To Drink or Not to Drink

Coffee, that is.

When I realized I was pregnant, I immediately banned all caffeinated drinks. Felt pretty proud of myself, too! Coffee was gone and teas were carefully selected to ensure both caffeine and harmful herbs were not present.

But you can guess where this is going. At about four and a half months along, I let myself indulge. My husband and I were taking a short road trip to Bellingham and, as coffee beans had not been seen in our house for quite awhile, we decided to treat ourselves and made a stop by the local – well, not really local – Starbucks for drip coffee on the way out of town. (We had a gift card, so we thought it'd be okay!)

I got a “short” drip coffee with plenty of room, so I could load it with half and half and a little sugar (I was hoping for rice milk, but they didn't have it and I didn't want to be one of THOSE Starbucks customers that makes being a barista sound like an absolute nightmare). It took me about two hours to get through the whole thing! Before pregnancy, I would have devoured it in 15 or 20 minutes. But now, not only does coffee taste a little less “good,” but it also seems really special. (A strange combo, huh? Less “good” and really “special.” I don't know how to explain it!)

Maybe subconsciously I was thinking that, if I drank it really slow, the caffeine would affect me and the baby in a gentler way. (And I was snacking as I drank it, too.) But that's been the main thing that's kept me from drinking coffee regularly while pregnant: the caffeine, and the uncertainty of its effects on the baby. I've actually read that decaf may, in reality, be worse for babies than caffeine, but my midwife simplified the matter by saying that we don't really know WHAT the effects of either are on babies in the long run. But she did assure me that an occasional coffee with friends would be fine.

So I've broken my streak, and I'm okay with that. I wonder how many babies growing up today – or in the past – came out of mothers who had drank coffee regularly while pregnant. I wonder if there have been/are/will be any long-term effects on those who did. I'm not yet wholly convinced either way – I mean, before pregnancy, I was an addicted regular coffee drinker myself! I guess I just figured it'd be safest to avoid it, and therefore tried to do so until the extremism wore off. It does seem as though, with the baby being so much smaller than me, whatever I DO put in my mouth has the potential to affect them in ways I might not consider or imagine!

Now the question, “to drink or not to drink” ALCOHOL is another matter entirely – and probably one that with a little more evidence behind it!