Hi all,
I’m about to embark on 4th cycle of ivf in January. Trying hard to eliminate coffee.
Any advice of what alternatives I can have. I am a coffee lover.
I had a matcha latte today for first time and loved it- is it ok for us ivf ladies?? I’ve also tried rooiboos tea - which I like but I get bored of having it all the time.
Any other ideas… I think it’s the ritual of coffee I like more than anything.
Thanks
Hey, I feel your pain! I have struggled as I love a coffee and particularly the indulgent ones from coffee shops! I would try and get different flavours of herbal tea, sometimes adding a little honey can be nice (raspberry leaf meant to be good to help build lining but be sure to stop it before your transfer as it can make the uterus contract). Other ideas would be hot chocolate (still contains a little bit of caffeine I think) and I had the occasional decaf coffee, some of them replicate the taste quite nicely although they do also still contain some caffeine it is much less. Hot milk would be a good one too. Not sure about the matcha latte, sorry. Good luck xx
Hi. As Skittles says there are some good decaf coffees out there. I switched to decaf a few years ago. Initial withdrawal headaches but now I wouldn’t go back to caffeine. Have a look at ‘decadent decaf’. They use the swiss water decaf process so pretty much chemical free. Wishing you well for your next cycle x
Hi hoping2021, I totally feel you. I used to love coffee. I used to drink only a cup a day and I kind of noticed that it was the ritual that I was “addicted” to rather than the actual coffee. If anything coffee made me feel anxious and often experienced bloating and other gastro symptoms. I maintained my morning ritual with either having decaf coffee or rooibos with non dairy milk. Throughout the day I also drink other herbal teas. Matcha tea does contain caffeine but less than coffee or black tea. I initially thought that I would struggle to give up coffee. I am not going back now, I feel more calm/relaxed in my body, no gastric issues, and I want to think that it helps with my fertility journey. I wish you good luck x
Hi there. I was a two a day addict, but gave up a couple of months before my cycle. I tried to wean down by doing half decaf half caffeinated and then switched to decaf. I had bad headaches for a few days but worth it. I know decaf isn’t totally caffeine free but it worked for me and after months of giving things up prepping for IVF, it was nice to keep the ritual of having some coffees. I also really like M&S decaf Earl grey tea and the Yorkshire Tea night blend, plus my usual pukka teas. A gynaecologist once told me (when I had abnormal smears and a LLETZ procedure) that green tea is great for cervical cancer so I also drank that, though it does have small amounts of caffeine.
I’m now six months pregnant after my round and can’t stand coffee. I enjoy not being dependent on it as I was using it habitually. Best of luck to you and remember the occasional bit of caffeine is highly unlikely to make a huge difference. Lots of women still have one a day during treatment. x
Hey 
I switched from proper coffee to a weak instant during the ivf ( one in the morning ) then when pregnant coffee made me vomit so then it was a none issue ! I’m now having a green tea in the morning for the caffeine and then herbal teas during the day . I don’t want to cut out caffeine altogether as I really enjoy my green tea 🙄 I think it’s ok to have 1-2 teas a day . Good luck ! X
Hey, I never cut out my morning coffee in my failed or successful cycles. My doctor said it was fine. There's 100g of caffeine in a coffee and I was told the 100 to 200 a day is ok. Whether you drank a coffee or not isn't going to change your outcome. If you wish to have one, go for it. Depriving yourself of it may cause more stress on your body than necessary. I'm currently 5weeks pregnant and still have one cup a day. Best of luck to you all.
Lavazza decaffeinated ground coffee is amazing, I still prefer it to normal caffeine coffee! They don't use solvents to decaffeinate they use carbon dioxide so that's good! I still had a normal coffee once a day while going though treatment stopped after transfer and had de-cafe coffee, red bush tea and hot chocolate!Good luck with your treatment x
Yep I know how you feel. I think that matcha is green tea and still had caffeine in. In all honesty only herbal teas are caffeine free and you have to restrict those to 4 cups a day. And several are not safe. What I have: rhubarb and ginger, dandelion tea, fruit tea, chamomile and rooibos as you’re having all fine if getting pregnant - peppermint alright from second trimester (some say first I’m just cautious) but you can have it before supposed transfer or conception.
Oh yeah I did also manage to change out my caffeinated beans for de-caff beans and they’re pretty good
I continued having one to two cups of tea each morning throughout treatment - I'm really sensitive to caffeine and can't have much, so never had coffee and drink a lot of herbal, but it's the taste and ritual of tea that I love. I discovered leaf tea a few years ago seemed much milder (compared with a builder's brew!) so that may be one option. But tbh as soon as my morning sickness started I had to give up even that as it made it worse. Also a load of the herbal teas seemed to have stuff in that you shouldn't have in pregnancy so I switched to hot diluted fruit juices (sounds gross but I quite like them). I've also found proper hot chocolate with sugar/honey and milk is ok and still gives you that ritual first thing.
Best of luck 🍀
I love chai latte, it's cinnamony. It still has caffeine in it though, i think. Green tea was suggested by my dietician, as it is anti-inflammatory. I use loose green tea leaves, not the bags, so I can choose how much I put.
One coffee a day is fine (even 2 if weak) but if concerned just go for decaf. I never gave up my one coffee a day throughout and now 26 weeks pregnant. I did find after about 6 weeks I was even more sensitive to caffeine than usual though, so I make my coffee weaker than I did before. Roobois is safe for pregnancy, peppermint tea is fine in limited amounts (I use it for IBS and it was a lifesaver during IVF and early preg when my guts were going bananas). There's a huge amount of scaremongering online about all the herbal teas that are bad for you with no evidence to back the claims up. A few like raspberry leaf and liquorice definitely need to be avoided during pregnancy (RL is used peri-labour but should be avoided otherwise), but most other things in small amounts tend to be fine. xx
actually, just hot water with lemon and a little honey is good and safe. Also helped with nausea as well.
Thanks for all these amazing ideas - will add many of these to my daily hot drink ceremony/ ritual.. and will aim for a guilt free & caffeine free next cycle
So I also more or less have up caffeine, and initially realized it was the ritual I missed. I switched over to a herbal coffee that looks like coffee (but my husband refuses to acknowledge it as ‘coffee’ lol) but it’s made of licorice root, chicory root and some other stuff. I think it has ground dandelion in it too. I make it the same way I’d make instant coffee (ie a teaspoon of powder with boiling water) and its fantastic. It’s slightly sweetened with beets so there’s an added sweetness there too.
Can you send me the name of the product please?
It’s called Dandy Blend Dandelion Instant Beverage. I find it in the organic store in Canada, hopefully you can find it where you live or online.
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