How Much Caffeine Should You Drink During Pregnancy?

Caffeine is one of the first things that many women give up once they realise that they are pregnant. The real fear of doing some damage to their unborn baby is enough to get some women to stop immediately from taking caffeine. These women will swear off anything that has caffeine in it from coffee, and soda to even chocolate. Some women cannot cut out caffeine completely and simply cut down on it instead. You may find some women cutting right down on their coffee consumption from 5 or more cups per day right down to one or two cups per day.

If you ask your grandparents and parents they will most likely tell you that they didn't quit taking caffeine when they were pregnant and look how their children turned out. The main differences between when our parents and grandparents were about and today is that there has been a bunch of research done which does indicate that such complications like preterm labor and low birth weight are attributed to high caffeine intake.

So we have to ask the problem how much caffeine should we be taking? Some Doctors tell patients that a small amount of caffiene is ok and that it will not harm their baby at all. Even though caffeine does cross the placenta, anything less than 300 milligrams a day (an 8 ounce cup of strong coffee) will not do any harm. Anything over 300 milligrams puts your baby at risk and studies have likewise shown that women who drink more than 300 milligrams of caffeine a day during their first trimester have a somewhat higher risk of a miscarriage.

Recent studies have shown that women that have a high intake of caffeine (over 500Mg per day) once they give birth to the babies the babies are shown to have increased heart rates and likewise increased breathing rates as well. These babies also spent more period awake in their first few days of life rather than peacefully sleeping after their long journey.

Tests have as well given us a load of reasons why cutting down on caffeine intake during pregnancy is a beneficial idea. The main reason for cutting down is that you get nothing nutritionally from it at all. We invariably need to be focussed on nutritional needs but even moreso during pregnancy. The fact that caffeine is a stimulant is a concern and possibly could cause headaches as well as insomnia and increase the heart rate as well, which does put stress on the unborn baby insite the womb. Another affect of caffeine is that it possibly could cause heartburn as well. If you have been pregnant before you know that heartburn might be a burden to begin with, and caffeine just makes it worse. Finally caffeine is classed as a diuretic, which is another name for making you go to the toilet and lose fluids which you don't need as you might become dehydrated.

Although it is not necessary to give up taking caffeine altogether during pregnancy it is certainly advisable to be taught to drink less of it or none at all if you feel like you might. If it is difficult for you to only have one cup of coffee per day then it could be advisable to altogether give up drinking coffee at all during pregnancy. Try caffeine free drinks which will be much better for you in the long run. Even decaf coffee still has traces of caffeine though so be aware of this and drink it in moderation just to be on the safe side during pregnancy.