caffeine intake

[ForABabyPanda]

hi everyone,

Before my fertility treatment I didn’t really limit my caffeine strictly at all, even in the two week wait, and I drank quite a lot of caffeine. Once my embryos were transferred I went down to two cups of tea a day, with the occasional 3rd if I had a headache.

Now that I’m back to trying normally I’m trying to keep to that all the time as I’ve learned caffeine could also affect fertility and not just when there’s a baby in there. Is the 200mg a day an average, like if you’re below it but you go above some days is that ok? Or is it an absolute limit per day?

I’m asking because I have only had two cups of tea today and really want a 3rd but don’t want to feel guilty if I once again get a period - in case I could have prevented that by drinking less caffeine on the days I went over …

I have still drastically reduced my intake from approx 5-10 cups of tea per day …

[Kittykat198]

I think tea is about 25mg per cup so three would keep you well under the 200mg. While I completely advocate checking the packet of the one you drink to be sure, I haven’t cut caffeine completely and have been having one a day throughout ivf and coffee is much higher in caffeine. .

Best of luck for your next steps.

[ForABabyPanda in reply to Kittykat198]

not the way I drink it with the teabag left in lol!! I think 2 teas in the morning (I’d seen 75per cup) is honestly as low as I could go - I am both dependent on at least some caffeine, but also to me tea is an emotional comfort drink. But it’s so hard sometimes when out to avoid the 3rd cup. I think I may have had 4 yesterday, I had about 2 half cups, then a cup someone made me out, and then as I was sure my period was on its way I had another cup later at night.. Not in a treatment cycle right now but I am in the 2ww of trying normally.

[Lucyann13]

I switched to decaf tea so I could drink it without feeling guilty!

[ForABabyPanda in reply to Lucyann13]

what brand did you go for? I find decaf very unsatisfactory taste wise- it’s always weak or else Malty rather than sharp

[Lucyann13 in reply to ForABabyPanda]

I found Yorkshire tea was the only one that didn’t taste weird!

[ChelWestie]

I was advised to avoid completely and switched to decaf tea if I “needed” my fix and the occasional decaf coffee. I would have had about 5-7 per day between tea&coffee so it was a huge change for me and I crave it a lot!!

[ForABabyPanda in reply to ChelWestie]

oh wow I can’t imagine going completely without!! I can drink decaf coffee so I do have the occasional one when I’m out. Was this in general or during treatment you were recommended to avoid completely? Was this to make sure treatment effective or was it in the window when you could have been pregnant?

[Koala365]

Have you tried decaf tea? It's a bit hit and miss as some of it is so weak it is a poor replacement for tea but some of it isn't bad at all and you could still have your third cup without worrying that way. I found the tea with a particular Northern English county in its name was the best decaf. Not sure if I am allowed to give brand names here so message me if it's not clear which one I mean!

[ForABabyPanda in reply to Koala365]

decaf tea is DISGUSTING, so unfortunately in my mind it doesn’t give me any sort of fix. I lump it in with my herbals.

[ForABabyPanda in reply to ForABabyPanda]

I think I have worked out which brand you’re talking about!! I heard that a brand with a newly discovered Christmas teddy with a shopping bag might have been nice but haven’t tried it. The best I found so far I think is local to NI. I will say that the v high end herbal tea brand that has nice colours pictures like a covkrel on their normal tea, they recently brought out decaf. It is NOT good!

[Koala365 in reply to ForABabyPanda]

The normal (black) tea made by the company I mentioned before (further hints: eeh by gum and Nora Batty) doesn't really taste different from normal tea. I sometimes make it for my husband if I am getting us a cup of tea and he doesn't even notice. I did used to think like you though until I found a decent brand of it. Some of it is only suitable for pouring down the sink or is so weak it doesn't look like tea at all.

[Skittles11]

I get the feeling there is mixed advice on this when trying to conceive or going through fertility treatments. My clinic has a very active Instagram page and on there they say to limit coffee drinking to one cup per day. If there's 100mg caffeine in one cup of coffee I guess you'd need to work out the equivalent amount in your teas. I really think clinic advice varies though and there is no fixed answer, I guess just keep to as minimal as possible x

[Jumpppy]

So I was always a fizzy drink person for caffeine and you can drink several a day and easily be under 200mg/day. I always was caffeine free during stims and 1st trimester, but went to <200mg consumption 2nd/3rd trimester. But this study came out recently (Oct 2022) so I've given up caffeine entirely: "Maternal caffeine consumption during pregnancy, even in modest amounts (eg, 50 mg or one-half cup of coffee per day), is associated with lower birth weight and higher rates of birth weight below 2500 g. These decreases in birth weight were attributed to shorter birth length and less lean tissue mass in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Fetal Growth Studies. Full disclosure I had 2 low birth weight babies, but was told this is pretty typical for IVF babies IDK. jamanetwork.com/journals/ja....

Good luck!

[ForABabyPanda]

thanks everyone- I guess my question is around if say my 2 cups of tea normally are 75 each so I’m only drinking 150 per se, then in a week if I drink 150 per day but with one day that’s 225 because I’ve had a 3rd is that okay because it still averages out under 200? Or is it in absolute limit per day, which can’t be carried over?