Should You Drink Coffee When You're Pregnant

Filed in archive Pregnancy on February 1, 2007

Ah, that first cup of coffee in the morning! That rick, tantalizing flavor! How can we survive without it? The story was that, if you were pregnant, coffee was BAD for you. Didn't matter how much the aroma made you crave a cup. Well, guess what? Maybe you can indulge yourself after all.

It might be best to stick to decaf, although research so far has detected no negative effects from the caffeinated drink. However, more research is being done. The former claim was that drinking coffee while pregnant reduced the weight of the baby. Well, I had six children and drank coffee through all six pregnancies, and, if it lowered the birth weight, more power to it. My last baby was over nine pounds, and I weighed less than a hundred.

So, the word from Ivanhoe Medical Breakthrough:

A few cups of caffeinated coffee a day probably won't hurt your baby -- at least later on in your pregnancy.

Researchers report there were no significant differences in the birth weight of babies born to either set of mothers. Neither group was more likely to deliver premature babies.

This testing was done during the second half of the pregancies. No research has been done on the effects of coffee during the earlier months, so maybe use caution. Half the research subjects drank decaf, the rest caffeinated coffee. No difference in the results were detected.

Still - the good news - you may not have to forego coffee to produce a healthy baby.