Giving up coffee?

KLake42

Have you given up coffee while TTC?

I know that the standard advice is that if you're pregnant, it's okay to have a small amount of coffee, but I think that advice might be geared towards all women, including young women and women who just found themselves pregnant without really putting effort into TTC.  I've also read that you can improve your fertility by giving up on it entirely.

I've had a long term habit of about 2-4 cups of coffee a day, and I've brought it down to one small cup of regular, and a cup or two of decaf.  I'm planning to bring it down to decaf only, but I'm trying to go slow-- I get caffeine withdrawal migraines if I go cold turkey.  

I've also quit drinking alcohol entirely (though I'll have a couple glasses of wine whenever AF shows up).  I know a lot of women will drink till it's pink, and not stop until a positive pregnancy test.  I just want to boost my chances, improve my egg production.

How do you feel about coffee? It just feels way, way harder to give it up than to give up alcohol!

suziq1978

I haven't cut my coffee at all and don't plan to.  I cannot function without 2 cups of coffee in the morning.  

rspalding001

I drink it until I ovulate then give it up until I get AF again. With my first pregnancy I gave it up entirely once I knew I was pregnant and didnt start drinking again until after I weaned my daughter from breastfeeding. I think the effect it has is probably minimal but I feel like its the right choice for me. Also after DD was born I was afraid to mess with her sleep too much by introducing caffine into her system through my breastmilk. Some will say it does not matter but i was too nervous to even risk it ha ha. To each their own but I figure why take the risk of its negative effects.

emsmama15

I cut down to one cup of caffeinated per day and one cup of decaf.  I've also completely cut out alcohol and diet coke.  And I'm reducing my carb intake.  Basically, my life is dull right now.  I drink a lot of water.    I agree though - I don't disagree with the "drink till it's pink" idea, but I'm trying to do anything I can to help my eggs be healthy.  So, I've given up everything that I love.  <whine whine whine>

bublesmiled

I have chosen to stop the coffee and pretty much anything else off limits during preg while ttc.  When I went to the dr for my visit to see if there is anything I should change now that I'm 35, he wanted me to loose 10 lb or so if I could.  Although I didn't do that before ttc, I figured now was a good time to change my eating habits.  Since AF just visited for the past few days, I did indulge in a margarita and coffee for those three days, I'm back to restricting my consumption of caffine and wine.

SherryAE

I have been drinking coffee only during my period but I still have not conceived for almost a year. (2 miscarriages last year) I have given up coffee entirely now and I'm hoping this is the month I conceive because I'm late for my period Best of luck to you.

mattiep16

Caffeine in moderate amounts hasn't been shown to effect conception rates.  If you are drinking regular drip coffee at home you'll be well under the recommendation of 200mg or less per day. Starbucks lattes are about 300mg, btw!

URMySunshine77

mattiep16 said:

Caffeine in moderate amounts hasn't been shown to effect conception rates.  If you are drinking regular drip coffee at home you'll be well under the recommendation of 200mg or less per day. Starbucks lattes are about 300mg, btw!

(lurking)

Agreed. If you are worried, then I would stick with one mug of coffee per day. You can technically drink a mug of coffee a day while pregnant; although, I feel more comfortable not doing so.

KLake42

As a lot of folks here, I've been reading It Starts with an Egg, and it's true that there's no conclusive studies on moderate caffeine and conception.  But then, if the book is accurate (and I haven't done any research on this), there just haven't been a lot of studies.  There was one study that, among women getting fertility treatments, those who quit caffeine had higher pregnancy and birth rates than those who didn't.  But it's just one study, and the book's author does say that you don't have to give up caffeine entirely, but reducing intake could be helpful.

I've been reducing it slowly, and I'm down to a half cup regular, and a cup and a half of decaf.  Since I've reduced it so much, I actually feel jittery after the little caffeine I do have!  So I think I'm comfortable continuing to downshift to decaf only.

But I'm personally sort of high strung, and I think it would be good for me all around to go decaf.  It's definitely a personal choice.  

jilligan14

What do you all think about green tea and chocolate? They have smaller amounts of caffeine but I'm wondering if it's advisable to reduce/cut out completely?

rspalding001

I would never give up chocolate.... Just sayin

Carazona5

I'm a coffee junkie and quit cold turkey the first day that I ever TTC because of paranoia. I then got a migraine so bad it had me throwing up, and lighter headaches the next 2 days but then I was over it and off caffeine for good. I got AF and went straight back to coffee for comfort. Lol so now I guess I'll have to do that all over again if I'm not careful. I'm scared to drink it because I google too much and have read that it increases chance of MC. Might not be true tho?

hooligans4

Carazona5 said:

I'm a coffee junkie and quit cold turkey the first day that I ever TTC because of paranoia. I then got a migraine so bad it had me throwing up, and lighter headaches the next 2 days but then I was over it and off caffeine for good. I got AF and went straight back to coffee for comfort. Lol so now I guess I'll have to do that all over again if I'm not careful. I'm scared to drink it because I google too much and have read that it increases chance of MC. Might not be true tho?

When I got pregnant with my two older children my caffeine withdrawal was horrible. Worse than quitting smoking. If you can cut down to one cup a day you will be ok. I stopped caffeine 3 years ago and have had 2 miscarriages in that time, when I got pregnant with my son 10+ years ago I was drinking 2 pots of coffee a day.
With that said I still limit my caffeine because I really don't want to go through the headaches ever again. Decaf coffee is fine for me now.

Carazona5

Thanks I'll keep that in mind! I've heard before that one cup a day is ok, I just get over worried about stuff and start googling anything I want to put in my mouth in case I'm pregnant lol

Krisd6

I drink on average 2-3 cups a day
When I was pregnant I cut it down to 1 a day
MD told me that was fine- you can have up to 200mg a day
I couldn't give it up!!!

vintagevice

I TTC for 7 years, within that time I cut caffeine for 2 years while seeing an acupuncturist with no luck of conception. Eventually, I started drinking coffee again (a lot.) Happy to report that I'm currently 8 weeks pregnant! Still uncertain what caused years of unexplained infertility, but coffee intake certainly wasn't the culprit. Good luck ladies and never lose hope!

pumpkinhead4

I didn't drink it and had success getting pregnant but I am not sure it had to do with the coffee itself. I currently drink a cup in the AM and usually don't have caffeine rest of the day aside from my choc habit haha. A lot of my friends drink a ton of coffee and had no trouble conceiving. I think it's like the alcohol thing. Do what makes you feel right