Coffee during pregnancy - the benefits and harm

As soon as a woman finds out about her interesting position, she should completely reconsider her habits and lifestyle. Despite the fact that pregnancy is not a disease, you need to keep the quality of your life at the highest level. Now a woman can not mindlessly take medication - only after consulting a doctor. Pregnant women should give up bad habits - alcohol and smoking. The future mom should carefully monitor her health, listen to her feelings, and most importantly, reconsider her diet. No, a woman should not go on a strict diet and eat exclusively vegetables and boiled meat. But the diet of a pregnant woman should be balanced and healthy. It is necessary to exclude or at least reduce the amount of junk food.

One of the main stumbling blocks is coffee.Today, more than half the people of the world begin the day with this fragrant drink, which gives vigor and energy. Many literally can not live without coffee, experiencing a real need and physical craving for a drink. What to do if an ardent coffee lover found herself in the position? Is it possible to drink during pregnancy? How much coffee can you drink, so as not to harm the baby in the womb? In this article we will try to answer all your questions.

Can I drink coffee during pregnancy?

This question worries many future mummies and, unfortunately, there is no definite answer to it. When ingested, coffee is immediately absorbed into the bloodstream, reaches the brain and stimulates the production of dopamine. This hormone allows you to feel the joy, vigor and fullness of strength. Unfortunately, the effect of coffee is short-term - no more than three hours. After this time, the woman will again feel apathy and fatigue. This, by the way, explains the high affection of some people for coffee - they simply cannot live without this drink, they drink 6-8 cups a day. Such a regimen of drinking coffee cannot but affect the body of even a healthy person, let alone a weakened pregnant woman.

If you really love coffee and you find it difficult to give it up even during pregnancy, drink one cup of your favorite drink a day, not more. This is a safe dose, permissible during pregnancy. Remember that during this period you need to prepare a weak, not strong coffee, it is advisable to drink it with milk. If you drink more than three cups of strong espresso per day, it can lead to dangerous consequences - miscarriage or premature birth (depending on time). We will talk more about the consequences of drinking coffee, but for now let's talk about the beneficial properties of this drink for pregnant women.

Useful properties of coffee during pregnancy

In addition to fat, carbohydrates and caffeine, coffee contains tannins, organic acids, microelements, minerals, polysaccharides, vitamins. There are more than 2000 different substances in coffee, many of which are beneficial to the body.

1. To lower blood pressure. Sometimes coffee is the safest way to increase pressure. Hypertensive coffee, of course, can not drink, but with hypotension is the ideal solution. Especially if the classic drugs to increase the pressure are prohibited to receive.
2. For the cheerfulness of the body and spirit. Often, pregnancy, especially in the early stages, gives great drowsiness, apathy, fatigue. It is very difficult for a woman to wake up in the morning, to concentrate on work or study. Coffee will help to correct the situation - it will quickly bring the future mommy to her senses, will ensure a surge of strength and vitality.
3. Against constipation. Progesterone, which begins to be produced in the body of a pregnant woman from an early period, weakens the muscles in the lower abdomen to avoid a possible reduction of the uterus and protect against miscarriage. But along with this, the perilstatic of the intestine also slows down, for this reason during pregnancy a woman often experiences constipation. Coffee enhances bowel activity, it is a mild laxative.
4. Against edema. Coffee gives a mild diuretic effect, it allows you to use the drink in the fight against edema.

We can say that this list of useful properties of this drink is completed. But the list of warnings is much more extensive.

Harm of coffee during pregnancy

Modern doctors are skeptical of coffee, especially if a woman is pregnant.If you can refuse coffee, do it, there are very few useful things in the drink, but there are more negative sides. If coffee is very important to you, minimize the amount of drink consumed. Try to drink no more than one cup per day. By the way, drinking coffee on an empty stomach during pregnancy is not recommended, it is better to enjoy a drink after breakfast. In the early stages of pregnancy, drinking coffee should be very rare, the drink is allowed for daily use only in the second and third trimester. In addition, doctors recommend drinking at least three glasses of mineral water after coffee to fill the body's water-salt balance, because coffee takes a huge amount of fluid. Even if the pregnancy is absolutely normal and the woman is completely healthy, coffee can have the following negative effects on the body.

1. Coffee has a diuretic and laxative effect, but at the same time important microelements - calcium, phosphorus, fluorine - are flushed out of the body along with excess fluid. This is very dangerous for both the fetus and the mother, since during this period an increased amount of nutrients is required.With a lack of calcium and fluorine, a skeleton may form incorrectly in the fetus, a woman develops osteoporosis, a tooth can crumble, hair can fall out, nails can break, etc.
2. If a woman during pregnancy will drink more than 3 cups of coffee daily, the fetus will be born with low weight.
3. Another negative property of coffee is the ability to increase pressure. In hypertension, pregnant women are strictly contraindicated in coffee, or a drink is allowed to be taken in diluted form. When blood pressure rises, the blood vessels constrict, less blood passes through it, less oxygen enters the placenta, and the baby experiences hypoxia.
4. It was experimentally proved that after a child drinks coffee, the child's heart rate increases, the level of adrenaline in the blood of the mother and child increases.
5. It is very dangerous to drink coffee with hypertonia of the uterus - this leads to a high risk of miscarriage or premature birth.
6. A large amount of caffeine in a woman's body affects her emotional state - the expectant mother becomes aggressive, anxious, irritable. In addition, insomnia develops.
7. Instant coffee contains less caffeine than a real drink made from natural freshly ground beans. In addition, caffeine is present not only in coffee, but also in black tea, coca-cola and chocolate. This should be taken into account with daily consumption of the drink.
8. Coffee has another unpleasant property - the drink perfectly suppresses appetite, especially if it is with sugar, milk or cream. However, coffee is very few nutrients that must be ingested with food. Refusal from a balanced and varied food can lead to exhaustion.

Despite all the warnings, many women do not give up their favorite drink. We have already said that in small quantities of coffee is not dangerous. But there are diagnoses in which coffee is strictly contraindicated. Among them, anemia, violation of phytoplacental blood flow of any degree, tachycardia, hypertension, preeclampsia, gastrointestinal diseases, toxicosis. If you have problems with sleep or appetite, you can not drink coffee - the problems will only get worse. With such diagnoses, even a weakly concentrated drink can lead to unpleasant consequences.

Today coffee has become so popularthat without it, it is difficult to imagine at least one day of an office worker. Indeed, people recycle, fall asleep in the workplace - coffee is struggling with all this. But a pregnant woman is another caste of people, future moms should take care not only of their taste preferences, but also of the health of the baby in the womb. Take care of your body during pregnancy, too much is at stake.

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