Hot drinks are fine. Of course, everything in moderation, but I had tea, coffee, hot chocolate...
Caffeine is a diuretic, and I'd say that's the issue - that at a time you want to be really well hydrated, you don't want to be encouraging fluids to leave your body. And you don't want a cup of tea before bedtime and then be peeing even more during the night! Just make sure your teas and coffees and on top of your normal drinks (and you should be drinking quite a bit of non-caffeine things to stay well hydrated), and not instead of normal drinks.
Most people won't have to change their tea/coffee habits anyway, if you're a one or two a day kind of person. If you have a coffee or tea every hour, or a super strong coffee in the morning though - then you'd have to reassess your drinks for the duration of pregnancy and early breastfeeding.
I have a booklet called 'Food Saftey during Pregnancy' by the NSW Food Authority. It says that 'pregnant women should limit themselves to 200mg of caffeine daily. That is 2 cups of ground coffee or 2 1/2 cups of instant coffee, 4 cups medium strength tea, 4 cups of cocoa/ hot chocolate or 6 cups of cola' .
I am pregnant and have been having one coffee in the morning as I have been so tired. I sometimes have Earl Grey tea in the afternoons.
Try just having decaf tea or coffee. I drink decaf tea even before I was pregnant, as the caffeine would make me wired at night. About 2-3 cups of instant coffee a day is ok, if you are keeping your fluid intake up to at least 1.5L. Space them out too, so one in the morning, afternoon and evening. Caffeine intake is a concern, but don't let it stop you from having a cuppa when you want. Its a problem if you drink more than 4 cups a day.
It's not really the caffine I crave so much .. its just the comfort of a hot drink when I get up in the morning and in the evening when the kids have gone to bed and I am relaxing.
I have found hot chocolate mint flavour .. it is yummy!! Loving it!
Two cups of coffee a day are fine & I think it's something like 4 or 5 cups of ordinary strength tea are OK. I drank tea throughout my pregnancy & coffee in the last month & it didn't cause any issues. The only reason I avoided coffee earlier was that I was drinking way too much of it when I got pregnant so had to go cold turkey to avoid maxing out on caffeine. I think hot choc can have caffeine as well, so like tea & coffee should only be in moderation.
Green tea is a def no-no as it can zap you of folic acid & you'd have to take more than the usual supplement to make up for it.
Cola drinks are bad too. Again, they should only be in moderation.
Some people live on coffee, tea or cola & they are the ones who are risking things, not the average person who might have 3 drinks a day containing caffeine.
I have been told definately no caffine for this pregnancy.
I love the Jarrah Belgium Hot Chocolate especially with one or three marshmellows in it I also need a hot drink but mine is more in the morning. There seems to be very little caffine in these (that i can tell anyway). Another option for you is hot water (boiled) with a squeeze of fresh lemon and a little honey for sweetness - YUMMO
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