The Impact Drinking Tea or Coffee During Pregnancy Has On Your Baby

Pregnant women who drink more than three cups of tea or two mugs of coffee a day are more likely to have overweight children.

Expectant mothers who consume over 200 mg of caffeine a day are more at risk of having children who grow faster in their early years and carry excess weight by their eighth birthdays, a study found.

Previous animal studies suggest exposure to caffeine in the womb may ‘turn off’ genes linked to weight regulation.

Study author Associate Professor Verena Sengpiel, from Gothenburg University, said: ‘Even if more studies are needed before we can say what this finding really means, caffeine is a substance that you can choose to reduce consumption of or completely refrain from during pregnancy.’

Past research suggests obese children are more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure in later life, shares Daily Mail.

The NHS recommends pregnant women limit their daily caffeine consumption to 200mg a day, which is equivalent to two mugs of instant coffee or three cups of tea.

The researchers analysed 50,943 pregnant women who were taking part in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.

Their children’s body sizes were measured 11 times between six weeks and eight years old.

The women’s average caffeine intake was assessed mid-pregnancy.

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14 Comments

- - meedee said
  - 30 Apr 2023
    9:09 am
i didnt drink coffee at all when pregnant. I did drink tea and would have at least 1 cup a day and sometimes up to 3. None of my kids were or have ever been over weight.

- - rovermum said
  - 26 Jun 2019
    9:41 am
I couldn’t drink tea, coffee, water or otherwise. Only cola slurpees as it’s the only thing I could keep down.

- - tessie said
  - 25 Jun 2019
    12:18 pm
Love to know why they did a study on this. Interesting as I used to drink anything from 4 – 6 cups of tea a day and both my boys are a healthy weight and always have been

- - DaffyD said
  - 25 Jun 2019
    9:20 am
Both of my children are normal weight and I drank more then 3 coffees a day whilst pregnant with both of them

- - Ceebsa89 said
  - 24 Jun 2019
    10:32 pm
Wowza! Well that is interesting! I always knew it was bad in terms of feral development and attention span later on etc but this add new light to the issue

- - mom350461 said
  - 24 Jun 2019
    8:27 pm
My obgyn told me to drink either or to increase my blood pressure because it is low. I usually vomited most of it due to my hyperemesis gravidarum but both my children are super healthy.

- - mom290396 said
  - 24 Jun 2019
    3:23 pm
Don’t drink either of those. But my son was the size of a one year old by 7 months of age, then an 18 month old on his first birthday. It was due to a kidney issue. Sounds like a similar thing though, as he has always been bigger and heavier than any baby/toddler his age. But always perfectly portioned, he is just very solid!

- - mom81879 said
  - 17 Jun 2018
    1:22 pm
I was too ill to drink either of these whilst pregnant

- - mom81879 said
  - 10 Jun 2018
    6:55 pm
I went off coffee in my first pregnancy, never really got the taste for it back.

- - mom90758 said
  - 16 May 2018
    5:52 pm
Very important to limit the amount of caffeine indeed. Not only during pregnancy in my idea.

- - mom114371 said
  - 16 May 2018
    11:11 am
I’ve always drank coffee but couldn’t stomach it whilst pregnant! So I started drinking Milo which is probably worse with all the sugar.

- - jenniw said
  - 16 May 2018
    9:05 am
I couldn’t stand the taste of coffee while pregnant and drank very little tea.. my body obviously knew it was for the best

- - Ellen said
  - 16 May 2018
    4:06 am
I love my tea and coffee, but always drink caffeine free (including during pregnancy).

- - BellaB said
  - 15 May 2018
    7:30 pm
I was careful about caffeine durin pregnancy – it just seemed smart.