of caffeine daily — the equivalent of two or more cups of coffee or five 12-ounce cans of soda — had twice the risk for miscarriage. Moreover, the study found that even those women who consumed less than 200 milligrams of caffeine daily had about 40 percent increased risk for miscarriage. &lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;B&gt;&lt;s&gt;&lt;/s&gt;Coffee: 'Toxic Stuff'&lt;e&gt;&lt;/e&gt;&lt;/B&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
"I am not at all surprised by this study," said Dr. Sherman Silber, director of the Infertility Center at St. Lukes Hospital in St. Louis. "Coffee is toxic stuff." &lt;br/&gt;
But does this study carry enough weight to finally answer the question of whether pregnant women should give up caffeine altogether? &lt;br/&gt;
Dr. De-Kun Li, primary study investigator, said that he hopes the research will convince doctors to tell their pregnant patients to avoid coffee completely. &lt;br/&gt;
"This is something you can control if you're worried about a miscarriage," Li said. "There's lots of things we can't control, but this is one thing that you can." &lt;br/&gt;
However, Li admitted that the study fails to answer the question of whether small amounts of caffeine significantly increase a woman's chance for miscarriage. &lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
(story continues in link)&lt;/r&gt;
 

Kaytee

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Apr 9, 2007
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I think there might be some correlation. But I doubt for a normal healthy person, that a cup would do much harm. Now if we are talking about downing a whole pot of coffee and then gargling with some mountain dew, it would suprise me if it didn't have an effect