Caffeine and pregnancy

This article is discussing the effects of drinking caffeine while pregnant and breastfeeding. A reason to limit caffeine consumption while pregnant is for the fact that caffeine can easily cross through the placenta, however the placenta and fetus cannot break it down so whatever amount of caffeine the mother is getting is also close to what the fetus is taking in as well. The article discusses large caffeine consumption and small and says that large caffeine consumption can cause miscarriages while women who drank the lesser amount of caffeine could expect their child to weigh less at birth. Even women who weren’t smokers and only caffeine drinkers could expect their child to weigh slightly less then average at birth. The article also says that the safe amount of caffeine to drink a day has been changed for pregnant women from 300mg a day to 200mg. It also says that cutting back the amount of caffeine should not then be replaced with other unhealthy alternatives. When the article talked about breastfeeding, it said that caffeine doesn’t get into breast milk that easily so the child isn’t getting the same amount of caffeine the mother is like we saw when the child wasn’t born yet. Although the child can get some which won’t have any negative health effects but it could cause problems when it comes to sleeping. One cup of coffee a day won’t cause any problems while pregnant or breastfeeding but that is where your limit should be because any more than a cup a day could cause some problems with mothers who are pregnant.  

Food and Safety, Authority of Ireland. http://www.fsai.ie/faqs/caffeine_and_pregnancy.html. 30/5/2012