Please tell me your experiences with coffee/TTC

[chocolatechip]

I know there's all sorts of contradictory articles out there about caffeine, TTC, and pregnancy.

I'd like to hear from any ladies who already have little ones.

Did you drink coffee while TTC? How about before TTC? If so, how much? Is one cup of coffee per day really okay?

 

[Amygdala]

I've always been a coffee drinker and didn't stop when ttc either time. We didn't have any trouble conceiving, I think it took one and three cycles respectively. One cup of coffee is deemed safe for pregnancy so I don't really see it being a problem ttc. And that's one cup of filter coffee as well, instant or espresso will have less caffeine.

 

[MindUtopia]

I drank coffee as normal while TTC and also all through my pregnancy. I was comfortable with the guidelines (<200 mg a day). I'm a health scientist, so I searched for the studies on caffeine and pregnancy and I was comfortable that there wasn't any risk at the levels I was consuming it (there was one study that didn't show added risk until like 7 cups a day! I would have a stroke if I had 7 cups a day - so my feeling was if I felt fine, my baby would be fine).

I would have a cup of coffee/shot of espresso pretty much every day, on occasion, I might have two. Espresso actually has less caffeine on average than a cup of filtered/pressed coffee, so I often opted for espresso drinks (just be sure to ask them to only use one shot or ask for one shot of regular and one of decaf if you want it stronger, lots of places use a double shot in their espresso based drinks).

I got pregnant easily (2nd cycle off after 13 years on BC). I was 32 at the time. I had an easy pregnancy and a healthy baby. I plan to do the same next time. Incidentally, the week I got pregnant was over a bank holiday and we had off most of that week, so I went out drinking almost every night and drank way more than I normally would have (plus the coffee).

 

[MrsKChicago]

I had a cup a day generally, TTC, pregnant, and breastfeeding. Sometimes more, never less. Never been a problem, we conceived in a few months and my son is 100% healthy. You just can't go totally nuts.

 

[RoseArcana]

I wasn't a coffee drinker when TTC, pregnant or breastfeeding but I did drink tea. Apart from when I had morning sickness between 8-13 weeks, I had 2-5 cups of tea a day. I tried decaff but it was rubbish. My daughter is perfectly fine.

I would go with one filter coffee or two instant ones a day maybe as a guide? It's about being sensible. Same with runny eggs and stuff - if I knew the eggs were lion stamped then I would have a runny egg every so often as we vaccinate for salmonella. I was good with not having paté due to the high levels of vitamin A and also rare meat I steered clear of x

 

[ser523]

No babies myself, but I've had the same concerns. I'm a big coffee drinker, but mostly when I'm working. I know that you're supposed to limit yourself to 8oz of caffeine when pregnant, so I've been working to get myself down to 1 cup of coffee per day (I was drinking around 3-4 tumblers of coffee every day earlier this year). We're not TTC until this summer, but I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to start weening myself off now so I'm good to go in the summer. Be careful of other caffeine sources, like soda and tea. For me, I drink mostly water, coffee, and milk so coffee is my only source for caffeine. Like the ladies above said though, I think as long as you're keeping things within reasonable limits, you should be fine