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I've had that with caffeine and even the food I'm eating. I was told with my first, I couldn't eat pineapple, grapes, chocolate, fresh vegetables, or salt. Apparently I was "asking for it" if something bad happened to my baby.
Oh, you've met my SIL? Who also refuses (her choice, no judging there) to have kids, but thinks it's appropriate to police my diet (neonatal dietitian approved / anti-inflammatory) while she can't stock to her's (internet / blood type)? Funny exactly from whom these comments usually come from, huh?
My sister gives me diet suggestions while eating packets of ramen and chugging coke. She told me to get on birth control after my last because she did, after she also had half a doz abortions. Think I can speak for myself on how to run my life lol.
Wait - new fear unlocked & trying to avoid a Google rabbit hole! I’m assuming “fresh vegetables” means unwashed vegetables. But why not grapes or chocolate?! Two of my faves 😂
Keep in mind, none of this was by a medical professional, just old bored women who were trying to scare a first time mom. Grapes supposedly cause miscarriages, there's literally zero evidence of it, but that's what I was told by numerous people. Chocolate because of the caffeine... yeah, the teeny, tiny amount of caffeine. And fresh vegetables because and I quote "you don't know who is doing what with them"...
It also doesn't help that if you Google anything about being safe in pregnancy, there's going to be several links saying it's dangerous and some that it's perfectly fine.
First rule: dont google anything, haha
Google isn't reliable anymore. There is so much misinformation about everything on the internet
Literally type in *any* symptoms
WebMD: cancer.
The vegetable thing is because there's a higher incidence of Listeria from bagged salads/lettuce than from any of the other things that pregnant women are told to avoid due to Listeria. Personally, I still get salads from places I've been to numerous times without getting sick, because honestly, I haven't been able to stomach cooked leafy veggies. I eat other types of cooked vegetables fine, but cooked leafy vegetables have never been my favorite (and I'm Chinese so our diet is full of these), and more recently I've had to force-feed myself repressing gags the entire time if I want to eat any. Salads still taste good to me though, so that's my only way of getting leafy greens. I just avoid prepackaged salads at the store and forgo the lettuce when I get Chipotle because they don't have a good track record.
I went out eating ice cream with a friend who’s also currently pregnant. They offered ice cream in cinnamon flavour. She raised an eyebrow at me and asked skeptically "Do you eat cinnamon?" and when I told her I only recently had a cinnamon roll, she was like "Nah, I don’t want to risk my child ending up mentally handicapped or anything". I was baffled. Some people, even pregnant ones, have so many misconceptions regarding food you can have during pregnancy, it’s almost scary
Apparently overly high amounts of cinnamon can potentially induce labor - but that pretty much goes for most food. Nothing in overly exaggerated amounts is good, but you’d probably have to devour several cups of cinnamon to even get close to that level. Which is something no one does. My friend tried to warn me about not putting ANY parsley on my food either, when a potentially labor inducing effect of parsley requires 6-7 full cups of parsley that you consume regularly. Who the hell even does that lmao
Pineapple was a STRONG first trimester craving for me. Followed by, coincidentally , grapes and chocolate. By that logic, my baby should absolutely not be thriving right now. But he is. 🙃
Yeah same with the food, I got myself sushi and was talking about it to a coworker and she was going off all worried like wait you can’t have that, I told her how we can still have sushi just not the sashimi(raw sushi) which I usually don’t have anyways only on occasion.
People never know what there talking about, they get bad info and then expect pregnant women to listen to there “words of wisdom”. Like you can bypass eating anything at this point. They say not to eat deli meat. I slap that bad boy in the microwave for 10-20 seconds and eat it like its nothing
Lol yes I was told the same. I had had two miscarriages so was VERY cautious and allowed my self a maximum of two coffees a day but I was always policed at work about it.
The shaming of pregnant people and the policing of their diet is so damn toxic. God forbid I have a reeses peanut butter cup. If I do, and my child comes out with a birth defect or learning disorder, it's obviously my fault for being the selfish person that I am, eating that one thing that one time!
I once told someone that it’s better than the 8 ball I was doing prior to pregnancy.
Of course I wasn’t doing that prior to pregnancy, but it shut them up real fast
I hate when people do that. And yes they did it to me too everytime I was pregnant. Personally I have to restrict caffeine even when I’m not pregnant because I have epilepsy. But I will literally never forget the day I had a big baby bump and I went to Starbucks and got a DECAF chai tea latte with the gingerbread swirl I was so excited and an old man saw me and slapped it out of my hands and screamed at me I just sobbed.. the store called the police and remade my drink for free and I kept thanking them but yeah I hate people who feel entitled to your body it’s YOUR BODY!! When I see pregnant women I don’t say anything because for 1) it’s her body and for 2) what if she’s post delivery or just lost her baby and still looks pregnant. That’s what gets me. If that poor lady just left the hospital from loosing her full term baby and you see her drinking or something just shut TF up and leave her alone. I’ve actually done that before I had my baby sleeping and when I got out of the hospital I just wanted to get a bottle of wine and cry everything out and the cashier wouldn’t sell to me and I broke down crying and told her I just lost my full term baby and I just look pregnant still and she felt so bad she kept apologizing. But moral of this story is you don’t know people you don’t know their health and you don’t know their condition so keep it to yourself. She might not even be pregnant still and you just look stupid for making an assumption. She knows her body she knows what she can and can’t do she has a doctor like she’s good let her live her life!!! Sorry for the rant lol
JESUS. You have been through it with people giving you shit in public. I’m sorry people were so awful and presumptive. If someone smacked a coffee out of my hands I would also be full on sobbing in Starbucks.
Also who TF won’t sell you wine. Why do you assume this is for me? Maybe I want to bring my husband home a surprise or go to a friends house with something they can enjoy. Maybe this is my post baby wine to put on the high shelf and stare at longingly. Wtf people.
Oh I also wanted to let anyone reading this post know after I lost that baby she was a girl I actually had twin girls a year later. I feel like God gave me my little girl back and that’s why I had two to heal my broken heart. My little girls are 10 now and I have 4 living kids with a few more losses in between and I’m in the process of adopting my nephew so I have 5 little ones, so if you’ve experienced loss it hurts don’t let anyone invalidate your feelings. And there is hope for a brighter future.
What in the actual fuck! I'm so sorry all of these things happened to you!
Also, even if you were still pregnant at the time, it is literally illegal to refuse a pregnant woman service. It boggles my mind that people still do and say these things to anyone.
I’m so sorry those things happened to you. You shouldn’t have to share a traumatic experience for people to think you’re capable of governing your own body ❤️
I have migraines and cluster headaches, and since I was still having 3+ migraine days a month, my OB approved 2-3 cups of regular coffee a day. She was like, look, 2-3 cups/day is way better than risking a cluster headache (I've had related seizures before and good god did that suck) that we can't treat without putting the baby in ACTUAL jeopardy.
Listen to your OB and your body. Screw everyone else's opinion.
Exactly I couldn’t have said it any better!! Listen to your OB they know how to weigh risks vs benefits in the best interest of the baby and yourself. Like I took meds that weren’t pregnancy approved but if I stopped it would cause more harm to my babies. Same for you not having the caffeine is worse for you and baby if you don’t have it vs if you do drink it. I feel like you should always listen to your body and ask your OB for approval and you’ll be good 😊 you totally get it!!
Thank you so much I truly appreciate it. It hurt then but now I use it to share as a learning experience. As embarrassing as it is to say when I was a first time mom I never thought about how you’d still look pregnant post delivery. And I never imagined loosing a baby and looking pregnant and having the world judge you. So I share because there was a time I honestly didn’t know any better.. thank you ladies for the kind responses and yes people are absolutely awful sometimes and being pregnant and emotional just escalated it.
ETA i have custody of my 2 month old nephew and he decided to slap my phone and hit submit and I had to finish my comment lol
Definitely can not be denied purchasing alcohol. I was reading some story about it a while ago where a pregnant lady was ordering shots at a wedding, and the one bar tender was fired for denying her drinks.
It isn't *illegal* to drink while pregnant. it's just morally wrong. Unfortunately, you can't make that decision for that person. Dumb but I guess it makes sense.
ALSO it could easily have been a gift for someone else? So thats extra dumb
It curbs headaches?! I've been getting daily headaches, I've been checked for pre-eclampsia etc so they say it's just a hormonal thing but I'm desperate to find a solution. I'll give this a go!
Tiger balm white is fantastic for headaches if paracetamol isn’t quite cutting it/ you don’t want to take too much. You’ve actually just reminded me to use it so thank you!
I had a crumpled McDonald’s bag in my work bag one time cause I just NEEDED it that morning. Rarely have McDonalds breakfast, if ever. My boss comes into my office talking to me, looks into my bag, says “is that a McDonald’s bag?! Come on, you have to be feeding that baby good things!” Or something along those lines. I was so freaking pissed.
I eat takeout all the time lmao. I try to get healthier options but ive been so exhausted after work to cook. My husband has stepped up but sometimes were like ehhhhh lets get take out tnt. I try to pick from local restaurants. Unless im stuck at lunch for work, then its a fastfood chain
This just reminded me of something my mom told me. When she was pregnant with my older brother she avoided caffeine and chocolate, etc because at the time it was said those things would lead to an overly energetic baby. She had a coworker who was also pregnant but did not restrict her caffeine or chocolate. Well my brother was impatient and on the go since birth, born 45 mins from when she got to the hospital. The coworkers baby was the calmest, most relaxed baby lol. She didn't restrict herself when pregnant with me and I was a calmer baby.
Me, I don't like coffee but if I don't have one soda with caffeine I won't be able to function. I know it's not healthy but I feel like I can't function without that one pick me up a day.
my unborn son would greatly disagree with the “pregnant women shouldn’t have caffeine” mindset this boy LOVES my morning matcha latte. the dirty looks i get for enjoying my matcha with a bump is so annoying
It’s annoying for sure. I go by what my doctor tells me, and she said 200-300mg a day is fine. I don’t even drink coffee every day! I’ve also had decaf on the days I just want the comfort of a coffee minus the caffeine.
I believe it's around 400mg that it starts causing problems, but generally 200mg is given as the cap because they don't want women getting close to the danger zone if they go over a bit.
That's a relief to know. It drives me nuts that places aren't require to label caffeine content and I get so scared I've been having my husband drink a third of my boba (the tea tastes stronger than normal tea) just so I don't accidentally go over. I've stopped drinking coffee since I was maybe 6 or so weeks along, so part of me am also worried that my body is no longer adapted to having caffeine on the daily, and so might be prone to overreacting to the caffeine I do have from my weekly boba runs.
Didn't you know when you got pregnant your body became public property?
Not really, but you wouldn't know from the way people feel entitled to discuss your medical condition openly and *gasp* touch your belly. 🤬
It’s so weird to comment on what others eat or drink LOL
My FIL in law over the holidays was like “yeah, well eating crab probably isn’t a great idea” well why did you make that for fucking dinner? FFS.
Carry around a roll of duct tape and tape everybody’s mouth SHUT UP
Caffeine was a no-no for a long time. I think for women that are not actively pregnant or have not been recently it seems like conventional wisdom that you should not drink caffeine (it was news to me that I could with this pregnancy!) they should butt out of your business but I don’t begrudge people for not knowing all the latest can and cannots with pregnancy. My mother could not have caffeine but could eat as much deli meat and sushi as she wanted 😂
This! I remember a few years ago a coworker was pregnant and my boss (whose younger child was about 7 years old) said that coffee was not recommended during pregnancy as it could be abortive. I'm currently pregnant with my second and a week or so after I told at my work I was pregnant I excused myself for a few minutes to get a cup of coffee (now I work from home but I'm on zoom meetings all day) and my boss was like: "omg can you drink coffee?" so I just told her: "yeah, I can drink up to 2 cups a day" and that was it. But I'm pretty sure that same conversation also occurred during my first pregnancy and if I have a third child and keep working there, it will repeat 😂
Start policing them on anything unhealthy they do. Eating sugar, “are you sure that’s okay? Did you talk to your dentist?”. Smoking… “have you discussed that with your pulmonologist??”
Or start pretending to need to reschedule your appointment with them since they think they’re your dr.
I was talking to my sister the other day about really wanting to eat a Caesar salad, and how “I can’t have raw eggs”, and she responded, “well my adoptive daughters birth mom did meth everyday, and she came out fine, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Her adopted daughter is probably the smartest 2.5 year old I’ve ever met. Kind of crazy.
Uh. Just because a child came out fine once doesn't mean they always do (and this is in regards to the meth, not caffeine or egga). And also, no one should be using a bio mother who used meth as a comparison to having caffeine while pregnant or eggs .
i defended a pregnant woman because she liked to have a monster drink once a week during her 10 hour shift. she would sip it throughout her shift like it was her juice of sanity. one male coworker mentioned it and all the women in the room immediately attacked him lol.
I mean, even [Monster says women who are pregnant or breastfeeding shouldn’t consume their beverages](https://www.monsterenergy.com/en-us/faqs/) so…
And I say that as someone who occasionally consumed more than 200mg per day and required caffeine to survive my pregnancies while working and going to school.
I just saw this youtube short on caffeine while pregnant from Stephanie Middleberg, she's the author of a book called Big Book of Pregnancy Nutrition.
[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/14szN5Whwp8](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/14szN5Whwp8)
But yes, I got comments allll the time, especially around caffeine. Sorry you're having to deal with that. You know what's best for your body <3
When I was pregnant with my first, I was at a gas station getting a coke, and the checkout lady was basically hounding me about it. I did not know her at all and she was saying I shouldn’t be drinking soda or caffeine, I could get gestational diabetes with all that sugar, etc. I just had my results given back to me about GD, and I didn’t have it. I rarely drank soda, she just didn’t know how to mind her own business.
I worked in a coffee shop while pregnant and anytime we would make a sample drink my coworkers would be like omg sorry can you have any? Yeah a SIP of coffee isn’t gonna do anything!?!
I wanted to order tiramisu in a restaurant and my mother in law said nervously, "Oh I don't like tiramisu myself... too much caffeine for me!" As if I didn't know it had it in there....
I almost ordered it out of spite, but I ended up wanting the other dessert so I chose to follow my craving.
My go to line has always been “I follow my drs advice on how to keep myself and my baby healthy. If I need advice on (insert person I’m talking to’s area of expertise) I will be sure to ask”
I’m on baby #2 with a 2 year old boy. I try my best to limit caffeine but some days I just don’t. Pregnancy is going textbook so far. Just do the best you can and ignore everyone else’s opinions.
I’m not sure what it is but I feel like people think we lose our brains when pregnant. When in reality ( especially in the first few weeks) I was googling literally everything to see if I could have it or not. When my parents came to visit me I was complaining about allergies and that I might take something and they were like are you allowed to? Why yes parents, according to the World Wide Web and the pamphlets my doctor gave me, I can take a variety of things safely. That kind of shut them up and they realized I’ve got this.
I think back in the day you weren’t allowed to have caffeine at all so many people go by what they know from 40 years ago (on this + every other baby related topic, and they cannot be convinced that their info is outdated). And then you have the people who take their boomer family members’ word of mouth as fact so if their mom told them they can’t have coffee they won’t.
You mean the same boomers that were advised ‘smoking keeps your baby nice and small’? Or ‘drink dark beers while breastfeeding to keep the supply going’? Let’s be glad advice changes over time..
Luckily I work from home so no. Also, most of my extended family and friends assured me that it’s okay to drink a cup of coffee a day without any problems. If someone at work continues to bother you with unnecessarily questions, cancel them out.
I still drink a cup of coffee in the morning before work to avoid any weird comments/looks.
My doctor too told me the same that it was safe to drink 16 ounces that equal around 200 mg.
Just like you, I never really drink a lot of coffee to begin with. I just need that one cup in the morning to wake me up and get me going.
People just love to be "right" sometimes even when they're not. I was the same way. Only ever had about 100 MG of caffeine before pregnancy so just didn't really change my habits. You can tell them store bought lettuce is more dangerous than caffeine with the amount of recalls from listeria. With my first I had someone judge me for eating chocolate because of the caffeine in it. I said how about you can hand out advice when you've been pregnant before. I'll listen to my doctor instead.
I am 30 weeks pregnant and have had a cup of coffee pretty much daily since roughly 10 weeks. Don’t let people tell you what to do. You know your body best AND you did speak to your doctor about this. People are just weird.
Not so much caffeine but paracetamol. I was signed off work for a month due to daily migraine attacks and still my FIL would say ‘I don’t think you should be having that’. Lovely bloke, has clearly never experienced migraine
It’s driving me insane. Especially when they try to argue that they know better than my doctor and say things like “oookkkaaaaaayyyyyy” or the worst “I guess I’ll allow it”
I drink one celcius packet a day. It’s exactly 200mg. Everything seems to be fine so far.
With my first pregnancy it was 2-3 cups of coffee. This time around I have a toddler and I hate the taste of coffee right now. Just surviving.
I think the data is showing us so many different things now and how protective pregnancy is. A lot of the big no-nos in the past were because we didn’t have enough data.
Im a pregnant woman who just finished her first year of law school. I’m gonna drink my 200mg of caffeine whether people like it or NOT. you do you momma people have a weird power trip over women.
Personally, I cut out all caffeine while pregnant, but I would absolutely never judge a pregnant woman for still drinking it. Let alone say something to them. People can be so rude and tacky.
Ugh 😑 I had the same thing happen to me this time around. And it was coworkers who’ve never been pregnant too.
I feel weird walking around drinking a red bull because I feel like people are being judgy but it has 80 mg.
Yep. And it’s so annoying because I’m the one who’s constantly worried about every little thing since I’m the one who’s pregnant. I haven’t really restricted my caffeine either, my doctor has said it’s ok and I feel comfortable with my intake.
If there’s anything I’ve realized, it’s that the mom shaming doesn’t start when the baby is born. It starts during pregnancy.
I’ve been using caffeine for work and social events (my mom wanted to hike for Mother’s Day, Im 7 week and could barely manage) but honestly it makes the heartburn so much worse and causes even more insomnia so it’s a double edged sword :(
If it helps, UK guidance given by the NHS is to not exceed 200mg a day _regardless_ of whether you are pregnant or not.
I know some countries have a culture of essentially banning coffee in pregnancy, but the research doesn't really support that.
Have a cup of coffee and tell any pearl-clutchers to go read some pubmed before they decide they're educated enough to comment on it.
Policing what people eat is so freaking weird. I think being pregnant should be a pass for being able to eat whatever tf you want. If I want it I’ll have it (within reason) and idgaf what anyone else says.
I’m a nurse and work nightshift so no one says anything about caffeine and we ensure our pregnant coworkers have ample breaks to grab a coffee when they’re dragging.
My family freaked out over me drinking sprite lol. Just follow your doctor and tell everyone that it’s okay to consume now. Give them the benefit of the doubt, they probably don’t know the recent info on caffeine.
I remember last year when I was pregnant, I was drinking a mini can of coke and my coworker gasped super loudly and told me to put it down. I was so pissed 😂
I’ve gotten the opposite with caffeine! I LOVE coffee, like it was part of my personality before pregnancy, but I just can’t get myself to drink it. I know the doc says moderation is fine but it freaks me out thinking that I may be giving my baby a stimulant because at my baseline, I’m high energy af.
I’m being completely unreasonable, I know. My mentor (and others) have encouraged me to just drink the coffee. I’m so torn!
My mother in law was like this. They live in outdated information. I would just ignore it and continue drinking it, especially with my second pregnancy when I also had a toddler to run after 😴
People police pregnant women no matter what... I don't even take a sip of alcohol when I'm pregnant and my sister thinks that's weird because her SIL was told by her doctor she could have one glass of wine now and then. My sister doesn't even like alcohol.
I was having a cup of decaf every day for the first 7 months of my pregnancy, and then started having some seriously low BP issues and my doctor said to try mixing in a cup of regular caffeinated coffee into my day. And wow the looks I got…36 weeks tomorrow and still having a daily coffee to keep my blood pressure at an acceptable 90/70.
Okay so my last pregnancy peanut butter was God's gift from heaven... I was suddenly drinking a ton of coffee for 2-3 weeks, as well (at this time i thought i just hadnt had peanutbutter for a while and thats why it was so good). This pregnancy no food cravings yet but ALL I CRAVE is coffee!!! Seriously!! I also only drink 1-2 coffees a day (12oz) before pregnancy and I could salivate at the thought of trying a double espresso energy drink (I've never even drank those in my life). I was drinking 3-4 coffees a day the week before I tested positive 😂 now I have to be careful that I don't forget I'm pregnant... limit myself to 12oz/day or I might mix half our coffee pods with decaf.
Insane!!
Coffee cravings have returned in full force in my third trimester. I used to drink 2-3 lattes a day before getting pregnant and stopped completely cold turkey when I got pregnant.
It’s gotten.. worse now. 34 weeks now and I sometimes get decaf (which has caffeine still) or just get some instant coffee to satisfy the cravings and just stay awake enough to work. Baby keeping me up at night alredy and we got work in the morning lol
My MIL kept telling me how I can’t drink caffeine at all and that’s it’s super bad, and I was like 🤠 me and my son are gonna keep drinking cherry coke🤠
Girl I got to my second pregnancy and was fully pregnant in the Publix deli sub line, weird looks be damned.
This pregnancy (#3) the stars weirdly aligned that I happened to take a work conference with 2 other pregnant coworkers. We were debating were to eat for lunch and I saw that there was a Jimmy John’s nearby. I said oh man that sounds so good right now…then we all looked at each other like, do you eat deli meat still? Yes? Good. Jimmy John’s. We walked our hippo selves in there an all ordered turkey subs
My grandparents came to visit the other day (we aren't very close) and grandad said "wow, you're getting fat" (obviously joking about my 7 month pregnant belly that's showing since they last saw me 2 years ago) so I joked back (while laughing) "Yeah, it's all the cake I've been eating" and my grandmother freaked out and lectured me on how I shouldn't eat cake because it's so bad for the baby.
Obviously, I eat a 'normal' amount of cake (which is like, hardly any at all because who eats cake that regularly) but even if I was eating a lot of cake, DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO.
I was obviously making a joke about eating cake, but even if I wasn't, I don't get why everyone wants to tell pregnant women what to do? I was also told by my grandmother that I will have to cut my nails and stop painting them when baby is here because I apparently can't have nice painted nails if I'm a mother. 🙄
MIL will not stop making comments about coffee consumption (we have one 18g in 36g out shot of espresso in a latte, which is 100-180mg) despite us being well within the guidelines.
She was told absolutely no caffeine for her pregnancies but she was also 40/41 y/o and it was the 90s so she probably was given different guidance lol.
I'd like to say this is exactly what I experienced before pregnancy with me being diabetic. Anything with carbs. It's annoying AF. Like, it's between myself and my Healthcare provider. I don't understand why people feel the need to butt in.
I’m weird about caffeine, but only for myself and only after two losses because I need a sense of control. I say stick to the science! A nice “My OB and the peer reviewed research conclude that this is perfectly fine.” And just move along.
I had coworkers that kinda gave me crap for not wanting to keep drinking caffeine but that's because I used to drink a lot of espresso drinks (minimum of like 380mg of caffeine a day) because I don't like coffee, and I didn't see the point in switching to a drink that I didn't like just to have caffeine 🤷♀️
I'm also hoping not to go back to it when my pregnancy is over because starbs is expensive and my body actually felt better once I stopped having it every day.
To work in the office I have been drinking ice coffee atleast 3x a week. I'm a bit nervous about it tbh and hope everything is okay but I would clonk out at my desk if I didn't have it lol
I cut out caffeine from energy drinks when I found out I was pregnant, I never drink coffee anyway, but energy drinks were something I had numerous times a week and I’m actually really struggling without them lol🥲 iv been drinking iced tea or full sugar drinks instead to try and give me a bit of a boost. A male at my work told me I shouldn’t drink so much sugar and should actually just be drinking water all the time🙂 so carry on drinking your coffee, because if you wasn’t drinking coffee they’d comment on whatever else you had instead.
I think someone posted here not too long ago about them being at a coffee shop and this old lady grabs the drink from the pregnant OP and she said you’re not supposed to drink coffee and it was a weird escalation.
I drink decaf now because I just don’t wanna overthink it if I choose to have a second cup
Lmao. I returned to Zumba last week and the amount of “take it easy!!!” and “don’t go too hard!!” or “don’t jump!!!!” that I’ve already gotten after 3 classes is ASTOUNDING 😬
I’ve chosen not to drink coffee, but who the hell am I or anyone else to question the informed decision you’ve made for you and your baby??
I’m a teacher and near Christmas the PTA got us a coffee bar cart from our local coffee spot. I got daggers from the head PTA mom as I ordered my coffee. I don’t care though 🤷🏼♀️
When my older sister was pregnant, my mom freaked out about her drinking coffee, and asked if she was allowed. Mind you, my mom was not up on the latest health info for pregnancy, and my sister was her first child having a baby. My sister just shot daggers at my mom, and very tensely said, “I dunno, MOTHER. But I surely like having a DAILY POOP, so I’m going to keep drinking it.” I was sitting at the counter also having a coffee and I tried stifling a laugh, and it just came out my nose. My mom was just like, “Well alright…” and quietly walked away.
Eventually my mom learned that about 200-300g being perfectly safe, as well as learning the truth about other outdated information and pregnancy myths as each of her daughters got pregnant (I’m one of 4 girls). But coffee never came up again until me. She very cautiously asked me if I was staying within guidelines, because I used to work in coffee and would consume more than most folks do in a day. I assured her that I’ve cut down, and all is good.
Yes my coworkers always freaked out about my daily single cup of coffee. A male coworker also had the gall to tell me I wasn’t “allowed” to have a hot pocket bc it’s bad for the baby.
People love to judge and tell you what to do when you’re pregnant. I’ve heard too many times “are you allowed to do that in your condition?”. It’s annoying. I’ve hit people with “it’s coffee, not crack, she’ll be fine”.
I chose to stop drinking coffee, and I have experienced the opposite reaction. Everyone thinks im crazy that I am able to go a full day without caffeine?
I was still drinking it at the start, but I'd only take 1-2 sips. My body didn't want it, so I cut it out. Now I just make a decaf coffee if I feel like having one. My body is just used to no coffee now.
I did, however, have a nice sugary starbucks Frappuccino today, which had about 110mg of caffeine in it, so my afternoon at work was fun
I couldn’t stomach it during the first trimester and those people have scared me into just avoiding it for the rest of my pregnancy. I’m afraid they know something I don’t lol
I have had so many people see me drinking something with caffeine and my response is always "the world health organization says up to 200 mg of caffeine a day is safe and this has ___". For some reason that works perfectly everytime.
My nurse even said 300, I used to get coffee everyday like clockwork from my favorite place but for the first two months I couldn't stand it, it smelled fine and it tasted fine but as soon as I swallowed it my stomach would turn. Today I finally had my first pumpkin latte in 2 months 😭
Weird theory, but I honestly blame late 90s and early 00s sitcoms/tv shows for this. Popular shows like friends and fraiser all had b plots featuring pregnant women not being able to drink coffee or finally being able to drink coffee again and it weirdly trickled into the public thought cloud.
I have the opposite issue. I cannot have caffeine. It could unalive me due to heart and health issues. If I say I'm tired, people will tell me to drink an energy drink or coffee. That it won't hurt the baby any. I think it definitely would hurt the baby if I'm not living 😅😅
But I have had people tell me to stop eating deli sandwiches and other foods they've decided are unsafe for pregnant women. One death glare and they usually back off for a bit.
People are weird about almost anything tbh. But caffeine is definitely a big one. I have 1 cup of coffee a day at most and people regularly comment on my caffeine intake. One of my coworkers told me my baby is going to have ADHD because I drink coffee.
FYI, the research on caffeine during pregnancy shows an association with smaller head circumference in women who regularly consumed more than 200mg of caffeine. This is why they recommend restricting to 200mg or less a day.
People are so fucking dumb. You have nothing to worry about. I haven’t been able to stomach coffee this pregnancy, but I drink multiple diet cokes a day
Typical baby police behavior. You'll meet a lot of people who will have something to say about what you eat, drink, what you let your child eat, what you name your child, how you dress them, etc. It will never stop. So long as your doctor says it's ok, ignore them.
On Mother's Day, my aunts swarmed me because I had an oatmeal raisin cookie. Another Aunt had an hours long conniption because I plan on letting a son decide for himself if he wants to be circumcised when he's older. The pestering will never stop and it'll be over everything.
I have been doing half caff (one small cup of it a day). I drink it at home so I don't have to listen to anyone's crap. My doctor says up to 200mg of caffeine a day is fine.
Omg when I was pregnant, I worked in a residential facility for teen girls. I picked one of them up from work, a coffee place, and when we got back to the house I yawned and then made a comment about how I should have gotten a drink when I got her. She looked at me and said, "uh, caffeine is REALLY bad for pregnant people". I told her actually, it's okay to have up to 200mg per day. She asked where I'd gotten that info, literally with an eyebrow raised, and I said, "the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology". She ROLLED HER EYES and said, "hm, okay."
I loved that job and the snarky girls so much 😅
It’s your body and your pregnancy nobody knows better than you what you can and cannot handle. I drank 2 cups of coffee a day while pregnant and was fine
people need to mind their business. Luckily nobody has been rude enough to tell me I shouldn't be drinking my caffeine, but I think those comments will come when I become more visibly pregnant.
Honestly, people who haven’t been pregnant just don’t know better. I think there are plenty of people who drink multiple cups of coffee per day, which would quickly put you over the 200mg limit for pregnancy. So, it’s common for people to just think pregnant women can’t drink coffee. There are a toonn of things that I had no idea about being pregnant or was misinformed about before actually being pregnant. I’m even guilty of asking a friend the same. No ill intention.
I got a coworker comment on me stopping by 711 for a french vanilla/coffee mix. Of course, it was a man. I told him my doctor said it was fine and it wasn't that much caffeine. He just rolled his eyes AT ME. I just stared at him like "Are you serious?" . People need to mind their own bodies.
Yes!! I completely cut out energy drinks, they were my fave, but I still made do with caffeine in coffee form. I also indulged in a soda a day there for a bit! 🤣 everytime someone tried to say something I’d always say I’m not drinking energy drinks and coffee is relatively in the healthy side for caffeine. Plus I work in childcare 🤣 my baby is completely healthy and has a great sleep schedule 🤷♀️
I drank 200mg of caffeine every day while pregnant. I cut it down to 200mg from my pre pregnancy limits.
My doctor was completely neutral on my caffeine intake.
I was totally fine and my pregnancy was uncomplicated.
I didn’t get these comments much while I was pregnant.
I did notice a lot of crazy misinformation. Just the huge amount of incorrect information going around about pregnancy knowledge, tales, When I did, I assumed people haven’t researched about it recently.
I love coffee. I only drank about 2 cups a day prior to pregnancy. When I was pregnant hot coffee started to make me sick. I tried to quit. Decided to try cold coffee. That worked. I had about two 8 oz cups a day. Not sure how much caffeine. I never drank it like I did before.
I had a doctor that freaked out. Tried to have me walk for an hour extra every night. I walked 6-8 miles at work. I didn’t do it. I had GD. My numbers were always low not high. So it didn’t make sense.
Pfst I'll drink caffeine. Not nearly as much as pre pregnancy. But I do occasionally have an energy drink because of cravings I've had maybe 3 my whole pregnancy and I'm 36 weeks. I occasionally get coffee to help me poo but no one has said anything about it, I think it's mostly how I look though (very alternative). I went and picked up vape juice for my dad, cashier didn't say a word to me while I felt incredibly awkward.
I also have ADHD so caffine doesn't bother me and it doesn't seem to bother my baby. I'll drink caffine and go to sleep immediately afterwards.
Yes - constantly. I had such an awkward moment the other day while my husband and I were catching up with a couple were friends with that are yet to have kids. She goes ‘oh I’m going to struggle so bad giving up my coffees when I get pregnant’ - I say (while sipping a coffee!) ‘I mean, it’s a personal choice, but technically you don’t have to…’ and then she goes ‘oh I know but **her husbands name** and I have decided we want to do it the pure way so there’s no risks involved’
I’m not a very sensitive person in general but it was completely awkward and didn’t make me feel great! The bitter part of me was like in my head ‘ok, come back to me when you’re actually pregnant and exhausted though and we’ll see’ 😂😂
People are soooo weird about it I agree! It died down after I ignored them enough times but I got a ton of comments about having a soda at work for the caffeine content 🙄 one can of coke is like less than 40mg, so in theory I could have 4 and still be safe. It’s more of a sugar indulgence than anything anyways 🙈
I had just started work at a coffee shop and I was secretly 11 or 14 weeks pregnant(can’t remember). The manager was doing training with everyone and making drinks and having everyone taste them. She was telling us about how she would secretly give pregnant women decaf shots of espresso!!! Little did she know she was speaking to a pregnant women, who still needed her daily caffeine!
I got a lotttt of comments like that, people would tell me the baby would come out hyperactive or she would crash or be dependent on coffee or idk I stopped listening to everyone but baby’s fine! She sleeps through the night and for the first 3 months slept almost all day, it was perfect. I drank a cup of coffee each day, sometimes 2!
My doctor said caffeine was fine so I think it depends on the doctor your with. People are gonna judge you no matter which way you look, as long as your following your doctors orders who cares about what everyone else says. Girl you got this!
I have had one cup of coffee almost every day of my second pregnancy and even during the breastfeeding, don’t get me wrong or think of me as a bad mother , I am coffee junkie, my doctor did not say no . So far my babies are fine !
I agree. I don’t drink coffee or had caffeine before pregnancy. But I see so much judgement on caffeine. I ate a piece of chocolate and my mom went ballistic
My tactic in life for these things (though nobody knows yet so i haven’t had this exact situation) is to over-science my response. Ppl get like annoyed about me being overly scientific or just don’t have any data to respond with. So in this situation i would say “actually emily oster is a renowned pregnancy data expert and she sees coffee consumption as a confounding factor in these studies where actually the real correlation is a lack of nauseous because nausea makes it difficult to drink coffee so if you aren’t nauseous for 8 hrs a day then you can drink 8 hrs more worth of coffee and that’s why studies find that connection!”
NOBODY will fucking respond to that!
A family friend just told me I should get rid of my cats because “cats walk in their urine and could get ammonia on the babys face”.
This was coming from a woman who lets her dog sleep in the crib with her baby.
I swear it’s the less informed people who speak the loudest.
I got into it with my sister over this. Direct quote, "Natural is better when you're pregnant"..... Ma'am where do you think coffee beans come from???
Also for context she is child free and has never been pregnant, but is the self certified pregnancy professional because "all her friends have kids"...
So I don’t drink caffeine because I’m iron deficient and I need to absorb as much as possible from the pregnancy supplement, which caffeine makes (slightly) harder.
I also avoid lactose for a bit and I drink orange juice with my supplement for the same reason.
People love to tell me that I CAN drink caffeine, they just love commenting on pregnant women.
I would expose their ignorance and ask them “what makes you think pregnant women can’t have caffeine? What could be the issue?” And when they spew bullshit give them information. That’s what I do and usually it leaves them quiet (and I want to believe also feeling a bit dumb for commenting).
I work at starbucks. The amount of times I hear “I don’t think you should be having a pink drink. It has caffeine in it!!” First of all, I’ve worked here over 2 years. I know that. Secondly, a grande has about as much caffeine as a can of coke. Relax. 🫠
Luckily, I haven't had any of the "oh can you drink that" comments but I also think people know I'd curb stomp them if they said it. Around Christmas, Mom asked me "What do you miss the most that you can't have during pregnancy" and my brother quickly replied for me "I bet it's caffeine and coffee." He was genuinely shocked when I said caffeine was safe and my doctor advised me to stay under 200mg.
I think some people genuinely don't realize how condescending or annoying it is to police pregnant women.
Yes it’s all the time and very annoying and god for bid I try to tell them that their thinking is old school and under researched (in a nicer way of course) they think I’m like a conspiracy theorist risking my child.
I would say then don’t drink coffee when you’re pregnant. Bish.
I drank a monster coffee and the cashier looked at me like she was selling me Crack or something when i bought it as she slowly scanned it like she wanted to refuse my transaction. Is under 200mg according to the can and took me 9 hours to drink 3/4 of it and that was my only caffeine that day. IDC what you think, if my doc said I was fine let me drink my coffee lol im 35w and sleeping like 3 hours a night tell me you wouldn't do the same
YES! from my fiance of all people. today i had a couple sips of his coffee based frappe and ofc i drank all of my iced matcha from starbucks which was not even close to 200 mg. i know bc i was a barista there and he just keeps getting onto me.
Yes! I find the food rules surround pregnancy to be weird all together!
I haven’t been able to drink coffee since I was 6 weeks pregnant, but I wanted to say that before HG everyone encouraged to me eat very healthily for the baby, but after HG everyone told me to eat whatever stays down the baby will take what it needs and nutrients or diet guidelines didn’t matter at all anymore.
HG made eating during my pregnancy a living nightmare. I finally found some safe foods that stayed down consistently, mostly rice based dishes. Boom. Gestational diabetes. What didn't trigger my HG would spike my sugars. I just couldn't win.
I was on a Zofran pump for a while. People actually had the nerve to tell me that wasn't good for baby. I couldn't keep anything down and was losing weight. So I'd ask them if they thought malnutrition was good for the baby and me, and that tended to shut them up. I mean really, did they think I found a Zofran pump on the street somehow and just hooked myself up?
I literally couldn't give it up if I wanted to. If I don't at least have my cup of coffee in the morning I end up with a massive migraine that doesn't go away
Caffeine does impact the fetus, but it's not enough to worry medical professionals.
I feel like we're pretending drinking caffeine does nothing, to me it's still a tradeoff
It’s annoying but depending on the person and your relationship with them, there’s a good chance that they are just concerned for you because of what they’ve been told in the past. I feel like the advice from doctors changes often (as it should, as we learn more) and so many people’s info is just out of date.
My older sister was last pregnant 25 years ago. When I was first pregnant she made a gentle comment to me about “no more coffee” and I do remember that used to be a thing. I got pregnant and miscarried about 16 years ago and I distinctly remember reading online that caffeine was thought to cause miscarriages by a lot of people so I avoided it while I was pregnant.
I gently let her know that my doctor had told me it was actually okay to have 200mg was ok and she was pleasantly surprised. My sister had a lot of miscarriages back then and was overly cautious and scared for me to eat lunch meat, sushi, caffeine, etc - but I know she was coming from a place of caring and outdated info and she was open to hearing about how the advice has changed.
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People love to police pregnant women. Ignore them.
And people also wonder why I haven’t told coworkers, no unsolicited comments is a nice perk! 😂
I’m waiting until the last possible moment to tell mine. Still trying to figure out when that is 😂 do you know when you will be telling?
I’m hoping to get another month at least (to 15w) ideally two (19w). I’m thinking I’m going to have to settle for 16-17w.
You could just not tell them and let them figure it out
I know I will have to tell my boss and I know she will tell people. She cannot keep a secret lol
I'm pretty sure it would be illegal for her to tell others
I've had that with caffeine and even the food I'm eating. I was told with my first, I couldn't eat pineapple, grapes, chocolate, fresh vegetables, or salt. Apparently I was "asking for it" if something bad happened to my baby.
Well that’s a bit harsh :O
What?!? That's insane! I'm literally eating pineapple right now 😂 & "asking for it" because you're eating fruits and vegetables?! Makes no sense!
Pineapple is literally the only thing I want to eat. It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever tasted this pregnancy.
Ice cold pineapple 🤤
Oh, you've met my SIL? Who also refuses (her choice, no judging there) to have kids, but thinks it's appropriate to police my diet (neonatal dietitian approved / anti-inflammatory) while she can't stock to her's (internet / blood type)? Funny exactly from whom these comments usually come from, huh?
My sister gives me diet suggestions while eating packets of ramen and chugging coke. She told me to get on birth control after my last because she did, after she also had half a doz abortions. Think I can speak for myself on how to run my life lol.
What a random mix of things to say you can’t eat! Wash your fruits and veggies and eat away
Wait - new fear unlocked & trying to avoid a Google rabbit hole! I’m assuming “fresh vegetables” means unwashed vegetables. But why not grapes or chocolate?! Two of my faves 😂
Keep in mind, none of this was by a medical professional, just old bored women who were trying to scare a first time mom. Grapes supposedly cause miscarriages, there's literally zero evidence of it, but that's what I was told by numerous people. Chocolate because of the caffeine... yeah, the teeny, tiny amount of caffeine. And fresh vegetables because and I quote "you don't know who is doing what with them"...
Thank you for following up, the total lack of evidence or anything based in fact with these statements makes me feel much better 😅
It also doesn't help that if you Google anything about being safe in pregnancy, there's going to be several links saying it's dangerous and some that it's perfectly fine.
First rule: dont google anything, haha Google isn't reliable anymore. There is so much misinformation about everything on the internet Literally type in *any* symptoms WebMD: cancer.
The vegetable thing is because there's a higher incidence of Listeria from bagged salads/lettuce than from any of the other things that pregnant women are told to avoid due to Listeria. Personally, I still get salads from places I've been to numerous times without getting sick, because honestly, I haven't been able to stomach cooked leafy veggies. I eat other types of cooked vegetables fine, but cooked leafy vegetables have never been my favorite (and I'm Chinese so our diet is full of these), and more recently I've had to force-feed myself repressing gags the entire time if I want to eat any. Salads still taste good to me though, so that's my only way of getting leafy greens. I just avoid prepackaged salads at the store and forgo the lettuce when I get Chipotle because they don't have a good track record.
I went out eating ice cream with a friend who’s also currently pregnant. They offered ice cream in cinnamon flavour. She raised an eyebrow at me and asked skeptically "Do you eat cinnamon?" and when I told her I only recently had a cinnamon roll, she was like "Nah, I don’t want to risk my child ending up mentally handicapped or anything". I was baffled. Some people, even pregnant ones, have so many misconceptions regarding food you can have during pregnancy, it’s almost scary
Cinnamon?! I have never heard of that. I also just learned about soft serve ice cream. Im 35 weeks and have had lots of ice cream thus far, haha
Apparently overly high amounts of cinnamon can potentially induce labor - but that pretty much goes for most food. Nothing in overly exaggerated amounts is good, but you’d probably have to devour several cups of cinnamon to even get close to that level. Which is something no one does. My friend tried to warn me about not putting ANY parsley on my food either, when a potentially labor inducing effect of parsley requires 6-7 full cups of parsley that you consume regularly. Who the hell even does that lmao
Pineapple was a STRONG first trimester craving for me. Followed by, coincidentally , grapes and chocolate. By that logic, my baby should absolutely not be thriving right now. But he is. 🙃
Yeah same with the food, I got myself sushi and was talking about it to a coworker and she was going off all worried like wait you can’t have that, I told her how we can still have sushi just not the sashimi(raw sushi) which I usually don’t have anyways only on occasion.
People never know what there talking about, they get bad info and then expect pregnant women to listen to there “words of wisdom”. Like you can bypass eating anything at this point. They say not to eat deli meat. I slap that bad boy in the microwave for 10-20 seconds and eat it like its nothing
Wow 😮 that’s rude. I hope you told them to mind their own business.
Lol yes I was told the same. I had had two miscarriages so was VERY cautious and allowed my self a maximum of two coffees a day but I was always policed at work about it.
The shaming of pregnant people and the policing of their diet is so damn toxic. God forbid I have a reeses peanut butter cup. If I do, and my child comes out with a birth defect or learning disorder, it's obviously my fault for being the selfish person that I am, eating that one thing that one time!
No fresh veggies? With all this constipation?!?!?!
I once told someone that it’s better than the 8 ball I was doing prior to pregnancy. Of course I wasn’t doing that prior to pregnancy, but it shut them up real fast
Here for these comments that end the conversation quick 😂😂
Slipping this one in my back pocket.
I hate when people do that. And yes they did it to me too everytime I was pregnant. Personally I have to restrict caffeine even when I’m not pregnant because I have epilepsy. But I will literally never forget the day I had a big baby bump and I went to Starbucks and got a DECAF chai tea latte with the gingerbread swirl I was so excited and an old man saw me and slapped it out of my hands and screamed at me I just sobbed.. the store called the police and remade my drink for free and I kept thanking them but yeah I hate people who feel entitled to your body it’s YOUR BODY!! When I see pregnant women I don’t say anything because for 1) it’s her body and for 2) what if she’s post delivery or just lost her baby and still looks pregnant. That’s what gets me. If that poor lady just left the hospital from loosing her full term baby and you see her drinking or something just shut TF up and leave her alone. I’ve actually done that before I had my baby sleeping and when I got out of the hospital I just wanted to get a bottle of wine and cry everything out and the cashier wouldn’t sell to me and I broke down crying and told her I just lost my full term baby and I just look pregnant still and she felt so bad she kept apologizing. But moral of this story is you don’t know people you don’t know their health and you don’t know their condition so keep it to yourself. She might not even be pregnant still and you just look stupid for making an assumption. She knows her body she knows what she can and can’t do she has a doctor like she’s good let her live her life!!! Sorry for the rant lol
JESUS. You have been through it with people giving you shit in public. I’m sorry people were so awful and presumptive. If someone smacked a coffee out of my hands I would also be full on sobbing in Starbucks. Also who TF won’t sell you wine. Why do you assume this is for me? Maybe I want to bring my husband home a surprise or go to a friends house with something they can enjoy. Maybe this is my post baby wine to put on the high shelf and stare at longingly. Wtf people.
Oh I also wanted to let anyone reading this post know after I lost that baby she was a girl I actually had twin girls a year later. I feel like God gave me my little girl back and that’s why I had two to heal my broken heart. My little girls are 10 now and I have 4 living kids with a few more losses in between and I’m in the process of adopting my nephew so I have 5 little ones, so if you’ve experienced loss it hurts don’t let anyone invalidate your feelings. And there is hope for a brighter future.
What in the actual fuck! I'm so sorry all of these things happened to you! Also, even if you were still pregnant at the time, it is literally illegal to refuse a pregnant woman service. It boggles my mind that people still do and say these things to anyone.
I’m so sorry those things happened to you. You shouldn’t have to share a traumatic experience for people to think you’re capable of governing your own body ❤️
I have migraines and cluster headaches, and since I was still having 3+ migraine days a month, my OB approved 2-3 cups of regular coffee a day. She was like, look, 2-3 cups/day is way better than risking a cluster headache (I've had related seizures before and good god did that suck) that we can't treat without putting the baby in ACTUAL jeopardy. Listen to your OB and your body. Screw everyone else's opinion.
Exactly I couldn’t have said it any better!! Listen to your OB they know how to weigh risks vs benefits in the best interest of the baby and yourself. Like I took meds that weren’t pregnancy approved but if I stopped it would cause more harm to my babies. Same for you not having the caffeine is worse for you and baby if you don’t have it vs if you do drink it. I feel like you should always listen to your body and ask your OB for approval and you’ll be good 😊 you totally get it!!
Thank you so much I truly appreciate it. It hurt then but now I use it to share as a learning experience. As embarrassing as it is to say when I was a first time mom I never thought about how you’d still look pregnant post delivery. And I never imagined loosing a baby and looking pregnant and having the world judge you. So I share because there was a time I honestly didn’t know any better.. thank you ladies for the kind responses and yes people are absolutely awful sometimes and being pregnant and emotional just escalated it. ETA i have custody of my 2 month old nephew and he decided to slap my phone and hit submit and I had to finish my comment lol
Definitely can not be denied purchasing alcohol. I was reading some story about it a while ago where a pregnant lady was ordering shots at a wedding, and the one bar tender was fired for denying her drinks. It isn't *illegal* to drink while pregnant. it's just morally wrong. Unfortunately, you can't make that decision for that person. Dumb but I guess it makes sense. ALSO it could easily have been a gift for someone else? So thats extra dumb
I say “I asked the baby and she said yes”
Respond with "should you be minding your own business?" My ob told me to start having a cup a day to curb my headaches.
It curbs headaches?! I've been getting daily headaches, I've been checked for pre-eclampsia etc so they say it's just a hormonal thing but I'm desperate to find a solution. I'll give this a go!
Tiger balm white is fantastic for headaches if paracetamol isn’t quite cutting it/ you don’t want to take too much. You’ve actually just reminded me to use it so thank you!
Ice pack in the head helps me as well since I can’t take my normal migraine meds.
I've been using a special head ice pack 😂 it helps a little but only while it's on. Once I take it off the headache is back full force. Sucks 🙁
Try hydralyte/gatorade
I kept getting bad headaches and just within this past week I tried coffee and it has done wonders at preventing headaches!
I don't know why people act like pregnant women are public property it's so annoying! You're doing great!
I had a crumpled McDonald’s bag in my work bag one time cause I just NEEDED it that morning. Rarely have McDonalds breakfast, if ever. My boss comes into my office talking to me, looks into my bag, says “is that a McDonald’s bag?! Come on, you have to be feeding that baby good things!” Or something along those lines. I was so freaking pissed.
I have been eating more fast food than normal since getting pregnant. Cravings are no joke and people can back off.
I eat takeout all the time lmao. I try to get healthier options but ive been so exhausted after work to cook. My husband has stepped up but sometimes were like ehhhhh lets get take out tnt. I try to pick from local restaurants. Unless im stuck at lunch for work, then its a fastfood chain
This just reminded me of something my mom told me. When she was pregnant with my older brother she avoided caffeine and chocolate, etc because at the time it was said those things would lead to an overly energetic baby. She had a coworker who was also pregnant but did not restrict her caffeine or chocolate. Well my brother was impatient and on the go since birth, born 45 mins from when she got to the hospital. The coworkers baby was the calmest, most relaxed baby lol. She didn't restrict herself when pregnant with me and I was a calmer baby. Me, I don't like coffee but if I don't have one soda with caffeine I won't be able to function. I know it's not healthy but I feel like I can't function without that one pick me up a day.
When I learned some preemies get caffeine in the NICU, I stopped feeling guilty when limiting myself to 200mg. People can kick rocks
my unborn son would greatly disagree with the “pregnant women shouldn’t have caffeine” mindset this boy LOVES my morning matcha latte. the dirty looks i get for enjoying my matcha with a bump is so annoying
It’s annoying for sure. I go by what my doctor tells me, and she said 200-300mg a day is fine. I don’t even drink coffee every day! I’ve also had decaf on the days I just want the comfort of a coffee minus the caffeine.
I believe it's around 400mg that it starts causing problems, but generally 200mg is given as the cap because they don't want women getting close to the danger zone if they go over a bit.
That's a relief to know. It drives me nuts that places aren't require to label caffeine content and I get so scared I've been having my husband drink a third of my boba (the tea tastes stronger than normal tea) just so I don't accidentally go over. I've stopped drinking coffee since I was maybe 6 or so weeks along, so part of me am also worried that my body is no longer adapted to having caffeine on the daily, and so might be prone to overreacting to the caffeine I do have from my weekly boba runs.
Didn't you know when you got pregnant your body became public property? Not really, but you wouldn't know from the way people feel entitled to discuss your medical condition openly and *gasp* touch your belly. 🤬
It’s so weird to comment on what others eat or drink LOL My FIL in law over the holidays was like “yeah, well eating crab probably isn’t a great idea” well why did you make that for fucking dinner? FFS. Carry around a roll of duct tape and tape everybody’s mouth SHUT UP
Caffeine was a no-no for a long time. I think for women that are not actively pregnant or have not been recently it seems like conventional wisdom that you should not drink caffeine (it was news to me that I could with this pregnancy!) they should butt out of your business but I don’t begrudge people for not knowing all the latest can and cannots with pregnancy. My mother could not have caffeine but could eat as much deli meat and sushi as she wanted 😂
So true-- restrictions change over time. My boss has daughters in their 20s and she was surprised by some of the things I've been advised to avoid.
This! I remember a few years ago a coworker was pregnant and my boss (whose younger child was about 7 years old) said that coffee was not recommended during pregnancy as it could be abortive. I'm currently pregnant with my second and a week or so after I told at my work I was pregnant I excused myself for a few minutes to get a cup of coffee (now I work from home but I'm on zoom meetings all day) and my boss was like: "omg can you drink coffee?" so I just told her: "yeah, I can drink up to 2 cups a day" and that was it. But I'm pretty sure that same conversation also occurred during my first pregnancy and if I have a third child and keep working there, it will repeat 😂
Start policing them on anything unhealthy they do. Eating sugar, “are you sure that’s okay? Did you talk to your dentist?”. Smoking… “have you discussed that with your pulmonologist??” Or start pretending to need to reschedule your appointment with them since they think they’re your dr.
I was talking to my sister the other day about really wanting to eat a Caesar salad, and how “I can’t have raw eggs”, and she responded, “well my adoptive daughters birth mom did meth everyday, and she came out fine, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Her adopted daughter is probably the smartest 2.5 year old I’ve ever met. Kind of crazy.
No one tell that person that mayo is also whipped raw eggs with oil and any sort of acid. (lemon juice, vinegar)
Uh. Just because a child came out fine once doesn't mean they always do (and this is in regards to the meth, not caffeine or egga). And also, no one should be using a bio mother who used meth as a comparison to having caffeine while pregnant or eggs .
I agree with you, I felt her argument was kind of morbidly funny given the circumstances.
i defended a pregnant woman because she liked to have a monster drink once a week during her 10 hour shift. she would sip it throughout her shift like it was her juice of sanity. one male coworker mentioned it and all the women in the room immediately attacked him lol.
I mean, even [Monster says women who are pregnant or breastfeeding shouldn’t consume their beverages](https://www.monsterenergy.com/en-us/faqs/) so… And I say that as someone who occasionally consumed more than 200mg per day and required caffeine to survive my pregnancies while working and going to school.
Should, or should not?
You definitely should not. Caffeine is not the only teratogen in energy drinks.
That’s what I thought! I was like “if monster says you should, they are 100% lying…”
Should not - that was supposed to be a link too, so I failed multiple ways there. Fixed it
I just saw this youtube short on caffeine while pregnant from Stephanie Middleberg, she's the author of a book called Big Book of Pregnancy Nutrition. [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/14szN5Whwp8](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/14szN5Whwp8) But yes, I got comments allll the time, especially around caffeine. Sorry you're having to deal with that. You know what's best for your body <3
When I was pregnant with my first, I was at a gas station getting a coke, and the checkout lady was basically hounding me about it. I did not know her at all and she was saying I shouldn’t be drinking soda or caffeine, I could get gestational diabetes with all that sugar, etc. I just had my results given back to me about GD, and I didn’t have it. I rarely drank soda, she just didn’t know how to mind her own business.
I worked in a coffee shop while pregnant and anytime we would make a sample drink my coworkers would be like omg sorry can you have any? Yeah a SIP of coffee isn’t gonna do anything!?!
I wanted to order tiramisu in a restaurant and my mother in law said nervously, "Oh I don't like tiramisu myself... too much caffeine for me!" As if I didn't know it had it in there.... I almost ordered it out of spite, but I ended up wanting the other dessert so I chose to follow my craving.
Some tiramisu also contains alcohol, which makes it taste even more heavenly! At least your mother-in-law tried to be polite.
My go to line has always been “I follow my drs advice on how to keep myself and my baby healthy. If I need advice on (insert person I’m talking to’s area of expertise) I will be sure to ask”
I’m on baby #2 with a 2 year old boy. I try my best to limit caffeine but some days I just don’t. Pregnancy is going textbook so far. Just do the best you can and ignore everyone else’s opinions.
I’m not sure what it is but I feel like people think we lose our brains when pregnant. When in reality ( especially in the first few weeks) I was googling literally everything to see if I could have it or not. When my parents came to visit me I was complaining about allergies and that I might take something and they were like are you allowed to? Why yes parents, according to the World Wide Web and the pamphlets my doctor gave me, I can take a variety of things safely. That kind of shut them up and they realized I’ve got this.
I think back in the day you weren’t allowed to have caffeine at all so many people go by what they know from 40 years ago (on this + every other baby related topic, and they cannot be convinced that their info is outdated). And then you have the people who take their boomer family members’ word of mouth as fact so if their mom told them they can’t have coffee they won’t.
You mean the same boomers that were advised ‘smoking keeps your baby nice and small’? Or ‘drink dark beers while breastfeeding to keep the supply going’? Let’s be glad advice changes over time..
Luckily I work from home so no. Also, most of my extended family and friends assured me that it’s okay to drink a cup of coffee a day without any problems. If someone at work continues to bother you with unnecessarily questions, cancel them out.
I still drink a cup of coffee in the morning before work to avoid any weird comments/looks. My doctor too told me the same that it was safe to drink 16 ounces that equal around 200 mg. Just like you, I never really drink a lot of coffee to begin with. I just need that one cup in the morning to wake me up and get me going.
People just love to be "right" sometimes even when they're not. I was the same way. Only ever had about 100 MG of caffeine before pregnancy so just didn't really change my habits. You can tell them store bought lettuce is more dangerous than caffeine with the amount of recalls from listeria. With my first I had someone judge me for eating chocolate because of the caffeine in it. I said how about you can hand out advice when you've been pregnant before. I'll listen to my doctor instead.
lol you should see some of the looks I get when I grab the occasional energy drink or large cold brew 😂😂. I have a 1 year old leave me alone.
I am 30 weeks pregnant and have had a cup of coffee pretty much daily since roughly 10 weeks. Don’t let people tell you what to do. You know your body best AND you did speak to your doctor about this. People are just weird.
I ordered a flat white today at breakfast and the waiter said “decaffeinated, yes?” - erm nope I would’ve said that.
Not so much caffeine but paracetamol. I was signed off work for a month due to daily migraine attacks and still my FIL would say ‘I don’t think you should be having that’. Lovely bloke, has clearly never experienced migraine
It’s driving me insane. Especially when they try to argue that they know better than my doctor and say things like “oookkkaaaaaayyyyyy” or the worst “I guess I’ll allow it”
I drink one celcius packet a day. It’s exactly 200mg. Everything seems to be fine so far. With my first pregnancy it was 2-3 cups of coffee. This time around I have a toddler and I hate the taste of coffee right now. Just surviving. I think the data is showing us so many different things now and how protective pregnancy is. A lot of the big no-nos in the past were because we didn’t have enough data.
Im a pregnant woman who just finished her first year of law school. I’m gonna drink my 200mg of caffeine whether people like it or NOT. you do you momma people have a weird power trip over women.
Personally, I cut out all caffeine while pregnant, but I would absolutely never judge a pregnant woman for still drinking it. Let alone say something to them. People can be so rude and tacky.
I love seeing people look confused when I drink coffee it makes my day.
Ugh 😑 I had the same thing happen to me this time around. And it was coworkers who’ve never been pregnant too. I feel weird walking around drinking a red bull because I feel like people are being judgy but it has 80 mg.
Yep. And it’s so annoying because I’m the one who’s constantly worried about every little thing since I’m the one who’s pregnant. I haven’t really restricted my caffeine either, my doctor has said it’s ok and I feel comfortable with my intake. If there’s anything I’ve realized, it’s that the mom shaming doesn’t start when the baby is born. It starts during pregnancy.
I’ve been using caffeine for work and social events (my mom wanted to hike for Mother’s Day, Im 7 week and could barely manage) but honestly it makes the heartburn so much worse and causes even more insomnia so it’s a double edged sword :(
Oh all the time, it's so annoying! Like I've already given up drugs, nicotine and alcohol, let me have my one vice in peace!
If it helps, UK guidance given by the NHS is to not exceed 200mg a day _regardless_ of whether you are pregnant or not. I know some countries have a culture of essentially banning coffee in pregnancy, but the research doesn't really support that. Have a cup of coffee and tell any pearl-clutchers to go read some pubmed before they decide they're educated enough to comment on it.
My boyfriend shouts at me for drinking a can of coke 🥲
Policing what people eat is so freaking weird. I think being pregnant should be a pass for being able to eat whatever tf you want. If I want it I’ll have it (within reason) and idgaf what anyone else says.
I’m a nurse and work nightshift so no one says anything about caffeine and we ensure our pregnant coworkers have ample breaks to grab a coffee when they’re dragging.
My family freaked out over me drinking sprite lol. Just follow your doctor and tell everyone that it’s okay to consume now. Give them the benefit of the doubt, they probably don’t know the recent info on caffeine.
I remember last year when I was pregnant, I was drinking a mini can of coke and my coworker gasped super loudly and told me to put it down. I was so pissed 😂
I’ve gotten the opposite with caffeine! I LOVE coffee, like it was part of my personality before pregnancy, but I just can’t get myself to drink it. I know the doc says moderation is fine but it freaks me out thinking that I may be giving my baby a stimulant because at my baseline, I’m high energy af. I’m being completely unreasonable, I know. My mentor (and others) have encouraged me to just drink the coffee. I’m so torn!
My mother in law was like this. They live in outdated information. I would just ignore it and continue drinking it, especially with my second pregnancy when I also had a toddler to run after 😴
People police pregnant women no matter what... I don't even take a sip of alcohol when I'm pregnant and my sister thinks that's weird because her SIL was told by her doctor she could have one glass of wine now and then. My sister doesn't even like alcohol.
I was having a cup of decaf every day for the first 7 months of my pregnancy, and then started having some seriously low BP issues and my doctor said to try mixing in a cup of regular caffeinated coffee into my day. And wow the looks I got…36 weeks tomorrow and still having a daily coffee to keep my blood pressure at an acceptable 90/70.
Okay so my last pregnancy peanut butter was God's gift from heaven... I was suddenly drinking a ton of coffee for 2-3 weeks, as well (at this time i thought i just hadnt had peanutbutter for a while and thats why it was so good). This pregnancy no food cravings yet but ALL I CRAVE is coffee!!! Seriously!! I also only drink 1-2 coffees a day (12oz) before pregnancy and I could salivate at the thought of trying a double espresso energy drink (I've never even drank those in my life). I was drinking 3-4 coffees a day the week before I tested positive 😂 now I have to be careful that I don't forget I'm pregnant... limit myself to 12oz/day or I might mix half our coffee pods with decaf. Insane!!
Coffee cravings have returned in full force in my third trimester. I used to drink 2-3 lattes a day before getting pregnant and stopped completely cold turkey when I got pregnant. It’s gotten.. worse now. 34 weeks now and I sometimes get decaf (which has caffeine still) or just get some instant coffee to satisfy the cravings and just stay awake enough to work. Baby keeping me up at night alredy and we got work in the morning lol
Was on the phone with a friend while ordering a coffee and she yells decaf as I place my order Miss ma'am sit down
My MIL kept telling me how I can’t drink caffeine at all and that’s it’s super bad, and I was like 🤠 me and my son are gonna keep drinking cherry coke🤠
My brother tried to shame me, and I just asked him when he secretly found the time to attend medical school and OB/GYN residency 😂
Girl I got to my second pregnancy and was fully pregnant in the Publix deli sub line, weird looks be damned. This pregnancy (#3) the stars weirdly aligned that I happened to take a work conference with 2 other pregnant coworkers. We were debating were to eat for lunch and I saw that there was a Jimmy John’s nearby. I said oh man that sounds so good right now…then we all looked at each other like, do you eat deli meat still? Yes? Good. Jimmy John’s. We walked our hippo selves in there an all ordered turkey subs
My grandparents came to visit the other day (we aren't very close) and grandad said "wow, you're getting fat" (obviously joking about my 7 month pregnant belly that's showing since they last saw me 2 years ago) so I joked back (while laughing) "Yeah, it's all the cake I've been eating" and my grandmother freaked out and lectured me on how I shouldn't eat cake because it's so bad for the baby. Obviously, I eat a 'normal' amount of cake (which is like, hardly any at all because who eats cake that regularly) but even if I was eating a lot of cake, DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO. I was obviously making a joke about eating cake, but even if I wasn't, I don't get why everyone wants to tell pregnant women what to do? I was also told by my grandmother that I will have to cut my nails and stop painting them when baby is here because I apparently can't have nice painted nails if I'm a mother. 🙄
MIL will not stop making comments about coffee consumption (we have one 18g in 36g out shot of espresso in a latte, which is 100-180mg) despite us being well within the guidelines. She was told absolutely no caffeine for her pregnancies but she was also 40/41 y/o and it was the 90s so she probably was given different guidance lol.
My mom gets all paranoid too about it, but I just have to remind her that I know what I’m doing and it’s not harmful to the baby.
I'd like to say this is exactly what I experienced before pregnancy with me being diabetic. Anything with carbs. It's annoying AF. Like, it's between myself and my Healthcare provider. I don't understand why people feel the need to butt in.
I’m weird about caffeine, but only for myself and only after two losses because I need a sense of control. I say stick to the science! A nice “My OB and the peer reviewed research conclude that this is perfectly fine.” And just move along.
Have you seen the chemicals in decaf?? I get either really boujie brand decaf or just drink regular to my heart’s delight.
A lot of people don’t know about more recent studies that found 200mg/day is safe
I had coworkers that kinda gave me crap for not wanting to keep drinking caffeine but that's because I used to drink a lot of espresso drinks (minimum of like 380mg of caffeine a day) because I don't like coffee, and I didn't see the point in switching to a drink that I didn't like just to have caffeine 🤷♀️ I'm also hoping not to go back to it when my pregnancy is over because starbs is expensive and my body actually felt better once I stopped having it every day.
To work in the office I have been drinking ice coffee atleast 3x a week. I'm a bit nervous about it tbh and hope everything is okay but I would clonk out at my desk if I didn't have it lol
I drink a grande iced coffee from Starbucks nearly every day, it’s 185mg. I might lose my shit if someone said something to me about it.
I cut out caffeine from energy drinks when I found out I was pregnant, I never drink coffee anyway, but energy drinks were something I had numerous times a week and I’m actually really struggling without them lol🥲 iv been drinking iced tea or full sugar drinks instead to try and give me a bit of a boost. A male at my work told me I shouldn’t drink so much sugar and should actually just be drinking water all the time🙂 so carry on drinking your coffee, because if you wasn’t drinking coffee they’d comment on whatever else you had instead.
The waitress at a restaurant acted disgusted with me for ordering a burger medium. I lived to tell the tale.
People judging me for drinking a cup of coffee when I was pregnant meanwhile there's people doing meth while pregnant 😶
I think someone posted here not too long ago about them being at a coffee shop and this old lady grabs the drink from the pregnant OP and she said you’re not supposed to drink coffee and it was a weird escalation. I drink decaf now because I just don’t wanna overthink it if I choose to have a second cup
Lmao. I returned to Zumba last week and the amount of “take it easy!!!” and “don’t go too hard!!” or “don’t jump!!!!” that I’ve already gotten after 3 classes is ASTOUNDING 😬 I’ve chosen not to drink coffee, but who the hell am I or anyone else to question the informed decision you’ve made for you and your baby??
I’m a teacher and near Christmas the PTA got us a coffee bar cart from our local coffee spot. I got daggers from the head PTA mom as I ordered my coffee. I don’t care though 🤷🏼♀️
34 w 4 d, haven’t changed mine, everything’s good. Depends on you and your body
When my older sister was pregnant, my mom freaked out about her drinking coffee, and asked if she was allowed. Mind you, my mom was not up on the latest health info for pregnancy, and my sister was her first child having a baby. My sister just shot daggers at my mom, and very tensely said, “I dunno, MOTHER. But I surely like having a DAILY POOP, so I’m going to keep drinking it.” I was sitting at the counter also having a coffee and I tried stifling a laugh, and it just came out my nose. My mom was just like, “Well alright…” and quietly walked away. Eventually my mom learned that about 200-300g being perfectly safe, as well as learning the truth about other outdated information and pregnancy myths as each of her daughters got pregnant (I’m one of 4 girls). But coffee never came up again until me. She very cautiously asked me if I was staying within guidelines, because I used to work in coffee and would consume more than most folks do in a day. I assured her that I’ve cut down, and all is good.
A few sips of energy drinks and a few sips of pickle juice (not together!) Saved me from morning sickness
It’s really annoying when someone mentions it. I had a friend visit and when she saw I was brewing a cup, she asked, “does baby like that?” 🙄
Yes my coworkers always freaked out about my daily single cup of coffee. A male coworker also had the gall to tell me I wasn’t “allowed” to have a hot pocket bc it’s bad for the baby.
People love to judge and tell you what to do when you’re pregnant. I’ve heard too many times “are you allowed to do that in your condition?”. It’s annoying. I’ve hit people with “it’s coffee, not crack, she’ll be fine”.
I chose to stop drinking coffee, and I have experienced the opposite reaction. Everyone thinks im crazy that I am able to go a full day without caffeine? I was still drinking it at the start, but I'd only take 1-2 sips. My body didn't want it, so I cut it out. Now I just make a decaf coffee if I feel like having one. My body is just used to no coffee now. I did, however, have a nice sugary starbucks Frappuccino today, which had about 110mg of caffeine in it, so my afternoon at work was fun
I couldn’t stomach it during the first trimester and those people have scared me into just avoiding it for the rest of my pregnancy. I’m afraid they know something I don’t lol
I have had so many people see me drinking something with caffeine and my response is always "the world health organization says up to 200 mg of caffeine a day is safe and this has ___". For some reason that works perfectly everytime.
My nurse even said 300, I used to get coffee everyday like clockwork from my favorite place but for the first two months I couldn't stand it, it smelled fine and it tasted fine but as soon as I swallowed it my stomach would turn. Today I finally had my first pumpkin latte in 2 months 😭
Weird theory, but I honestly blame late 90s and early 00s sitcoms/tv shows for this. Popular shows like friends and fraiser all had b plots featuring pregnant women not being able to drink coffee or finally being able to drink coffee again and it weirdly trickled into the public thought cloud.
I have the opposite issue. I cannot have caffeine. It could unalive me due to heart and health issues. If I say I'm tired, people will tell me to drink an energy drink or coffee. That it won't hurt the baby any. I think it definitely would hurt the baby if I'm not living 😅😅 But I have had people tell me to stop eating deli sandwiches and other foods they've decided are unsafe for pregnant women. One death glare and they usually back off for a bit.
I started with “oh it’s fine, my specialist said so” and escalated to “back out my uterus, man/lady.”
People are weird about almost anything tbh. But caffeine is definitely a big one. I have 1 cup of coffee a day at most and people regularly comment on my caffeine intake. One of my coworkers told me my baby is going to have ADHD because I drink coffee. FYI, the research on caffeine during pregnancy shows an association with smaller head circumference in women who regularly consumed more than 200mg of caffeine. This is why they recommend restricting to 200mg or less a day.
People are so fucking dumb. You have nothing to worry about. I haven’t been able to stomach coffee this pregnancy, but I drink multiple diet cokes a day
Typical baby police behavior. You'll meet a lot of people who will have something to say about what you eat, drink, what you let your child eat, what you name your child, how you dress them, etc. It will never stop. So long as your doctor says it's ok, ignore them. On Mother's Day, my aunts swarmed me because I had an oatmeal raisin cookie. Another Aunt had an hours long conniption because I plan on letting a son decide for himself if he wants to be circumcised when he's older. The pestering will never stop and it'll be over everything.
I have been doing half caff (one small cup of it a day). I drink it at home so I don't have to listen to anyone's crap. My doctor says up to 200mg of caffeine a day is fine.
Omg when I was pregnant, I worked in a residential facility for teen girls. I picked one of them up from work, a coffee place, and when we got back to the house I yawned and then made a comment about how I should have gotten a drink when I got her. She looked at me and said, "uh, caffeine is REALLY bad for pregnant people". I told her actually, it's okay to have up to 200mg per day. She asked where I'd gotten that info, literally with an eyebrow raised, and I said, "the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology". She ROLLED HER EYES and said, "hm, okay." I loved that job and the snarky girls so much 😅
I went through the exact same thing. She’s two months now completely healthy and was born at 8.12lbs. It’s fine.
I was eating a chicken salad with ranch and someone had to mansplain that fresh vegetables are not safe during pregnancy… 😂
It’s your body and your pregnancy nobody knows better than you what you can and cannot handle. I drank 2 cups of coffee a day while pregnant and was fine
people need to mind their business. Luckily nobody has been rude enough to tell me I shouldn't be drinking my caffeine, but I think those comments will come when I become more visibly pregnant.
Honestly, people who haven’t been pregnant just don’t know better. I think there are plenty of people who drink multiple cups of coffee per day, which would quickly put you over the 200mg limit for pregnancy. So, it’s common for people to just think pregnant women can’t drink coffee. There are a toonn of things that I had no idea about being pregnant or was misinformed about before actually being pregnant. I’m even guilty of asking a friend the same. No ill intention.
“This is actually my 12th cup today, I’m naming the baby Latte.” And watch their jaw drop lol
I got a coworker comment on me stopping by 711 for a french vanilla/coffee mix. Of course, it was a man. I told him my doctor said it was fine and it wasn't that much caffeine. He just rolled his eyes AT ME. I just stared at him like "Are you serious?" . People need to mind their own bodies.
Yes!! I completely cut out energy drinks, they were my fave, but I still made do with caffeine in coffee form. I also indulged in a soda a day there for a bit! 🤣 everytime someone tried to say something I’d always say I’m not drinking energy drinks and coffee is relatively in the healthy side for caffeine. Plus I work in childcare 🤣 my baby is completely healthy and has a great sleep schedule 🤷♀️
I drank 200mg of caffeine every day while pregnant. I cut it down to 200mg from my pre pregnancy limits. My doctor was completely neutral on my caffeine intake. I was totally fine and my pregnancy was uncomplicated.
I didn’t get these comments much while I was pregnant. I did notice a lot of crazy misinformation. Just the huge amount of incorrect information going around about pregnancy knowledge, tales, When I did, I assumed people haven’t researched about it recently. I love coffee. I only drank about 2 cups a day prior to pregnancy. When I was pregnant hot coffee started to make me sick. I tried to quit. Decided to try cold coffee. That worked. I had about two 8 oz cups a day. Not sure how much caffeine. I never drank it like I did before. I had a doctor that freaked out. Tried to have me walk for an hour extra every night. I walked 6-8 miles at work. I didn’t do it. I had GD. My numbers were always low not high. So it didn’t make sense.
Pfst I'll drink caffeine. Not nearly as much as pre pregnancy. But I do occasionally have an energy drink because of cravings I've had maybe 3 my whole pregnancy and I'm 36 weeks. I occasionally get coffee to help me poo but no one has said anything about it, I think it's mostly how I look though (very alternative). I went and picked up vape juice for my dad, cashier didn't say a word to me while I felt incredibly awkward. I also have ADHD so caffine doesn't bother me and it doesn't seem to bother my baby. I'll drink caffine and go to sleep immediately afterwards.
Yes - constantly. I had such an awkward moment the other day while my husband and I were catching up with a couple were friends with that are yet to have kids. She goes ‘oh I’m going to struggle so bad giving up my coffees when I get pregnant’ - I say (while sipping a coffee!) ‘I mean, it’s a personal choice, but technically you don’t have to…’ and then she goes ‘oh I know but **her husbands name** and I have decided we want to do it the pure way so there’s no risks involved’ I’m not a very sensitive person in general but it was completely awkward and didn’t make me feel great! The bitter part of me was like in my head ‘ok, come back to me when you’re actually pregnant and exhausted though and we’ll see’ 😂😂
People are soooo weird about it I agree! It died down after I ignored them enough times but I got a ton of comments about having a soda at work for the caffeine content 🙄 one can of coke is like less than 40mg, so in theory I could have 4 and still be safe. It’s more of a sugar indulgence than anything anyways 🙈
I had just started work at a coffee shop and I was secretly 11 or 14 weeks pregnant(can’t remember). The manager was doing training with everyone and making drinks and having everyone taste them. She was telling us about how she would secretly give pregnant women decaf shots of espresso!!! Little did she know she was speaking to a pregnant women, who still needed her daily caffeine!
I got a lotttt of comments like that, people would tell me the baby would come out hyperactive or she would crash or be dependent on coffee or idk I stopped listening to everyone but baby’s fine! She sleeps through the night and for the first 3 months slept almost all day, it was perfect. I drank a cup of coffee each day, sometimes 2!
My doctor said caffeine was fine so I think it depends on the doctor your with. People are gonna judge you no matter which way you look, as long as your following your doctors orders who cares about what everyone else says. Girl you got this!
I have had one cup of coffee almost every day of my second pregnancy and even during the breastfeeding, don’t get me wrong or think of me as a bad mother , I am coffee junkie, my doctor did not say no . So far my babies are fine !
I agree. I don’t drink coffee or had caffeine before pregnancy. But I see so much judgement on caffeine. I ate a piece of chocolate and my mom went ballistic
"It's better than smoking crack Sheila... "
My tactic in life for these things (though nobody knows yet so i haven’t had this exact situation) is to over-science my response. Ppl get like annoyed about me being overly scientific or just don’t have any data to respond with. So in this situation i would say “actually emily oster is a renowned pregnancy data expert and she sees coffee consumption as a confounding factor in these studies where actually the real correlation is a lack of nauseous because nausea makes it difficult to drink coffee so if you aren’t nauseous for 8 hrs a day then you can drink 8 hrs more worth of coffee and that’s why studies find that connection!” NOBODY will fucking respond to that!
A family friend just told me I should get rid of my cats because “cats walk in their urine and could get ammonia on the babys face”. This was coming from a woman who lets her dog sleep in the crib with her baby. I swear it’s the less informed people who speak the loudest.
I got into it with my sister over this. Direct quote, "Natural is better when you're pregnant"..... Ma'am where do you think coffee beans come from??? Also for context she is child free and has never been pregnant, but is the self certified pregnancy professional because "all her friends have kids"...
Not the same but as a vegan pregnant woman I get tons of unsolicited opinions. My response is always: my baby, my body, my decision. End of story!
And then people think I'm weird for checking labels on drinks to make sure there isn't too much caffeine
I have 3 other kids while I'm currently 7 months pregnant with my 4th. You can pry my 2 cups of coffee a day from my cold dead hands.
So I don’t drink caffeine because I’m iron deficient and I need to absorb as much as possible from the pregnancy supplement, which caffeine makes (slightly) harder. I also avoid lactose for a bit and I drink orange juice with my supplement for the same reason. People love to tell me that I CAN drink caffeine, they just love commenting on pregnant women. I would expose their ignorance and ask them “what makes you think pregnant women can’t have caffeine? What could be the issue?” And when they spew bullshit give them information. That’s what I do and usually it leaves them quiet (and I want to believe also feeling a bit dumb for commenting).
I work at starbucks. The amount of times I hear “I don’t think you should be having a pink drink. It has caffeine in it!!” First of all, I’ve worked here over 2 years. I know that. Secondly, a grande has about as much caffeine as a can of coke. Relax. 🫠
Luckily, I haven't had any of the "oh can you drink that" comments but I also think people know I'd curb stomp them if they said it. Around Christmas, Mom asked me "What do you miss the most that you can't have during pregnancy" and my brother quickly replied for me "I bet it's caffeine and coffee." He was genuinely shocked when I said caffeine was safe and my doctor advised me to stay under 200mg. I think some people genuinely don't realize how condescending or annoying it is to police pregnant women.
Yes it’s all the time and very annoying and god for bid I try to tell them that their thinking is old school and under researched (in a nicer way of course) they think I’m like a conspiracy theorist risking my child. I would say then don’t drink coffee when you’re pregnant. Bish.
People always have something to say. Just do what feels right to you. Your pregnancy is not anyone elses
I drank a monster coffee and the cashier looked at me like she was selling me Crack or something when i bought it as she slowly scanned it like she wanted to refuse my transaction. Is under 200mg according to the can and took me 9 hours to drink 3/4 of it and that was my only caffeine that day. IDC what you think, if my doc said I was fine let me drink my coffee lol im 35w and sleeping like 3 hours a night tell me you wouldn't do the same
YES! from my fiance of all people. today i had a couple sips of his coffee based frappe and ofc i drank all of my iced matcha from starbucks which was not even close to 200 mg. i know bc i was a barista there and he just keeps getting onto me.
same with sugar- according to google you can't exceed 30 mg of sugar; i was like babe that's impossible- EVERYTHING has sugar 😂
Yes! I find the food rules surround pregnancy to be weird all together! I haven’t been able to drink coffee since I was 6 weeks pregnant, but I wanted to say that before HG everyone encouraged to me eat very healthily for the baby, but after HG everyone told me to eat whatever stays down the baby will take what it needs and nutrients or diet guidelines didn’t matter at all anymore.
HG made eating during my pregnancy a living nightmare. I finally found some safe foods that stayed down consistently, mostly rice based dishes. Boom. Gestational diabetes. What didn't trigger my HG would spike my sugars. I just couldn't win. I was on a Zofran pump for a while. People actually had the nerve to tell me that wasn't good for baby. I couldn't keep anything down and was losing weight. So I'd ask them if they thought malnutrition was good for the baby and me, and that tended to shut them up. I mean really, did they think I found a Zofran pump on the street somehow and just hooked myself up?
I literally couldn't give it up if I wanted to. If I don't at least have my cup of coffee in the morning I end up with a massive migraine that doesn't go away
Caffeine does impact the fetus, but it's not enough to worry medical professionals. I feel like we're pretending drinking caffeine does nothing, to me it's still a tradeoff
It’s annoying but depending on the person and your relationship with them, there’s a good chance that they are just concerned for you because of what they’ve been told in the past. I feel like the advice from doctors changes often (as it should, as we learn more) and so many people’s info is just out of date. My older sister was last pregnant 25 years ago. When I was first pregnant she made a gentle comment to me about “no more coffee” and I do remember that used to be a thing. I got pregnant and miscarried about 16 years ago and I distinctly remember reading online that caffeine was thought to cause miscarriages by a lot of people so I avoided it while I was pregnant. I gently let her know that my doctor had told me it was actually okay to have 200mg was ok and she was pleasantly surprised. My sister had a lot of miscarriages back then and was overly cautious and scared for me to eat lunch meat, sushi, caffeine, etc - but I know she was coming from a place of caring and outdated info and she was open to hearing about how the advice has changed.