Can pregnant women drink coffee and how much? Can pregnant women drink coffee in the early or late stages - benefits and harms, effects on the fetus

Content

Pregnancy often involves various restrictions. While some pregnant women continue to lead their usual lifestyle, other representatives have to reconsider their lifestyle and eating habits. The possibility of drinking coffee during pregnancy is still quite controversial. There are arguments both for and against use.

Beneficial properties of coffee

Despite the fact that pregnancy is not a disease, but a physiological condition, women often have to give up their favorite physical activity and usual diet. In principle, replacing one product with another is not difficult. However, many women during pregnancy cannot imagine breakfast or the start of the day without a cup of coffee. Possibility of consumption of this product during pregnancy is still questioned.

Coffee has a unique aroma and fills the body with vigor. It is noteworthy that it contains more than a hundred substances. Approximately a third of the substances are aromatic compounds, which determine the main highlight of the drink.

The product also contains alkaloids. These are tonic compounds that provide a burst of energy. One of the main alkaloids is caffeine. The concentration of caffeine depends on the variety. In a spoon ground product contains approximately 0.2 grams of caffeine.

It is noteworthy that coffee contains:

  • vitamins;
  • mineral salts;
  • carbohydrates.

Chemical composition of grains has not been fully studied by specialists.

100 grams of ground product includes 50% daily requirement body in vitamins B2 and D, iron and phosphorus, 132% of daily value vitamin PP, 20%:

  • calcium;
  • sodium;
  • carbohydrates;
  • amino acids.

During the roasting process, the beans emit a specific aroma, which is caused by one of the alkaloids. When fried, it forms nicotinic acid, which actively affects the nervous system.

The rich composition of the product can have both benefits and harm. This fact must be taken into account when planning pregnancy and in the process of bearing a child. However, the nature of the effect of a coffee drink on the body during conception and pregnancy depends on the individual characteristics of the woman.

Moderate consumption of the product during pregnancy and before conception has the following positive effects:

  • security good mood and a feeling of strength;
  • increasing concentration and performance;
  • stimulation of intestinal function;
  • stabilization of the general condition with VSD and hypotension;
  • antioxidant effect;
  • relief of symptoms of bronchial asthma;
  • reducing the risk of cancer, diseases cardiovascular system.

Excessive consumption causes various consequences. Experts cite the following negative health effects from excess consumption:

  • potassium deficiency;
  • urolithiasis;
  • increased cholesterol concentration;
  • hypertension;
  • dehydration.

Coffee belongs to the class of light narcotic compounds. This is why some people experience psychological and physical dependence.

Effect on the body during conception and pregnancy

Everyone knows that coffee should not be consumed during pregnancy or before conception. Some experts do not recommend drinking it during pregnancy and lactation due to possible consequences for the body of the mother and child.

There is reliable data obtained from research on the dangers of significant consumption during pregnancy. In particular, frequent consumption may lead to miscarriage early stages and premature and late births. One serving of a weak drink during pregnancy does not have a negative effect.

During pregnancy, you are allowed to drink up to two cups of weak coffee per day. However, it can only be consumed by women during pregnancy who do not have:

  • pathologies of the kidneys, liver;
  • anemia;
  • hypertension.

Excessive consumption can be dangerous in the third trimester of pregnancy due to the risk of developing preeclampsia. Against the background of toxicosis in early pregnancy, intolerance may occur, which is manifested by an attack of vomiting, nausea and lightheadedness.

There is research data that proves that excessive coffee consumption leads to difficulty conceiving. This is why the product should be limited when planning pregnancy.

Some women cannot give up coffee during pregnancy for two reasons.

  1. Addiction, like alcohol and nicotine. When it enters the body, caffeine is absorbed into the blood and reaches neurons, where dopamine synthesis is activated. This neurotransmitter gives a feeling of cheerfulness and joy. This short-term effect disappears within 2-3 hours. The body again feels the need to consume coffee.
  2. Iron deficiency. A lack of iron in the body of a pregnant woman leads to oxygen starvation of cells in both the mother and the fetus. In such cases, it is necessary to undergo examination and necessary treatment.

To avoid the consequences of drinking coffee, experts advise following the recommendations during pregnancy.

  1. The drink can be drunk only after meals. When consumed on an empty stomach, coffee irritates the mucous membranes and causes nausea, heartburn and pain.
  2. It is advisable to drink coffee with diluted milk or cream. Thus, the strength of the drink is reduced and the supply of calcium is renewed.
  3. It is known that coffee can cause dehydration. That is why after each cup you need to drink three glasses. mineral water in order to normalize water balance.
  4. When drinking coffee, you should also consider other caffeine-containing products. Caffeine is found in tea, cola, chocolate and cocoa.

There are different varieties coffee. Experts recommend choosing exclusively insoluble, since such a drink does not contain additives.

Soluble

Some women mistakenly believe that it is advisable to drink during pregnancy. instant coffee due to lower caffeine content. You should be aware that this coffee contains robusta beans, and the caffeine concentration may be even higher compared to the brewed drink.

The instant drink has a questionable composition. Coffee extract is only 20-25%. A significant part of the composition involves chemical additives. 3-in-1 drinks also contain preservatives and fats.

Black

This coffee is sold in beans or ground form. The longer the beans are roasted, the higher the concentration of alkaloids. This is why it is not advisable to choose heavily roasted beans during pregnancy. It is recommended to dilute the drink with milk or cream.

Coffee includes two types.

  1. Arabica. It has a noble acidity, more delicate aroma and the taste, weakness of the resulting drink.
  2. Robusta. Somewhat inferior in taste, but contains more caffeine.

The drink is more intense with fine grinding.

Decaffeinated

Such coffee is not only useless, but also dangerous due to the various solvents used to extract caffeine from the product. In addition, even after processing, the presence of caffeine is noted. Experts believe that such a drink contributes to the appearance of atherosclerosis.

The taste also leaves much to be desired. The drink loses its aroma and taste and is bland. From of this drink it is advisable to refuse in favor natural varieties With low content caffeine

With milk

Experts recommend diluting both natural and instant drinks with milk and cream. Firstly, preparing the drink in this way somewhat reduces its strength. Secondly, a drink with added cream or milk helps replenish calcium deficiency. It is known that caffeine promotes the leaching of fluoride and calcium from the body, which has a negative impact on the condition of the musculoskeletal system of the mother and child.

Contraindications for use

During pregnancy, it is advisable to drink weak coffee after breakfast. A cup of weak coffee is especially useful for vegetative-vascular dystonia and hypotension. Coffee has a diuretic effect. It is recommended for women with physiological swelling, starting in the second trimester of pregnancy. However, you can drink coffee only in the absence of proteinuria, anemia and gestosis.

Coffee can cause unwanted effects at any stage of pregnancy. Excessive coffee consumption has the following negative consequences:

  • the diuretic effect leads to the leaching of potassium, phosphorus and calcium, which can cause impaired skeletal development in a child and osteoporosis in a pregnant woman;
  • when drinking more than 4 cups of coffee per day, insufficient fetal weight may be observed;
  • since coffee increases blood pressure and provokes constriction of blood vessels, including the placenta, phytoplacental insufficiency and oxygen starvation of the fetus may occur;
  • coffee penetrates the placenta and can provoke changes in heart rhythm in a growing organism;
  • Excessive coffee consumption causes insomnia, irritability, anxiety, aggressiveness and other signs of nervous tension.

With uterine hypertonicity consumption of coffee drink provokes miscarriage.

It is known that caffeine is a potentially dangerous substance during pregnancy. Before consuming it, you should consult your doctor to ensure there are no contraindications.

Caffeine is contraindicated in the following pathologies and conditions:

  • hypertension;
  • rapid pulse;
  • toxicosis;
  • gestosis;
  • sleep-related disorders;
  • anemia;
  • lack of appetite;
  • disorders of fetoplacental blood flow.

In these cases, drinking even weakly brewed coffee is contraindicated due to the risk of worsening the condition.

Alternative options

If drinking coffee is contraindicated, you can brew a natural coffee drink. There are drinks on sale with chicory, barley, herbal and berry extracts. They come in the form of a soluble powder or raw material that must be cooked.

Chicory

For preparation, chicory root is used, which in its taste and aroma resembles a coffee drink. In addition, chicory has many beneficial properties and is not contraindicated during pregnancy.

Experts call the following positive properties chicory:

  • stabilization of blood sugar levels;
  • increased hemoglobin;
  • cleansing effect;
  • improved appetite;
  • sedative effect.

The only contraindications are:

Chicory has diuretic properties. That is why it should not be drunk more than 4 times a day. The drink is prepared in accordance with the recommendations on the packaging. Typically, chicory is in the form of a powder, which is mixed with sugar and then poured with boiling water. To improve taste qualities It is allowed to add milk, cream or condensed milk.

Barley

The barley drink does not contain caffeine. In addition, it is noted high content vitamins, minerals. Barley drink is different pleasant taste and aroma. There are no contraindications to drinking the drink.

It is noteworthy that independent use is allowed barley drink or its content in collections with the presence of chicory, various herbs, berry powder or rosehip.

Kurzeme

This is a well-known product containing chicory, oats, barley, and rye. Kurzeme is not contraindicated during pregnancy; in addition, it is often offered in maternity hospitals as a tonic.

Kurzeme has the following positive effects:

  • normalizes the condition of the cardiovascular system;
  • increases appetite;
  • Helps support kidneys.

Kurzeme can be combined with milk, hot chocolate, cocoa and juices.

Carrying a baby is the most wonderful period in a woman’s life. The expectant mother refuses smoking, alcohol and junk food. Coffee and pregnancy – are they compatible? An invigorating and tonic drink has dynamically entered the daily diet of a modern woman. Find out about its effect on the fetus.

How does coffee affect pregnancy?

Your doctor can tell you in detail about the effect of coffee on pregnancy: it acts differently in each trimester. The special substance it contains is caffeine. It gives the body a surge of energy and relieves headaches. Due to their addiction to caffeine, many people are called coffee addicts, because they cannot live without this drink. Their norm is more than 2 servings per day (natural, insoluble surrogate).

Can pregnant women have caffeine? Before answering this exciting question, you need to understand what changes it makes to the body of the fetus and mother. Excessive addiction to caffeine can cause many developmental pathologies in a baby. You can replace your favorite hot cup with strong black tea: several leaf varieties (not bags) will have a tonic effect and will help you wake up in the morning.

A direct contraindication to taking caffeine is peptic ulcer, gastritis. But sometimes a fragrant cup is irreplaceable, especially if a woman cannot live or work without it. Just one serving a day of a natural, weak drink with added milk will not harm the baby, but the mother’s performance will increase, her well-being and mood will improve. No analogue of the aromatic and tonic drink, exact in taste, has yet been invented.

Coffee during early pregnancy

It is harmful to drink a lot of coffee in the early stages of pregnancy; this can threaten the improper formation of fetal organs. In the first trimester (weeks 1-12), women often suffer from toxicosis. Moderate consumption of espresso in the morning can improve a woman’s well-being. Just one cup increases low blood pressure and slightly increases the pulse, and this is a real salvation for hypotensive people.

Is it possible for pregnant women to drink coffee in the early stages? Yes! The main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise you can harm the embryo. In the first trimester, organs are laid down, nervous system, brain. The fetus develops very rapidly and is sensitive to external factors. It takes all the substances its body needs from the mother’s. This must be taken into account when consuming more than 1 serving per day.

Coffee in late pregnancy

From experienced doctors you can hear a sensible explanation of why pregnant women should not drink coffee:

  • It stimulates urination, which can cause dehydration. The third trimester is already marked by frequent trips to the toilet, and overloading a pregnant woman’s kidneys is of no use.
  • Coffee on later pregnancy causes calcium leaching, and this has a detrimental effect on the development of the fetal skeleton.
  • More than 2 servings of aromatic drink per day can disrupt the brain activity and heart rate of a small person.

Can pregnant women have coffee with milk?

Drinking coffee with milk during pregnancy will help avoid unpleasant consequences. The benefit of one or two cups is to replenish the body of the fetus and mother with calcium. Main - large number milk or cream and a little natural espresso. You can drink latte, cappuccino, macchiato. Please note that milk in these drinks increases the calorie content of a serving.

Ladies may mistakenly believe that instant coffee during pregnancy will not cause much harm, but this is a big misconception. It is better to exclude this surrogate from your diet, impose a categorical ban on it. The soluble granular analogue only causes harm. During production, many chemicals are used and it is additionally enriched with caffeine. Use instant drink will lead to the emergence allergic reactions at the baby's.

When pregnancy occurs, all expectant mothers radically change their taste preferences so as not to harm their little one. But if the situation is fresh fruit and vegetables is quite clear, when it comes to coffee during pregnancy, memories of an aromatic, tasty and invigorating drink arise, but at the same time they cause some internal anxiety.

Drinking a couple of cups of coffee during the day is normal for many women. However, the situation changes completely when a woman is pregnant. There is absolutely no need for her to consume anything harmful now. Can pregnant women drink coffee? In this article you will learn why pregnant women should not drink coffee, as well as the harm that coffee causes during pregnancy.

Types of coffee and their limitations

Instant coffee is used in most cases not so much for its taste, but for its ease of preparation. This coffee contains only 16% of rejected coffee beans or simply the husks remaining after roasting the coffee beans. The rest consists of chemical components that are added after the coffee has reached its soluble form. You should definitely stop drinking this drink. It does not carry any health benefits for the baby and his mother.

Decaffeinated coffee is also considered harmful. The term “decaf coffee” itself is patently false. Despite its name, it still contains some caffeine. After the caffeine is removed from the coffee beans, they are processed chemicals, which are very hazardous to health. They can provoke an allergic reaction in the baby. For expectant mother such a drink carries the threat of the formation of atherosclerotic plaques.

Least harmful among all species green coffee in grains. Green coffee beans do not lend themselves to heat treatment and, accordingly, retain all beneficial properties this aromatic drink. Coffee in particular is rich in essential fatty acids. During pregnancy, it is allowed to drink green coffee, but only during pregnancy. large quantities and when it is caused by the need to raise the blood pressure of a pregnant woman.

Why pregnant women shouldn't drink coffee

Is it possible to drink coffee during pregnancy? The question worries all lovers of the aromatic drink. The answer is clear - it’s impossible.

  1. Coffee during pregnancy causes stimulation of the nervous system, which will contribute to poor and restless sleep of the expectant mother and will adversely affect the mood of the pregnant woman.
  2. Tension in the nervous system stimulates the occurrence of constant stress, causing depletion of nerve cells and disruption of the functioning of most organs and systems of the body of a pregnant woman.
  3. Excessive coffee consumption causes the development of psychosis, epilepsy attacks, paranoia, and causeless aggression.
  4. Coffee has diuretic properties, which leads to dehydration.
  5. This aromatic drink causes blood pressure to rise sharply. And its level in pregnant women already reaches high numbers in most cases.
  6. Coffee causes increased heart rate and breathing.
  7. Coffee is contraindicated due to its negative effects on the gastrointestinal tract. Coffee increases the acidity of the stomach five times and contributes to irritation of the gastrointestinal mucosa.

Another harmful effect of coffee on the body of a pregnant woman is its ability to wash away calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium from the body, as well as vitamins B1 and B6. This contributes to the following problems:

  • lack of calcium provokes bone fragility and the development of osteochondrosis;
  • lack of magnesium causes pain in the back;
  • an insufficient amount of vitamin B interferes with the blood supply to the brain, the main symptoms of which are headache, irritability.

The habit of drinking coffee during pregnancy increases the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach five times and doubles salivation.
Excessive coffee consumption can cause uterine tone, which will lead to the possibility of premature birth, miscarriage or placental abruption.

Coffee also increases cholesterol levels.

If you drink coffee during pregnancy, it helps slow down the absorption of iron from the gastrointestinal tract into the blood, contributing to the development of anemia.

Coffee can harm the functioning of the cardiovascular system. This depends on the presence of heart disease, hereditary predisposition to heart disease, the amount of coffee consumed, the presence extra pounds, poor nutrition, method of preparing coffee: a drink prepared by brewing is much more harmful than coffee prepared in a coffee maker.

Penetrating through the placenta, coffee during pregnancy has negative influence per child, due to impaired placental blood flow, the baby receives insufficient oxygen and nutrients necessary for normal development.

If you drink coffee during pregnancy, it will affect the baby’s weight – it will be below normal. The child's heart rate is higher than normal. These children's teeth begin to erupt later than their peers. The baby is born with a caffeine addiction.

How much coffee can you drink during pregnancy, dosage

The World Health Organization has set a standard for how much coffee pregnant women can drink. It is 300 mg per day. In some developed countries, this figure has been reduced to 200 mg; American doctors claim that the maximum coffee that can be consumed in one day is 100 mg.

The degree of roasting of the beans, the amount of coffee and the preparation method affect the amount of caffeine contained in one cup.

One cup brewed coffee 160 ml contains approximately 74 mg of caffeine, 190 ml - 85 mg. The same volume of instant coffee contains 117 mg of caffeine. 200 ml of decaffeinated coffee contains 4 mg of caffeine.

Caffeine is also found in the following drinks:

  1. in black tea – 70 mg;
  2. in green tea – 40 mg;
  3. in Coca-Cola – 40 mg;
  4. V energy drinks– 80 mg;
  5. in chocolate – 50 mg.

Scientists have calculated that every 100 mg of caffeine per day reduces the weight of the unborn baby by 28 grams, and also extends the pregnancy period by 5 hours.

If a woman drinks coffee during pregnancy in excess of the norm (more than 5 cups a day), this is already a drug addiction. Any drug, even in the form of coffee, is dangerous for the child’s health and causes the same addiction as for the mother.

Drinking too much coffee per day (more than 9 cups) dramatically increases the likelihood of a baby dying in the womb.

Is drinking coffee harmful for pregnant women?

It is very undesirable for pregnant women to drink coffee, as coffee has harmful influence on the health of mother and child. But in what period it is most undesirable to use it is difficult to say. Scientists' opinions are divided. Some argue that drinking coffee during pregnancy is strictly prohibited in the first trimester, when the process of formation of all vital organs and systems occurs. Others argue that pregnant women should not drink coffee after the twentieth week. It has been proven that drinking coffee during pregnancy during the third trimester is unsafe. Since at this time the sensitivity of the nervous system to caffeine increases.

It must be remembered that coffee during pregnancy penetrates the placenta and constricts blood vessels. As a result, the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the child sharply decreases, resulting in fetal hypoxia.

Drinking coffee during pregnancy causes diabetes mellitus in a child when he grows up.

Among negative consequences Drinking coffee can also suppress appetite in a pregnant woman. The fact is that coffee is a rather filling drink, but not at all nutritious, which can provoke a woman’s refusal to eat a normal and nutritious meal.

How to replace coffee during pregnancy?

During pregnancy you must follow water-salt balance and drink enough fluids. Feelings of thirst should not be allowed to arise. There are a number of drinks that can be an alternative to coffee during pregnancy.

The main drink of a pregnant woman should be water - high quality, purified, better spring. But you can also bottle it. A pregnant woman should always have water on hand. Dehydration is extremely dangerous for both mother and baby.

It is very useful to consume freshly squeezed juices. They will help saturate the body with essential vitamins and microelements. Can cook fruit drinks from fruits, preserves, jams.

Black and bitter, but so tasty and aromatic! Coffee has captivated the hearts of many people across the planet. It is of not only gastronomic, but also scientific interest. Scientists around the world have been trying for many years to unravel all the secrets of this mysterious drink, but in vain. Every time coffee discovers something new about itself, it leaves many more mysteries unsolved.

Even the question about the benefits and harms of this drink still remains without a clear answer. It has been reliably established that coffee is both healthy and harmful at the same time. But it’s hard to say which side of the scale weighs. However, hardly anyone would argue that any harm during pregnancy is extremely undesirable, even something as tasty and sometimes healthy as coffee.

If you are used to waking up to a cup aromatic coffee, and not a single meeting of yours - be it business or personal - takes place without coffee, then this news is disappointing for you. From the moment of pregnancy, you should significantly reduce the amount of coffee you drink per day, and to be honest, it is better to completely eliminate it while bearing and feeding the child. And here's why.

How does coffee affect pregnancy?

Everyone knows that coffee has a stimulating effect on the central nervous system. Excessive excitability can have a bad effect on mood, as well as work internal organs and systems. Drinking coffee leads to increased urine output due to accelerated kidney function (and therefore to dehydration), increases gastric secretion of hydrochloric acid five times and doubles the secretion of the salivary glands, irritates the gastrointestinal mucosa, increases breathing and heart rate, raises . Coffee removes from the body other microelements it needs (iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium), and not only removes it, but interferes with its absorption.

Undoubtedly, a pregnant woman does not need such influence at all. But what is even more thought-provoking is the ability of coffee to affect reproduction. It has been proven that consuming this drink in large quantities is directly related to difficulties in conceiving. More than three cups of coffee a day can act as “contraceptive.” That is why couples planning pregnancy are advised to avoid drinking coffee. This applies to those who are already pregnant in the sense that regular consumption of coffee provokes and, therefore, increases the risk of miscarriage.

We hasten to reassure you that 2-3 or more 150-gram cups of coffee daily have this effect. So if you drink a couple of sips once a week for pleasure, don’t worry too much. However, if you can resist, doctors strongly recommend, then it is better not to drink it at all. And it is difficult to single out the most undesirable weeks or months of pregnancy for this. Some scientists say that you should absolutely not drink coffee in the first trimester, others - after 20 weeks and beyond. And there are studies that prove that the third trimester is especially dangerous in this sense, when the child’s nervous system becomes very sensitive to caffeine. In any case, remember this: like any other liquid that gets inside a pregnant woman, coffee penetrates through the placenta to the baby. At the same time, the placental vessels narrow, it is more difficult for oxygen to reach the fetus (like all nutrients in general), and hence -. In addition, there is evidence that drinking coffee during pregnancy can cause diabetes in the unborn child.

Another not so dangerous, but still undesirable property of coffee during pregnancy is appetite suppression. It's quite filling (especially with cream and sugar), but absolutely not nutritious drink, due to which a woman may refuse the necessary “normal” food intake.

So, coffee has a negative impact on the health of the woman and the developing fetus, provokes complications during pregnancy and childbirth, and affects the condition of newborn children. Because coffee's metabolism slows down during pregnancy, it circulates in the blood longer and takes longer to act. But what is noteworthy is that not all of the above is caused by the influence of caffeine. Some studies prove that consuming, for example, tea with the same caffeine equivalent does not cause a number of complications. This suggests that other caffeine-containing substances have yet to be studied harmful influence per person. Although it should also be taken into account that many women always drink coffee with a cigarette, and this increases all the risks significantly.

Instant coffee during pregnancy

In general, drinking coffee during pregnancy is not so bad, as long as you don’t abuse it. And in some cases it can even be useful, because it also contains substances that have a beneficial effect on our body and its systems. But the same cannot be said about instant coffee - only natural drink from ground grains.

Instant coffee, which many people prefer mainly because it is quick and easy to prepare, contains no more than 15% coffee beans, experts say. The rest are chemical components that are used to enrich future drink after it has been processed into a soluble form. One can only guess how far instant coffee is from naturalness and does not bring any benefit to a pregnant woman, her child or any person in general. Therefore, it is better to refuse to drink such a drink, regardless of your situation.

Decaf coffee during pregnancy

So-called decaffeinated coffee is also chemically processed. So-called because, although it is a small dose, such a drink also contains caffeine. However, this substance is not the most dangerous in in this case. After all, some teas, Coca-Cola and other drinks contain an order of magnitude more caffeine than black coffee.

In the process of “removing” the invigorating substance from coffee beans, they can be processed, after which they become many times more potentially unsafe for our health. If we talk about future offspring, drinking such coffee can cause the development of allergic reactions in a child, and the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in a mother.

The dangers of decaffeinated coffee have not yet been sufficiently studied, but scientists do not advise anyone to drink it, especially women expecting children. It is better to choose a drink made from chicory root as an alternative to black coffee. If for you it turns out to be an unworthy substitute, then from all types of coffee you should choose only natural ground coffee, drink it freshly brewed and add milk to the drink.

In a word, you can drink coffee during pregnancy. The question is different: is it necessary and what kind of coffee is better to choose, and is it worth the risk for a cup of this controversial drink? Meanwhile, many women use coffee to save themselves from fainting and weakness with very low blood pressure. But in this case, experts recommend brewing natural ground grains, preparing a weak drink and diluting it with milk: you don’t need any more now.

Some facts

  • The alkaloid caffeine (1,3.7trimethylxanthine) is a substance of plant origin that has a stimulating effect on the nervous system.
  • Caffeine is found in tea, coffee, cola, as well as chocolate and cocoa.
  • When a pregnant woman drinks 4 to 7 cups of coffee per day, the risk of fetal death is 33%.
  • British scientists have calculated that consumption of 100 milligrams of caffeine per day during any trimester of pregnancy, which is equivalent to one cup of coffee, leads to an average weight loss of a newborn by 50 grams, and consumption of more than 300 milligrams of caffeine leads to a weight loss of 70 grams. Such “underweight” can affect the health of babies in the first days of life.
  • If it is still difficult to give up, then the amount of caffeine consumed should not exceed 200 milligrams per day, which corresponds to 283 grams of coffee or 700 grams of tea. That is, two cups of coffee a day is the limit.

Especially for- Elena Kichak

Many people are accustomed to getting a boost of energy from various tonic drinks. First among them is coffee. Some drink one cup of this drink only in the morning to “wake up”, and some drink more than three per day. Various experts talk a lot about the benefits and harms of coffee. We will consider particularly delicate questions about why you should not drink coffee during pregnancy, under what conditions your favorite drink is allowed and how much.

The effect of coffee on the body of a pregnant woman

The first change in the body of the expectant mother that this drink causes is an increase in blood pressure and acceleration of heart rate. This, in turn, leads to an increase in the tone of blood vessels, including the uterus. Thus, high blood pressure may provoke

Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system. If a pregnant woman has problems falling asleep, then use invigorating drinks may make the situation worse. Please note that tea (both black and tea) also contains caffeine, so its effect is similar.

Many pregnant women face the problem of heartburn during pregnancy. Coffee and tea increase stomach acidity, thereby provoking even more of its manifestations.

Calcium is also leached from the bones. This occurs due to the fact that coffee removes fluid from the body, and with it such a necessary element. In addition, there is an additional burden on the kidneys.

Some people like to drink coffee with milk and believe that it is less harmful to the body. Let's think about what the difference is. Regardless of what you dilute with: water or milk, the amount of caffeine will not decrease, which means the effect on the body will be the same. Make no mistake about green and decaffeinated coffee. They also contain caffeine.

Let's think not only about the mother, but also about the baby. After all, the child receives most of the substances from the mother’s body. Including caffeine. This means that there is overexcitation of the nervous system, an increase in blood pressure, and leaching of calcium from the bones (and the baby especially needs it now). Caffeine affects blood vessels, narrows them, which means the child will receive less oxygen and useful substances. If this happens in an isolated case, then the body will cope, but if the mother drinks coffee and strong tea several times a day, irreversible processes may occur. Therefore, before drinking another cup of your favorite drink, doctors recommend thinking about possible consequences and make a decision with full responsibility.

When answering the question of how often pregnant women can drink coffee without harming their health, experts disagree. Some say it should be one cup a week, others allow up to three cups a day, but not in a row.

Some people wonder whether it is possible to drink instant coffee more often. Indeed, it contains less caffeine, but there are many impurities that are harmful to the expectant mother and child. Therefore, preference should be given to natural products.

If you like to start your morning with coffee or tea, and you still want invigorating hot drinks at the beginning of the day, there is a way out - replace them with others. Pregnant women can and even need to brew and drink fruit and herbal teas. Just be sure to pay attention to what components are included in such tea and read about each of them so that there are no contraindications or overdose for your situation. Juices and compotes are also shown.

Now you know why pregnant women should not drink coffee and strong tea, even with milk. And then it’s up to you to decide what’s more important: satisfying your immediate desires or caring for the health of your unborn baby.

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