Should I cut out alcohol & caffeine if I'm ntnp?

[Vicky_3]

My husband and I were going to wait until May 2013 to TTC, but this past month, we have started NTNP. I don't know if we will continue this ntnp, as we would like to wait until next year...but, we have waited so long, sometimes we are just to the point of whatever happens, happens.

So, my questions are:
If we are ntnp, should I be cutting out alcohol & caffeine? and if I do get pregnant, will that hurt the baby if I continued having caffeine for a couple weeks until I know for sure? I know these sound like silly questions, but I don't want to completely cut out caffeine if we have spuradic moments when we have unprotected intercourse.
For instance, a week ago we had unprotected intercourse several times during my fertile time of the month, so now I'm freaked out everytime I drink a cup of coffee...thinking that I may be doing harm to the baby, if I am pregnant.

I know some of you may think, just cut out the caffeine now, so it'll be easier when you do fall pregnant, but I don't want to do that until absolutely necessary.

Any thoughts?

 

[Teach2]

I think it's fine to continue I am NTNP and I still drink tea and alcohol. I'm not a massive drinker anyway but the way I see it I'm on the look out for a late period so it won't be long before I realise I'm pregnant at which point I'll go alcohol and caffeine free.

 

[Vicky_3]

Thanks! I'm glad to hear that! I want to drink coffee as long as I can...lol! But, I don't want to cause harm during the weeks that I don't know I'm pregnant, if that makes sense! I'm not a drinker at all...maybe a glass of wine every 2 weeks, but I do drink lots of coffee (2-3 cups per day).

Also, are you taking prenatal vitamins? I try (sometimes I forget) to take folic acid -400mcg per day.

 

[Teach2]

I take a multivitamin with folic acid. I keep it in plain view so I remember it at some point everyday. I think that's more important because you should take it before conceiving. The odd forgotten pill prob isn't the end of the world but I do my best to remember. Sounds like you're ok to me my sister drinks litres of coke and she got pregnant. At the hospital in labour she put her ice chips in her coke! I would never do that and wouldn't recommend it but didn't harm the baby. I'm sure your couple coffees right at the start won't hurt

 

[Vicky_3]

Thanks for the reassurance! Once we get to the stage of actually TTC, maybe I would be more strict, but I don't want to give up on everything while we are ntnp.

 

[Starry Night]

I think you're fine. So many people get pregnant accidentally so don't find out until later and yet their babies turn out fine in spite of the alcohol and caffeine before finding out. Once you find out you're pregnant then it's best to stop. Though the occasional caffeine indulgence probably won't hurt either.