Is Drinking Coffee During Pregnancy Safe?
If you’re planning on becoming pregnant or you already are pregnant, you’re going to have to give up a lot of your favorite activities. For the safety of yourself and your unborn baby, you will no longer be able to ride roller coasters, participate in extreme sports, consume alcohol, and eat some of your favorite foods such as sushi and shellfish. The list of things you cannot have while pregnant is extensive, but many women feel that the idea of giving up coffee is by far the worst side effect of pregnancy. Coffee is such a necessity to so many women, but it’s filled with caffeine and there is some controversy surrounding the effects of too much caffeine on your unborn child.
Before you panic, however, it’s important that you understand that you do not have to give up all of your coffee when you become pregnant. You can still drink decaf and you can even have just a little bit of real coffee each day. In fact, medical professionals recommend that you only limit your coffee intake rather than eliminate it completely. Some women are more comfortable eliminating coffee completely, but others simply cannot do it.
If you can’t stop drinking coffee entirely when you become pregnant, you’ll want to cut down on your intake significantly. For example, medical professionals have reported that drinking less than 200 milligrams – or the equivalent of one 12 ounce cup of coffee – each day is not harmful to your fetus or your health. However, they do warn that you should be very careful when you order coffee at restaurants and cafes as some of them have slightly bigger servings with nearly double the milligrams of caffeine inside just one drink.
The good news is that becoming pregnant does not mean you have to give up caffeine completely. The bad news is that if you have one cup of coffee each morning, you will need to avoid other caffeinated items throughout the day. This includes soft drinks – which are terrible for your health in the first place – and chocolate.
Decaf Coffee And Pregnancy Side Effects
While decaf coffee might taste very similar to regular coffee, it’s not the same thing. In fact, you can have as much decaf coffee as you want throughout your pregnancy as it is not dangerous to your health or the health of your unborn child. The problem with too much caffeine in pregnancy is significant. It can cause serious birth complications such as low birth weight babies and even preterm labor. Doctors recommend you do not consume more than 200 milligrams of caffeine each day to prevent this from occurring, though an occasional slip up is not going to harm the health of your baby.
The side effects associated with decaf coffee are non-existent. What many women choose to do is to wean themselves off of caffeine slowly so as not to experience the side effects of not having their morning cup of coffee. These side effects include added fatigue and exhaustion and even cravings for coffee that can cause moodiness and a slight temper.
Since decaf is not dangerous for pregnant women to consume, try to switch to it the best you can. This might mean drinking a cup of regular coffee each day followed by your usual second cup replaced with decaf. From there, work on replacing half of your caffeinated cup with decaf until you can work your way completely off of caffeine. Keep in mind, however, that you don’t have to give up caffeine all together. However, it might make you feel better to do so. If you make this decision, know that replacing your coffee with decaf is only temporary. It’s good for your baby and it’s going to be something you can resume drinking once you give birth to the littlest love of your life.
Green Coffee Bean Extract And Pregnancy
If you’ve never heard of green coffee bean extract, it’s time to educate yourself. First, let’s talk about what exactly green coffee bean extract really is. It’s a bean that has not yet been roasted. When a coffee bean is roasted, it loses many of the chemicals in it to make it healthier to consume. However, the chemicals and acid found in green coffee bean extract is thought to have some good side effects on health issues such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.
For this reason, many people use green coffee bean extract to help them lose weight. It’s even been recommended by some medical professionals as a weight loss tool. This reason alone should warn all pregnant women not to consume green coffee bean extract. Weight loss supplements, pills, and any form of dieting is dangerous while pregnant. Your job is to gain a healthy amount of weight for you and your baby while consuming a healthy diet rich in vitamins and minerals. Do not consume green coffee bean extract while pregnant.
Additionally, there has not been nearly enough research performed to know whether or not this is a product that is safe for pregnant women to consume. Based on this lack of information, it’s just better to avoid consuming it while you are expecting. While it might come out in the future that it’s completely harmless when consumed by pregnant women, there is no reason to take any unknown chances at the moment. Furthermore, it is not considered safe enough to use while breast feeding your newborn child. If you like the green coffee bean extract in your life, you’re going to want to eliminate it from your diet until after you give birth and after you finish nursing your baby.
In short, it’s fine to drink a cup of caffeinated coffee each day while pregnant. It’s also safe to drink as much decaf coffee as you want while you are pregnant. It has no negative side effects on your health or your baby’s health. However, you will want to avoid green coffee bean extract completely throughout your pregnancy and nursing days.