How Much Caffeine?

Hi J.
My husband takes a nutrtional shake that has helped him combat the 2 PM slump! And he practically had coffee round the clock.
J. h

Seems like you've gotten some very varied responses! I would say talk with YOUR doctor or nurse. I've read what others have said, and don't agree with a lot of it. My doc told me that research indicates caffeine is only harmful in amounts exceeding 9 cups of coffee per day. She assured me that tea, a soda once a day, a piece of chocolate, whatever... all of that is absolutely safe. I'm not a doctor, and I don't think anyone else who responded is an OB. Check with yours, and remember that the role of the placenta is to filter what is passed to the fetus. Best of luck for the rest of your pregnancy :)

Sounds perfectly fine to me! tea has a lot less than coffee and the sugar givs you a nice boost too. Add some fruit in the afternoon and that should help with the late afternoon crash. :) I used to drink a cup of coffee every day and sometimes a glass of coke. I craved fountain soda with ice. Yum! Now I drink those sweet teas from mcdonalds! sugar boost!!

one cup is plenty of caffeine, and I would stay away from soda altogether!. Is it extremely depleting to your body. are you taking enough prenatal vitamins? you can take extra b-complex vitamins for added energy. OR add a green drink in the afternoon. I would stay away from too much caffeine.

Hi! I drank half a cup of coffee a day with my 2 pregnancies. I've heard that a cup is fine. I'm sure that the Coke in the pm is fine too, but what does your ob think? I did have a midwife freak out over a single diet Pepsi I had which was on occasion - once a week or less maybe. Some MDs will say ok and others not.

Good luck!

I was about to ask this question. Did you ever ask your dr? I had sprite my 16th week, but since then I've given into sweet tea and diet dr pepper. Granted not everyday and not more than one a day. I'm now at 34 weeks!

Perhaps this is a question better asked of your OB, yes?
In my day we drank coke, sugared and caffeined, no one told us we should not.
We also smoked, had a glass of wine, all sorts of things tabooed these days.
Think , had we known, we would have asked the doc.
Best wishes and God bless
Grandmother Lowell.

My midwife told me a coke is ok it has less caffeine than coffee which has less caffeine than tea. I almost wished they had said no caffeine it would have made the temptation easier to deal with.

The guideline they gave me was 1 8oz coffee per day was ok. That is the equivalent of the caffeine in 3 cans of coke. I didn't do the 3 cans of coke and stayed at 1 as much as possible.

Good luck trying to find your happy medium.

A little caffeine, like the tea, is fine, but a daily Coke is NOT. Its not the caffeine which is problematic, but rather the massive amount of sugar and Cokes frightening ability to leech minerals from bones. You are right now making your childs bones, you don't need to be drinking something which is potentially hazardous to that process. The best way to almost guarantee a healthy pregnancy, birth and baby, is eat and drink healthy things. My midwifes rule was that for everything you put in your body, ask yourself if you would be proud to feed this thing to a 2 year old.
I also want to correct what L L said below: As far as caffeine content, tea has the least, then Coke, then coffee. She said tea has the most of those 3, totally not true.

I've heard lots of different things about the caffeine recommendations, so nothing is very clear. I think one cup of tea is fine, and probably two is as well. However, I don't want to be pushy, but I think that you would be much better off having a second cup of tea or a cup of coffee in the afternoon rather than a Coke. Coke has so much other junk in it (including a huge dose of sugar) that it probably has a much bigger impact on your system than coffee or tea. You can dissolve a dime in Coke and take rust off your car... Through both of my pregnancies I had tea (although I found that decaf often had the same psychological effect) and I cut out soda entirely except for the occasional ginger ale to settle my stomach. I'm not saying that it is necessary, but that was the answer I felt most comfortable. Good luck!

The reason they say to cut down on caffine is that it thins your blood and may cause a miscarriage. I am a big cooffee drinker and did cut down, but not out and it can be up to you..what you may think is too much or not enough. Just beware in the 1st few months this is the why

Hi J., congats on your 2nd child to be. I have 2 girls, my oldest being 8. I cannot remember drinking soda being preg w/ her, i do tho remember my ob at the time telling me to drink a coke, "it wasnt going to hurt anything". I think alot of this is pretty much a common sense thing. Switch to caffine free if you want. I agree to think as - would you give it to a young child? Of course not. Just be sensible. I cannot believe the list of food items that woman are now told NOT to consume while pregnant. Deli meat, tuna, coffee,etc. Its your body, your baby, talk to your OB & i'm sure they'll help you. Good luck!

My OB said as long as I was drinking less than 6 cups of coffee per day, I was fine. My guess is that one cup of tea and one can of coke has the same amount of caffeine as one cup of coffee, so you should be fine. Good luck with the second pregnancy!

I always drank my coffee half decaf half regular while pregnant.

From what I have read on the subject the main issue is that during the first trimester it can raise miscarriage rates if you drink a large amount of caffiene (like 5 cups a day). After that it is okay to have a moderate amount of caffiene daily.