Caffeine

mindingpandq

Just wondering how those of you who are/were coffee drinkers handled the coffee/caffeine issue while TTC and after you became pregnant. I need some inspiration... it's very hard abstaining from my morning coffee and my occasional late afternoon pick me up while TTC and in the 2 WW. Your thoughts?

ball.and.chain

I've been wondering something similar, which is how much does it really matter that you abstain completely, especially when you're not in the 2ww?  I'm not a coffee drinker; I don't drink soda; I do have black tea most days.  I've been abstaining from it during my 2ww.  While TTC (pre-o), I initially cut it out completely but these days I've been allowing myself one cup of tea per day.  A cup of black tea is around 70 mg of caffeine and I've read that it's OK to consume up to 200 mg while pregnant, so 70 while TTC seems OK to me.  I'm not drinking alcohol, I'm not consuming artificial sweeteners, I'm eating really healthy, I'm exercising.  I feel like a little tea isn't such a big deal?  Sometimes I think that trying to be TOO perfect just stresses me out and makes it all harder than it needs to be.

tdmklm

Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with it because I didn't want coffee (or tea, for that matter) when I was pregnant - both gave me terrible heartburn. During the TWW, I drank tea but not coffee. I *did* drink coke while pregnant, though, but not indiscriminate amounts.

2brides

I never drank copious amounts of coffee, tea, or diet coke. I didn't limit my intake since it was probably limited to 2-3 servings of one of the above per week. Per the March of Dimes, you can safely have up to 200mg of caffeine a day which is about one 12oz cup of coffee per day. I didn't give up anything during my TWW(s).

Mrs._F

As pp said, a cup a day is safe.

I think it's really about your comfort level.  Women get pregnant by accident all the time - I'm sure plenty of them are coffee drinkers. For me, I remember reading something about the potential effects of caffeine on ttc, and I just liked the feeling that I was doing something to help our chances by abstaining.

Maybe switch your cup to half regular, half decaf?

TaylorandMel

My spouse and I started fasting caffeine a few months before our IVF procedure.  We are both nurses and work evenings/ nights, so we drank quite a bit of caffeine, yet it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to stop drinking it (maybe because my loving partner gave it up too  )?  Anyways, our pastor always talks about fasting when there is something really important that you want God's help with, our whole church has fasted eating at certain times over the past few years.  Since I couldn't fast eating because I was preparing to conceive, we thought caffeine was something good to give up.

lnelson20

I agree with PP that it is not something that you have to give up if you don't want to do so. That said, I chose to give up my insane diet coke habit about a month before I TTC. It has now been over 15 months since I have had any caffeine and although I won't swear never to go back, it does get WAY easier. I found that singnificantly increasing my fluid intake helped with the withdrawal headaches and drinking the occasional fun substitute (lemonade, flavored steamed milk, sparkling water, etc.) helped me not feel "deprived."

melissajo2011

I gave it up really slowly - increased the decaf:regular ratio over time. Once I was pregnant, I couldn't drink even full decaf anymore. I just didn't want/like it. Now that it's getting colder, I am drinking hot cocoa some mornings as a substitute.