The Spokesman Review reported yesterday on a new study that pregnant women can drink caffeine during pregnancy in moderation. It has previously been thought that caffeine during pregnancy increased the risk of premature birth and low birth weight babies but this study of over 1200 pregnant women proved that there was no correlation. As the article jokingly says a pregnant women shouldn’t drink 10 grand lattes a day, but in moderation caffeine is ok.

Here’s a bit from the article:

Researchers recruited more than 1,200 healthy women in the early months of pregnancy who said they drank at least three cups of coffee a day. The women were randomly assigned to receive either regular or decaffeinated instant coffee in unmarked packages.
The women were instructed to replace their usual coffee, at home and at work, with the contents of the packages, but they were allowed to drink coffee, tea, cocoa and cola served by others.

Throughout the second half of their pregnancies the women were asked to report their daily consumption of mystery coffee and other sources of caffeine.
The researchers confirmed that the women assigned decaf consumed less caffeine than the others – an average of 117 milligrams per day compared with 317 milligrams. An 8-ounce cup of regular coffee has about 100 milligrams of caffeine; instant about 65.

No significant differences occurred between the two groups in the birth weight of their babies or the frequency of pre-term delivery – even among women who drank more than seven cups of coffee a day. The babies in both groups averaged about 7 pounds 12 ounces, and the rate of premature births was 4 to 5 percent.

I stopped drinking caffeine during both of my pregnancies. I’m not the type of person that needs a morning cup of coffee though. Women who crave caffeinated coffee may find this study interesting.