Coffee, Caffeine, Diet Coke, Oh My! « Back to Group Discussions

[Momto2Annie]

Who is cutting back? And who isn't? I'm still drinking a cup of coffee every morning, but I've only had 3 diet cokes, total, since finding out I was pregnant. (That's a huge sacrifice for me) Anyone else having trouble letting go of the caffeine? I have a two boys, 3 and 5... I need the pick me up in the morning. Tips?

[ananas]

I had a soda the morning of the day I got my BFP, but nothing since. I'm going to try to just give caffeine up completely, or at least drink it rarely. I know it's considered okay in moderation, I just know that it's not great for people in general and I especially seem to get a lot of...side effects from it. So if I can just avoid it, it would be better. We'll see, though.

Also, I usually have coffee every morning (and sometimes again in the afternoon), but it has been sounding gross! I did take one sip of SO's blended mocha yesterday because it looked all creamy and delicious, but tasting the espresso made me feel nauseous.

[ananas]

Oh, also- as far as a pick me up in the morning, I'm looking for tips for that as well!

[mama_y_sol]

I gave up my morning cup already.  I love having my morning coffee and will probably add it back in after the first tri.  I'm just not comfortable drinking coffee during the first trimester, even though after hours of research it seems like in moderation its fine.  

[MadTown16]

I cut out coffee as soon as I found out. Now I drink a cup of black or green tea most mornings.

[Momto2Annie]

Yes.. I think I'll switch to green tea in the morning. I drink peppermint tea at night to help my stomach, but the little pick me up in the morning with green tea would help.

[finnegansmom]

I always have a cup of coffee in the morning.  I give up a lot of "bad stuff" but I can't give up my 1 cup.

I drink caffiene free diet coke anyways because of nursing when I drink sode which isn't often...

sometimes soda helps settle my stomach when i'm feeling kind of gross.

[Dealea86]

I'm still off of caffeine from Pearl! When I nursed her after drinking caffeine, she would bounce off the walls. It's been ages since I drank caffeine regularly. I miss coffee and tea.

[oikophile]

This is my first pregnancy, but I've been off (regular) caffeine for a couple years now. I love coffee, but I didn't like feeling addicted to it. When I'd miss my morning cup I'd get a headache and feel crappy all day. I'll still have a cup every now and then, or a cup of black or green tea on cloudy mornings when I'm feeling sluggish from seasonal-affective type stuff. Just not enough to make it a habit. Otherwise I drink Roastaroma tea (made from roasted barley, chicory and carob) with a little milk and sugar when I want a hot cup of something comforting in the morning or after dinner. Really what I love most is the ritual of it.

[faithsstuff]

I quit smoking a couple weeks before I got pregnant and had to give up coffee at the same time.  At that point I adopted tea like my life depended it :) So now I have a great cup of tea in the morning and often decaf at night.  My 3 year old love tea too and often asks for his 'warm tea' or morning chai :)

 

[Carinthia]

Oh boy.... the ND really convinced me to give up all caffeine and I did....it's so hard and yucky and I miss it. BUT my blood sugar is much, much better now and I've really needed to get a handle on that situation anyway. Oh..and one of those days I'm sure I can go to the bathroom again...

[Simonsez2u]

I drank coffee through all my pregnancies .  I have 1 cup in the mornings. 

[Hijynx]

I am a huge coffee lover. Haven't touched it since last monday, I didn't test until that night but I kinda knew, and I just wasn't ready to go cold turkey on a monday morning of all days :P  I was avoiding all caffeine and had a headache most of the week, since then (reading more, relying on the Mayo clinic book a lot) I decided a little iced tea or soda once in a while would be ok, but I've only stolen a few sips of my husband's coke and had a child-size glass of iced tea. So I'm not being nuts about avoiding it (I mean, I'm not giving up chocolate :P) but drastically reducing my intake.

ETA: One of the reasons I'm cutting it mostly out is that it was making me feel like my blood pressure was high. I just learned last night about your heartbeat increasing because your body is increasing blood production, so I'm not sure if it's my BP or that increase that I'm feeling - I actually wish I was seeing my doctor sooner than the 30th because of this too :/

[Krystal1220]

I used to drink a few cups of coffee a day, and in the past couple of weeks since I found out I am pregnant again, I have limited myself to 6 oz. maybe four days. I am having an aversion to it lately, so it's been pretty easy to cut back.

[KalaniR]

Hi! I have stopped drinking coffee and sodas.. For the most part. It's really hard being that I LIVE on both but when I need a quick pick-me-up, I'll allow myself one 8oz cup of either coffee or soda per day. Most days I try to go without either, but when I'm needing it, I try to set limitations. I bought this little ceramic to-go tumbler from Starbucks. It's about 9oz, but it marks the 8oz line.... Definitely helps! I think with is ok in MODERATION, max 300mg of caffeine a day!

[shannonmike78]

Hello moms~

This is the first time I have ever posted or joined a new site.  I drink a cup of coffee a day and did drink coffee while I was pregnant.  My doctors/midwives have informed me that continuing to do what I normally do, with the exception of alcoholic beverages was a good thing.  Many doctors and midwives have said that it is not suggested to just quit doing all of the things that you do abruptly. 

[Mandy613]

I just stay away from the obvious dangers when pregnant. I refuse to give up anything when it comes to food or drinks as it's more about moderation. I still enjoy my coffee, sushi and the odd cookie dough ice cream. I would lose my mind if I followed the 983743923984732 million daily new rules to pregnancy. It works for me that way. :)

[freyaleelu]

With my first pregnancy I cut coffee out completely as well as all other forms of caffiene. This is my second pregnancy and I have had a much more difficult time cutting out my morning coffee. In my first trimester I didn't drink any coffee/caffiene, but after talking to my OBGYN and reading several articles I feel that one cup of coffee a day is safe, SO - that's what I do! And... I enjoy it very much :).

[Momto2Annie]

Thanks for all the input, ladies... I'm sticking to one (small) cup of coffee a day... If I cut it out completely, I might endanger the children I have already, lol

[EnviroBecca]

Am I the only one who finds that coffee tastes and smells repulsive now?  I walk past a Starbucks on my way to work every day, and if the door opens as I pass I hold my breath so I don't gag!  This started at 3 weeks.  It's made it easy to get off my usual habit of 3 cups a day.  I have been drinking green tea sometimes.  I also had Dr Pepper once (when I had lunch at a place that gives free sodas to employees of my employer) and it tasted fabulous and made me feel so good--but I don't drink soda often normally, so I'm not going to start now!

Most days, I've felt I am surprisingly alert considering the lack of coffee.  I did have a headache last Saturday that was getting really bad while I was at a meeting, so on the way home I bought a small take-out coffee, and at that point it did taste good.  I drank about an inch of it, and the headache was gone!  Repeated that a few times during the day.  8 oz of coffee got me through the whole day, whereas normally with a bad headache I'll drink 5-6 cups in a day.

Normally I'm a person seriously prone to migraines and other bad headaches, but pregnancy and breastfeeding made them much less frequent last time, so I expect that will happen again.  My midwife said that if I do have a migraine, coffee is one of the safest treatments (a much better choice than taking ibuprofen or aspirin) and actually is safer for baby than allowing a full-blown migraine to progress because of its effects on blood circulation.

My experience last time was that coffee began to smell really good again around the 4th or 5th month.  Then I went back to having 1-2 cups a day.