Bed rest and caffeine?

meggipi5

I only drank a little bit before, a cup of black tea with lots of milk each day. What is really the risk with caffeine and is it extra bad when you are already on bed rest because of pre-term labor?

 

Thanks. 

sthomas1222

The risks of caffeine are unknown. Most OBs recommend 200mg or less per day (or how I see it 5-6 cokes lol). Not sure how it would effect you in relation to pre-term labor. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is caffeine can make you have a bowel movement and bowel movements use the same muscles for uterine contractions... I'd just ask your OB, they may want you to abstain completely. 

kafunder

Not exactly sure how it works with pre-term labor, but when I was on hospital bedrest for a month from 28-32 weeks, they let me have at least one cup of regular coffee per day. They brought it with my breakfast. I was in the hospital for shortening/incompetent cervix that could have sent me into pre-term labor if it got any shorter. However, I didn't have any contractions my entire time there so it might have been different if I actually was contracting or on anti-contrax meds.

elizabethnseanny

I was on bedrest twice for preterm labor and neither time told to completely abstain from caffeine. I think the amount of sugar in 5-6 cokes a day is unhealthy though (especially if you can't work off those empty calories due to the bedrest!), and I always add a glass or two of water with my coffee, which just adds to how often I have to pee, so I try to limit my coffee to one small cup in the morning and a second in the afternoon if I need it to get through the day.