You’ve probably heard the bad news by now… being pregnant means giving up those Lattes and Cappuccinos for (at least) nine months. Is there any truth behind the rumor that you have to cut caffeine from your pregnancy diet? Well, believe it or not, there is some debate regarding this question.
Here’s the deal: many experts agree that it’s safe for pregnant women to consume a moderate level of caffeine. The trouble is that nobody has bothered to define the term “moderate.” You see, all of this “no caffeine while pregnant” business originally came from a study conducted in 1980.
The study found that giving pregnant rats caffeine impacted the foetus. However, similar studies conducted on pregnant women showed no connection between caffeine and a damaged foetus. The other problem is that a rat is much smaller than a human, which means that a pregnant woman would have to consume quite a large amount of caffeine in order for it to impact her pregnancy. Still, some studies show a possible connection between a large amount of caffeine consumption and low birth weights. Out of all these studies, it’s hard to come up with the right thing to do for you and your child. In the end, most experts recommend that you limit the amount of caffeine that you consume.
In short, if you are used to downing more than five cups of coffee per day, you should cut back that number to one. If you happen to be addicted to your morning cup of joe, you probably won’t harm you or your baby. Then again, you could just get used to decaf (there’s still a small amount of caffeine in decaf, though it is a far lesser amount), or you might consider stocking up on some calming tea that doesn’t contain any caffeine.
Many moms-to-be however want to be 100% on the safe side and completely cut any caffeine from their diet – no matter what the studies say. And that is the recommendation we really like to make. You want a healthy baby – don’t risk baby’s future. Nine months is not a big deal compared to dealing with problems after you give birth for a lifetime.