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Learn how caffeine affects yours and your baby's bodies while you're pregnant. The long-lasting side effects may surprise you.
Youve probably heard lists and lists of things to avoid during your pregnancy: alcohol, cigarette smoking, marijuana, other illegal drugs, sugar substitutes, hot tubs, cats, and more. What about caffeine? Will a cup or two of coffee in the morning really affect the health of your unborn child?
Although 300 mg of caffeine intake represents approximately 2 or 3 cups of coffee, many people don’t realize the amount of caffeine they can consume from other sources besides coffee. Most studies, such as the ones previously mentioned, look for toxic effects based on the number of cups of coffee consumed per day. However, if significant amounts of caffeine can be ingested from other sources besides coffee, this could hide the true dangers when comparing coffee drinkers with non-coffee drinkers.
In this 1983 Ottawa study at Carleton University, Canada, the researchers analyzed the total caffeine intake from all sources in 286 pregnant women. For the first trimester of their pregnancy, coffee accounted for only 56% of their total caffeine intake, tea accounted for 37% of caffeine intake, while caffeinated soft drinks, chocolate bars, chocolate drinks and caffeinated medications accounted for approximately 7% of caffeine intake. These levels maintained about the same throughout pregnancy.
Approximately 4% of the women during pregnancy consumed 100 - 300 mg of coffee daily while 4% of the group consumed over 300 mg of coffee daily.
Do I have to give up caffeine now that I'm pregnant?
In 1980 the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to avoid caffeine during pregnancy. Since then, the question of having caffeine or not having caffeine has been on the minds of many pregnant women. There have been studies that have linked caffeine to miscarriages, low birth weight, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, heartbeat abnormalities, and other effects. Since caffeine is recognized as being one of the most frequently consumed drugs among pregnant women, it is important to know what effects in can have on a developing fetus.
What exactly does caffeine do to my body?
Caffeine is a stimulant; it increases your heart rate and metabolism, which in turn affects your developing baby. But while unremitting stress isn't healthy, brief bouts of fetal stress, such as that your baby would feel after you drink a cup of coffee, won't cause him any harm. It's akin to your dashing to the bus, another situation that briefly boosts your heart rate and metabolism.
Anyone who drinks coffee regularly knows that it can be addictive and that large amounts can also cause insomnia, nervousness, and headaches. And it's a diuretic, which causes your body to lose water and other fluids and calcium, all of which you need to maintain a healthy pregnancy. Tea hampers your body's ability to absorb iron if you drink it within one hour before or after a meal.
Caffeine in Pregnancy
Safety of caffeine consumption during pregnancy is controversial. Some studies suggest that modest caffeine intake of less than two average cups (defined below) of coffee per day presents a slight risk to the embryo or fetus, but others do not. There is stronger evidence that larger daily amounts of caffeine during pregnancy may increase the risks of miscarriage, preterm delivery and low birth weight, but no solid proof.
High caffeine intake during pregnancy should be avoided. Individual sensitivity to caffeine may vary for both pregnant women and developing fetuses, and risks of moderate caffeine consumption are not clear. Women trying to become pregnant may conceive sooner if they limit caffeine intake to moderate amounts. To minimize infants’ exposures to caffeine, breastfeeding women can avoid very high caffeine intake.
Caffeine’s Effects on Fertility
Some studies have found a link between high levels of caffeine consumption by women and delayed conception. Those who consumed more than 300 mg of caffeine per day were twice as likely to have conception delayed for a year or more.1 Another study also linked high caffeine intake to delayed conception, but only in women consuming 500 mg or more (about four cups of coffee) per day.
Caffeine’s Effects on the Developing Fetus
Caffeine easily passes from mother to fetus through the placenta. A developing fetus may have higher, sustained blood levels of caffeine than its mother because of immature metabolism.3 A few studies have shown that even moderate caffeine consumption affects fetal heart rate and movement patterns.3 A pregnant woman’s ability to metabolize caffeine slows as pregnancy progresses, so some of its effects may increase later in pregnancy.
Some studies have found that pregnant women who consumed large quantities of caffeine (five or more cups of coffee a day) were twice as likely to miscarry as those who consumed less, while fewer or no effects were seen at lower levels of caffeine consumption.4, 5 A detailed analysis of caffeine's reported effects on pregnancy outcome can be found at motherisk.org.
Caffeine’s Effects on Newborns and Infants
High caffeine consumption during pregnancy may shorten gestation and lower birth weight.6 Both effects appear modest in terms of days and ounces, but may be important to an infant already compromised by prematurity or fetal growth restriction. Such effects have not been consistently linked to moderate consumption.7
A reported link between heavy maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy and increased risk of SIDS8 has not been supported by further studies.9
Breast milk can transfer caffeine from mother to baby. Very high caffeine intake by a nursing mother may make her baby irritable, with disturbed sleep cycles, but this is not known to occur from ordinary food and beverage caffeine intake, or without use of medications containing caffeine.
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