Is Coffee Safe During Pregnancy?

By Tine Reese

January 8, 2010

I, like a lot of women I know, approached my first pregnancy with the utmost caution—I quit eating and drinking all of the foods on the list of “Foods to Avoid in Pregnancy.” However, when I became pregnant a second time, I found that it was VERY DIFFICULT to give up my morning cup of coffee…especially while taking care of a toddler! That, and I’d heard from a lot of other women that they drank limited amounts of coffee during their pregnancies and had seemingly happy, healthy babies and children. So what’s a girl to do?

You may be wondering how important it is to forgo coffee and other forms of caffeine during your pregnancy. I think that all doctors would tell you the safest bet is to avoid all caffeine altogether, but that having one normal-sized cup of coffee a day probably won’t harm to your baby. At least, that’s what I was told by multiple physicians during my pregnancies. But, what does medical science really know about how caffeine affects babies after all these years of uncertainty?

The Major Risk
The March of Dimes advises women to limit their caffeine intake to less than 200 mg per day. This recommendation was prompted by the results of a study published in the March 2008 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, showing that moms-to-be who consumed 200 mg or more of caffeine a day had double the risk of miscarriage compared to those who had no caffeine. However, not all studies show a link between heavy caffeine use and increased risk of miscarriage. This is why most professionals urge mothers to err on the side of caution since there isn’t definitive evidence supporting this theory.

Other Possible Risks

Caffeine crosses the placenta, but a fetus is not able to metabolize it. Caffeine might adversely affect cell development in the fetus and decrease blood flow in the placenta.
Caffeine is a diuretic. It may decrease blood flow to the placenta causing an increase in stress levels for the fetus.
A study in Denmark found that the risk of stillbirth more than doubled in women who drank a great deal of coffee per day — eight cups or more — compared with non-coffee drinkers.
Some studies have shown a slightly increased risk of low birth weight, while other studies have not.
One study found a link between maternal caffeine consumption equal to three cups of coffee per day and an increased risk of having a son born with undescended testes.
Other research has shown that babies whose mothers consumed more than 500 mg of caffeine a day had faster heart rates and breathing rates and spent more time awake in the first few days after birth.
Drinking coffee may interfere with your body’s ability to keep homocysteine and cholesterol levels in check, most likely by depleting folate, B12, B6, and calcium, all crucial in neural and skeletal development in the fetus.

WHAT’S THE VERDICT?
Medical researchers are still working to figure out the exact effects of caffeine on unborn babies. Physicians are mixed on the topic—some telling patients to avoid coffee and other caffeinated beverages altogether while others urge moderation. Since about 75% of expecting mothers will drink some form of caffeine, let’s look at ways to improve the quality of your caffeine intake.

Start by brewing your coffee at home, using organic coffee and unbleached filters. Coffee is often imported from countries where the use of pesticides is unregulated, so it is best to purchase organic coffee to avoid ingesting these toxins. Bleached paper coffee filters leak small amounts of chlorine into coffee, so using unbleached coffee filters eliminates that risk.

If you can manage to give up coffee, green tea is a great alternative. It contains much less caffeine and has wonderful health benefits.

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