It's something expectant moms have been told to avoid for a long time: coffee, sodas and caffeine in general. And now a new study has found one of the strongest links yet between caffeine and miscarriages. Even a small amount of caffeine could be dangerous for your unborn child.
"Pump with your legs."
When Tammy Plotkin-Oren got pregnant with her daughters she cut out the coffee.
"I went cold turkey on it"
The mother of three and former caffeine-lover made the decision after her first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.
"I decided anything under my control that I could do to prevent something from going wrong I was going to do," Plotkin-Oren said.
Today, researchers are offering some of their strongest evidence that caffeine and pregnancy don't mix.
"This study clearly shows 200 mg or more is associated with an increase risk of miscarriage," Dr. David Walton, Regional Perinatology Chair at Kaiser Permanente said.
The study involving more than a thousand pregnant women shows those who drink two or more cups of coffee a day are twice as likely to miscarry as those who avoid caffeine all together.
The risk isn't just coffee, but caffeine itself, so five or more 12 ounce cans of caffeinated soda, and an equivalent amount of caffeine in tea and hot chocolate can pose the same danger.
With so many non-preventable causes of miscarriage, researchers want women to focus on how they can optimize their pregnancies going forward.
"The first choice they should probably consider is to stop drinking caffeine entirely if they can," said Dr. De-Kun Li, the study’s author.
The next best option is limiting caffeine consumption to less than two cups of coffee a day. For Tammy it was a no brainer to go from three cups to zero.
"The minute I knew it was going to be affecting a baby it seemed to be, it just wasn't as difficult," Plotkin-Oren said.
Like every mom, she gets tired. Doctors say brisk walks and healthy snacks are good pick-me-up alternatives.
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