My best friend is pregnant, and she refuses to stop drinking caffeinated coffee?

Question by Lace: My best friend is pregnant, and she refuses to stop drinking caffeinated coffee?
My best friend is about five months along, and she is absolutely refusing to stop drinking coffee! She won’t switch to decaf because she “hates the taste and doesn’t get the same rush from caffeine in regular coffee.” She seriously drinks it with every meal, and the other day at lunch she drank espresso! Her husband has tried stopping her by getting rid of all the coffee in the house, but she just goes out and gets it. And obviously he can’t go with her everywhere she goes. She said she doesn’t care because coffee is her favorite thing and without it she feels lost. She just doesn’t care what it might do to the baby. She loves coffee too much. What should I do?! I’m seriously scared. She won’t even listen to doctors!
Also, could someone please tell me what harm this could do to her unborn baby if it continues?

Best answer:

Answer by tulip+baby

Well, researchers said that caffeine showed a link to a higher risk of miscarriage but, not all studies showed the same thing. Below are some excerpts from experts though, mind you I am pregnant and I still drink some caffeine and while I was pregnant with #2 I drank soda. Although, I limited it to once a day or every other day.. no more than 150 mg per day i.e. “Coke 12 oz. = 35 mg caffeine or (20 oz. = 58mg caffeine)” so that means I can drink at least 2 if I’d like.

Check this site for the amount of caffeine your friend is drinking.

http://www.cspinet.org/new/cafchart.htm

“There’s general agreement that pregnant women and those trying to conceive should avoid consuming large quantities of caffeine. But after decades of controversy and conflicting evidence, there’s still no real consensus on how much caffeine is safe during pregnancy.”

“The March of Dimes advises women to limit their caffeine intake to less than 200 mg per day. This recommendation was prompted by the results of a study published in the March 2008 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, showing that moms-to-be who consumed 200 mg or more of caffeine a day had double the risk of miscarriage compared to those who had no caffeine.”

Are there other possible risks besides miscarriage?

“Yes. Because caffeine can cause blood vessels to constrict, it may reduce blood flow to the placenta. And because it easily crosses the placenta and reaches your baby (who then very slowly metabolizes it), caffeine may directly affect his developing cells.

A study in Denmark found that the risk of stillbirth more than doubled in women who drank a great deal of coffee per day — eight cups or more — compared with non-coffee drinkers. And some studies suggest that high levels of caffeine consumption by Mom may slightly reduce a baby’s birth weight, but other research has shown no association.

One study found a link between maternal caffeine consumption equal to three cups of coffee per day and an increased risk of having a son born with undescended testes. This happens when the testes don’t move from the pelvis into the scrotum as they usually do in late pregnancy.

Other research has shown that babies whose mothers consumed more than 500 mg of caffeine a day had faster heart rates and breathing rates and spent more time awake in the first few days after birth.”

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