Craving coffee!!

[sandilion]

I am thinking about coffee all day long.. and im sick of it! I have been allowing myself to have one cup of instant coffee every morning, but even feeling guilty about that. I am sitting here now, its almost 9pm ... and i am fighting the urge to go and make myself a cup of decaf coffee.

I have never heard of coffee being a pregnancy craving before. Has anyone experienced this yet? I wasn't a huge coffee drinker before this pregnancy either... Id have usually just one a day, no more than two....

I am not even tired but would love a lovely hot coffee right now!! I have cookies, ice cream, powdered chocolate to make a hot chocolate.... and all I can think of is my jar of decaf coffee!!

I keep reading mixed reviews on whether decaf is even safe as it still contains caffeine. So im feeling deprived. I can't remember feeling this way when pregnant with DS.

I already had a coffee this morning (instant) so really fighting the urges right now.

 

[LoveBubble]

Hi 😊 I think its possible to crave anything in pregnancy!! I'm not craving coffee but am craving coca cola!!! I'm not a big fizzy drinker at all... But I could down a can of cold coke any time at the moment!! I had one last nite it was amazing lol!! And I went shops this morning (9am) and saw cans of coke in the fridge and was like mmmmm I could just drink that!! It's so thirst quenching and fizzy!! I dont want any other fizzy, just coke!! Haha! So I thought id share that with u as coffee and coke are both high in caffeine so figured it was a similar craving?? Lol.

 

[sandilion]

Yep def sounds like we're craving caffeine!

I have gone and made myself a mug of decaf. It shouldn't put me over the 200 or 300mg requirement. I still feel so guilty though!!

 

[LoveBubble]

Yeah why not, enjoy urself!! I just think when my mum was pregnant with me there wasn't much at all they were told to stay away from... She said she drank tea and coffee all day!! And my nan was told to regularly drink half a pint of Guinness as its full or iron lol! Nowadays there's so many do's and don'ts I think if a baby is meant to be it will be... (Within reason of course) but I lost my baby in October and I hadn't done a thing wrong... My friend was expecting after having two loved ones pass away! She was sooo stressed! She even had a car accident and bled through her whole pregnancy and she gave birth to a perfect healthy baby 3 weeks ago.... So that's why I think its sometimes out of our hands! Enjoy ur coffee chick! Xx

 

[carlandjane]

https://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/limit-caffeine-during-pregnancy.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=216

Thats the NHS site - says you can drink as much decaf as you like so go for it!

 

[sandilion]

Doh that link wont work for me. Maybe because I am in Aus? But if that's what it says then yay! I just had a cup of decaf and it quenched the craving. A friend at work told me to be careful with decaf so its made me all paranoid! But i didn't think it would be an issue ..

 

[carlandjane]

From the NHS Site:

If you’re pregnant, you should limit the amount of caffeine you have to 200mg a day – the equivalent of two mugs of instant coffee.

Caffeine

Caffeine is found naturally in lots of foods, such as coffee, tea and chocolate. It’s also added to some soft drinks, energy drinks and cold and flu remedies.
High levels of caffeine during pregnancy can result in babies having a low birth weight, which can increase the risk of health problems in later life. Too much caffeine can also cause a miscarriage.
Limiting your caffeine intake

You don’t need to cut caffeine out completely, but you should limit how much you have to no more than 200mg a day. Try decaffeinated tea and coffee, fruit juice or water, and limit the amount of energy drinks you have as they can be high in caffeine. Don’t worry if you occasionally exceed the recommended limit, because the risks are quite small.
Talk to your midwife, pharmacist or another healthcare professional before taking any medicines, including cold and flu remedies. See the Pregnancy care planner for more information about medicines during pregnancy.

How much caffeine?

The amount of caffeine found in some foods and drinks is as follows:
one mug of instant coffee: 100mg
one mug of filter coffee: 140mg
one mug of tea: 75mg
one can of cola: 40mg
one can of energy drink: up to 80mg
one 50g bar of plain chocolate: up to 50mg
one 50g bar of milk chocolate: up to 25mg

So, in one day, you will almost reach your 200mg limit of caffeine if you have:
one bar of plain chocolate and one mug of filter coffee;
two mugs of tea and one can of cola ;
one mug of instant coffee and one can of energy drink.


FROM GOOD OLD WIKIPEDIA ABOUT THE AMOUNT OF CAFFEINE IN DECAF:

Decaffeinated coffee:

Caffeine content of decaffeinated coffee.
A controlled study of ten samples of prepared decaffeinated coffee from coffee shops showed that some caffeine remained.[1] Fourteen to twenty cups of such decaffeinated coffee would contain as much caffeine as one cup of regular coffee.[1] The 16-ounce (473-ml) cups of coffee samples contained caffeine in the range of 8.6 mg to 13.9 mg. In another study of popular brands of decaf coffees, the caffeine content varied from 3 mg to 32 mg.[11] A 8-ounce (237-ml) cup of regular coffee contains 95-200 mg of caffeine,[12] and a 12-ounce (355-milliliter) serving of Coca-Cola contains 36 mg.[13]
Both of these studies tested the caffeine content of store-brewed coffee, suggesting that the caffeine may be residual from the normal coffee served rather than poorly decaffeinated coffee.


Hope this helps reassure you x

 

[EmzyJA]

Decaf is fine to drink! I drink loads of decaf tea is caffeine free so you don't have to worry. I have a coffee in the morning, today I went to make a decaf tea and put coffee in by accident :-/ so had two coffees today but it's a one off and should be fine. Plus they're only instant coffees.

 

[JJKCB]

caffeine can be dangerous on the heart (both the mother and baby) what people forget is caffeine is actually a drug, an upper that puts your body under a lot of stress it can cause growth restriction (similar to smoking) and almost all caffeinated drinks will carry a warning to pregnant ladies

I avoided everything caffeinated when pregnant and it was hard (you dont realise how many soft drinks have caffeine, even many lemonades do )

it must suck to have a craving you cant have (maybe you can trick yourself with something that tastes right but isn't caffeine, is your decaf actually caffeine free? if it is you should be fine) but in response to the 'I didn't like it much before, is this normal'

yes, that's very common, my first craving was tomato soup (I hate tomato) and my second was milk (I never drink milk, dont even buy it) - I understand the milk and calcium part but no idea why I craved tomato soup

my 3rd craving was a condition known as pica and I had the urge to eat bathroom sponges, it was weird

good luck

 

[purplecupcake]

Up to 200mg/day has shown to have NO negative effects on pregnancy. That's the equivalent of a 12 oz cup of brewed coffee.

I can't start my day without a cup. As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I bought organic Swiss water decaffeinated coffee and mix it half and half with my caffeinated coffee.

As for it being a "weird" craving...I always crave beer!

 

[kitty_el]

I drink 2/3 cups of regular coffee during the day and then 2 cups of decaf - I was drinking ridiculous amounts of coffee pre pregnancy like 8 cups per day so I'm trying to cut down. The only other thing I drink is water.

I don't think drinking decaf is harmful - everything I have read says its fine to drink x

 

[sandilion]

Thank you so much for that info carlandjane! that does bring me ease.

purplecupcake - that's a good idea to mix half half! I never thought of that!

JJKCB sponges??!! Whaaaaaat! Haha i haven't heard of that one before!

When I am pregnant I seem to be drawn to anything that's more on the toxic side that I should avoid. When I was preg with DS i loved walking past people that were smoking, and id love the smell of the cigg smoke! Also toilet refresher sprays and deodorant.... i just wanted to inhale that stuff!! I never did.. but it was a urge i had to fight! Terrible. Thankfully that hasn't start happening just yet with this pregnancy.