Caffeine and Pregnancy
My wife was crazy about watching caffeine while pregnant. Although she was never a big coffee or Diet Coke drinker in the first place, she made sure she had none when pregnant. However, one of our best friends drank Diet Coke throughout her pregnancy, and her doctor thought nothing of it.
There is new evidence to suggest both of us may be correct. From this article in Sleep Review, citing a study mentioned in the January 2007 issue of bmj.com (British Medical Journal):
"The study finds that there is no evidence that moderate levels of caffeine consumption during pregnancy lead to a greater risk of premature births and underweight babies, despite prior warnings from some public health officials."
Prior research was pointing in both directions, so this study was designed to set the record straight.
"Here Danish researchers monitored the pregnancies of 1,207 healthy women who drank more than three cups of coffee a day -- a high caffeine intake -- and who were less than 20 weeks pregnant. This large group was divided randomly into two equal groups who received either caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee.
The final results showed that there was no real difference in either the length of pregnancy or birth weight between the two groups."
However, I would not break out the espresso machines for an afternoon jolt just yet. There is a need for a longitudional study looking at these kids over time to see how they develop.
Related Topics:
Technorati Tags: Sleep Doctor, caffeine, pregnancy
9 Comments:
I am pregnant and have low iron and was told to watch my caff intake because caff does not allow ur body to absorb the iron only aout half so in my case when my iron was so low caffine was a bad idea butmy sister is also expecting and drinks caffine all the time and when she brought it up to her doc he said it was only a concern when low iron was involved.
I am a 21 yrs old and 6 months pregnant and have been drinking caffine throughout my entire pregnancy and my doctor thinks nothing bad of it i guess it is just what you believe. and what you want to chance while pregnant. I also drank caffine with my last baby and she was a perfectly healthy 7lb.2oz. baby girl due at 38 wks.i guess it depends on the lady and her morals.
Just because there are no human studies that indicate a link between caffeine and birth defects does not indicate that it is safe to drink caffeine during pregnancy. Caffeine has addictive properties and is a stimulant. Often, studies are conducted first on animals and when potential defects are noted, they never reach human studies. Just as for testing medication on children, results are extrapolated from adult studies because ethic boards will not allow these to be conducted on children. So to be on the safe side, I would truly recommend staying away from caffeine during pregnancy.
I am currently 9 weeks pregnant and drink no more than 2 cups of coffee a day. I quit with my first pregnancy only to go through severe withdrawels and have migraines every day. I was recommended by my doctor to have a Coke once a day. My son was born at 40 weeks at 8 pounds 2 ounces and is perfectly healthy. From what I've been told, 2 or less cups of coffee a day is not going to do anything...
moderate caffine usage is ok however they have found that excess caffine has been linked to adhd later in life. a coke a day is ok.
I am almost 26 weeks pregnant and drink maybe 1 to 2 diet cokes a day. The doctor told me not to worry about it.
Although caffeine is ok to have, do we really know how much we are intaking aday? caffine can be spotted in chocolate, tea, some cheese, just to name a few. So cutting back on it is ok but know what foods or drinks you have a day is not affected by caffine.
I'm 7 weeks pregnant and I went cold turkey with caffine. Not only did I have morning sickness; I had terrible withdrawl symptons from caff. I find that one coke a day helps and my doctor doesn't seem to mind.
i read that having too much caffeine early in pregnacy takes fluids away from your baby, but now that im 27 weeks i have about one caffeine drink a day if that..
Post a Comment