How Much Coffee Can You Have When Pregnant?

How much coffee can you have when pregnant? If you are expecting a baby, you most certainly asked this question more than once, right?

Most women who are pregnant don`t consume products which contain caffeine throughout pregnancy, but as some studies show us, it`s enough to only reduce the caffeine consumption. It seems that caffeine doesn`t have a harmful effect, in case that it`s reduced at 2 – 3 cups per day. Still, consuming too much caffeine may prove to be dangerous, when it`s used instead of food as long as it`s known its effect of reducing appetite.

Pros & Cons Regarding Coffee during Pregnancy

For a lot of women, coffee is an innocent pleasure. But what effects can coffee have during pregnancy? It`s best to weigh together with the doctor who supervises your pregnancy all the pros and cons of caffeine consumption during pregnancy, if you want to have an idea about the potential risks brought by caffeine to your organism or baby. Caffeine isn`t only found in coffee, but also in tea, chocolate or soft drinks, as well as some drugs. – Learn about this info!

The fetus needs a certain daily calorie intake to become a healthy child, so you need to think twice if you`ll continue replacing breakfast with coffee or tea.

Consequently, besides talking with your doctors about the pros and cons of caffeine consumption, it`s good to talk to him about other products that contain caffeine than coffee.

Dangers Related to Coffee Consumption while Pregnant

Scientists suggest that an excessive consumption of coffee while pregnant increases the risk for the baby that you are carrying inside your belly to die before or during birth. Researchers in Denmark have discovered that women who drink 8+ cups of coffee every day double their risk to give birth to a death baby than those who don`t drink coffee.

Some experts from the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark analyzed 18.478 pregnant women who registered to give birth between 1989 and 1996.

The ESCALE study, which was a more recent study in France, concluded that those children whose mothers drank 2+ cups of coffee during pregnancy present an increased risk of acute leukemia. The women completed 2 questionnaires, offering info like medical history, alcohol, coffee consumption and smoking habits. The results are somehow worrying and say that from these children, up to 60% present the risk of developing this severe illness during childhood. The risk for the fetus to die during pregnancy increases with the number of cups of coffee drank on a daily basis during pregnancy.

Sensitivity to Tumors due to Coffee

Scientists think that caffeine is responsible for modifying DNA from fetal cells, which makes them sensitive to developing tumors. However, there`ll be needed further research to confirm this.

A team of researchers at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom counted the results of 20 studies and found that newborns from mothers who drank coffee during pregnancy, presented a risk of 20% higher to develop leukemia. Drinking women who consume more than 2 cups per day show an increase of up to 60%. The study was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

In the Netherlands, there are around 500 to 600 new cases of children with cancer each year. Around 25% of them have leukemia, also known as bone marrow cancer or blood cancer. – Click here!

How Much Coffee Can You Have When Pregnant?

While expecting, sleep sensations becomes a routine due to the high amount of progesterone. So, a coffee is welcomed sometimes. Ideally, you should choose the filtered one, with no sugar. However, you should be careful not to exceed 200 mg of caffeine per day, meaning 2 teaspoons.

Doctors think that during the 9 months of pregnancy, a future mother shouldn`t consume more than 2 cups of coffee per day. So, it seems reasonable to at least reduce the daily coffee consumption while pregnant.

Compared with women who didn`t drink coffee, women who drank between 4 and 7 cups of coffee on a daily basis had 80% high percentage of risk, while for women who drank 8+ cups per day, the risk of fetal death increased with 300%. – More info!

In any way, there was no correlation established between the coffee consumption and the infant`s death in the first year of life. However, anything that can be harmful for the baby should be kept away. There`s no room for uncertainty here.

What to Do If You Want to Give Up on Caffeine?

Women who are expecting and want to give up on caffeine and other products based on caffeine need to take baby steps when attempting to get rid of these bad habits. At the beginning, they could turn to decaffeinated coffee, because giving up too fast may lead to headache, lethargy and irascibility. Then, they should just start consuming less and less, eventually getting to 1 or 2 cups per day, until giving up completely. – Learn more!

However, if you really need that daily dose of caffeine per day, it`s recommended to change it to decaffeinated coffee, which contain less caffeine than normal coffee, or teas. These last ones, it`s required to consider their ingredients as some herbals have side effects on pregnancy. If you want to try a new tea, it`s recommended to talk to a nutritionist, because some teas are forbidden while expecting a baby.