Did you completely give up caffeine while pregnant?

sistrkate · April 2009

And if you didn't, how much did you allow yourself to have?

I completely gave it up with my first pregnancy. No coffee, no diet coke, no nothing.

This time around, I cannot stay awake without something in the morning. I never got back into coffee, but I'm allowing myself one 20-oz diet coke every day. The past few days, I've been wanting one in the afternoon, too. BAD. How much caffeine is safe?

riabiron · April 2009

check with your ob. I believe that up to 300 mg is ok. I would be careful of the diet coke due to the artificial sweetener though. JMHO.

I do have a good friend that was never able to give up caffeine while pregnant. i used to joke with her that the baby would need an espresso sized bottle. Luckily he turned out just fine.

shawnsweetie · April 2009

I did... but I pretty much give up everything while preggo.

teacherjess · April 2009

300 mg a day is considered safe. Most Coke products are 28-32ish mg/can. I tried to cut out caffeine while pregnant and got mind-blowing headaches, so I limited myself to two Dr. Peppers a day, usually just one in the morning.

ELucky14 · April 2009

I always had one cup of coffee in the morning. My doctor said that was just fine. I did give up Coke and anything else that had caffeine.

jerseygirl81 · April 2009

No way could I have gone caffeine free. My OB said 300mg a day was fine, so I had either a coffee or 2 cups of tea, neither of which put me close to the limit. Doesn't a coke only have about 50?

Meg41208 · April 2009

I didn't. I tried to limit myself to one caffeinated beverage a day, but there were a few days that I'm sure I was close to the 300mg mark.

sistrkate · April 2009

jerseygirl81:
No way could I have gone caffeine free. My OB said 300mg a day was fine, so I had either a coffee or 2 cups of tea, neither of which put me close to the limit. Doesn't a coke only have about 50?

I think a 20-oz bottle has 70 mg, so it sounds like two would be well within the limit. My OB did give me a number and I want to say it was 300 mg.....but I never had an issue with compliance till now. I decided to get my energy from a Snickers bar this afternoon. What a tradeoff.

hannah&ben · April 2009

riabiron:
check with your ob. I believe that up to 300 mg is ok. I would be careful of the diet coke due to the artificial sweetener though. JMHO.

I do have a good friend that was never able to give up caffeine while pregnant. i used to joke with her that the baby would need an espresso sized bottle. Luckily he turned out just fine.

Ditto this.... up 300 mg's is considered safe - a 20 oz. coke product has about 80 mg's, a 12 oz can has about 50 mg's. So, having a second coke in the afternoon would put you in the "safe zone" still.

And no, I have not given up caffeine... I don't drink soda but I do drink coffee and hot tea several times a week... caffeine makes me a nicer wife and better mom

Don't worry too much about the artificial sweetners... the "unsafe" ones are sweet n' low (aspartame) and stevia... diet coke is sweetened with sucralose (splenda) which is plenty safe in the amount in a few diet cokes a day

Enjoy your diet coke! Don't worry

Hannah

alisonada · April 2009

I definitely didn't. I don't really drink pop, but I had a cup of (regular) coffee every single morning throughout both of my pregnancies. Sometimes I would splurge and have another tiny one in the afternoon. 300 mg./day is the widely accepted amount, but there have been more recent studies that showed that more than 200 mg./day could possibly increase miscarriage risk. You should still be safe with one drink a day, though, I know there is no way I could have got by without it.

https://tinyurl.com/35cljn

mrs.george2be04 · April 2009

No I did not give up caffeine. It was the first question I asked at my first appointment. The OB told me up to 300mg was safe. I had 2 cans of Coke a day during my pregnancy and Logan is perfect. I actually forgot and drank a Mt. Dew before my big u/s. Luckily the tech was able to get everything she needed. I should have been more conscientious!

Traycee1242 · April 2009

I gave up caffeine completely during the 1st trimester..... When I hit the 2nd I let myself have a diet coke or latte from starbucks.... the latte clocks in about 120mg and the diet coke is 45. Still way below the recommended amount.

I at first was worried about artificial sweetners, but like Hannah said it's been approved and ok in pregnancy by the FDA... just not the sweet and low (but that's not in the diet drinks) I think Diet Coke is much better for me calorie wise than a regular Coke which has 140 calories! Yikes!

jules_9 · April 2009

I did for a long time but then I couldn't handle it any more, I was just exhausted. So I would allow myself 1-2 per day. I think you would have to drink like 9-10 cokes to exceed the 300mg "safe" zone.

I can't stand the taste of Diet Coke & the sweetener gives me a headache, so I can't answer that for Diet Coke.

Zoogy · April 2009

With my first pregnancy I tried to cut down my caffeine intake to 1-2 a week but with this pregnancy I have to drink at least a coffee a day or maybe a can of coke if I am craving it. I too got really bad headaches when I tried to stop drinking it altogether. My OB also said that under 300mg is safe and I am well below that.

cops_wife · April 2009

No, though I ended up cutting way back. At first I switched my coffee to half-caf, but then m/s started and the thought of coffee made me sick, so it was easy to give that up. I drank a few Dr. Peppers or Cherry Cokes a week and some iced tea from time to time, but I ate A LOT of chocolate. I'm pretty sure that was my major source of caffeine during pregnancy.

MelissaMc22 · April 2009

I drink 1 cup of coffee a day and lately have been eating entirely too much chocolate too..

tpo1118 · April 2009

No way. I have one coke or cofee/day usually in the am. (12 or 16oz) I treat myself to an additional coke or whatever for "special occasions" like out to dinners, or parties, or you know, having a bad day. They are horribly overpriced but I like to buy the tiny little cans so when I have a treat day I dont' feel like I am getting too much caffeine.

I dont' remember how much is safe but I want to say like 3-4 cups a day is ok.

curlypie1 · April 2009

During pregnancy I had iced tea almost every day. I had aversions to coffee and coke during pregnancy so I didn't have either of those.

KristenBtobe · April 2009

Nope, I drank a cup or two of coffee every day.

kel716 · April 2009

Nope. I love my diet sunkist, and I drank 2 cans/day.

I used this table: https://wilstar.com/caffeine.htm

So one 20 oz diet coke is 76 mg of caffeine if you do the math.

cat81305 · April 2009

No way! I have never been a huge caffeine drinker though so I have a coke every few days. I do love my McDonald's unsweet tea though!!

suprchicy · April 2009

I inteded to, but I have been having a diet coke here and there, and I ahve been sick for 2 weeks and hot tea has been the only thing that helps, and the caffeine is the only thing that gets me through my 8am class. I am sticking with 300 mg max, but I never come even close to that.

buckeyethor · April 2009

i did give it up, but i was hypertensive so i think thats why they said none.

hav2run · April 2009

I gave it up when I got my BFP, but the headaches were horrible. I allowed myself one or two small cups of coffee and stuck to decaffeinated drinks or water after that. My OB said that was fine.

424bride · April 2009

Nope, I didn't give it up. My OB was fine with caffeine as long as it wasn't overload and she also said Splenda was fine, but to try to stay away from aspartame.

gandcnky · April 2009

I've never been a big soft drink person, but ever since becoming pregnant, I crave them a lot more often. I asked my OB about the diet drinks, since I had heard they were bad (and since that's the only soft drinks I'll allow myself), and she said she'd much rather me save on the calories by drinking a diet drink than worry about the artificial sweetener. Hopefully that lessens any worry you might have about the artificial sweeteners.

Also, I don't know if you're a Dr. Pepper person, but there's a new diet cherry Dr. Pepper, and it's amazing. It's definitely my weakness now.

natasha15 · April 2009

Wow then I may sound like a saint!!! My whole pregnancy with Kel I was cold turkey if it was not water i didn't drink it..And at about 6 months i did sprite b/c of the heartburn..Other than that NOTHING!!!..I know pretty lamo!!

MrsMoher · April 2009

My doc told me I could have a drink or two with caffeine. Like a few glasses of soda, since I didn't drink coffee then. I didn't give it up entirely, but I tried to do caffeine free as much as possible.

adamsbabble · April 2009

I didn't completely give it up with either pregnancy, but I don't drink a ton of caffeine anyway. My MW's said up to 300 mgs/day is fine. A can of coke for example, is about 45 mgs at most... so even when not pregnant, I would never come close to 300 mgs per day. Normally I only drink coke when I have a headache, I don't buy it to keep in the house or anything. I do drink sweet tea and very occasionally I'll have a mocha coffee drink thing at Dunkin Donuts. Oh, and chocolate of course! :-)

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