Can you drink coffee when pregnant?

Find out if it's safe to drink coffee and decaf coffee during pregnancy, plus precautions to take to keep you and your baby healthy.

The official advice on drinking coffee in pregnancy

Yes, you can drink coffee during pregnancy, but you might need to drink less than normal or switch to decaf coffee. This is because coffee contains caffeine.

The NHS says, when you're pregnant, you should limit the amount of caffeine you drink to around 200mg a day. Higher levels of caffeine can lead to low birthweight and have also been linked to miscarriage.

An average mug of instant coffee has around 100mg of caffeine. A mug of filter coffee contains around 140mg of caffeine. You can find out the caffeine content of other popular drinks here.

Decaf coffee

Decaf coffee has very little caffeine, but it's not usually completely caffeine free. The NHS doesn't suggest any limits to the amount of decaf coffee you can have in pregnancy, but like everything, it's probably best to enjoy it in moderation.

Pregnancy-safe drink recipes

If you're cutting down on caffeine, why not try these pregnancy-safe drinks?

• Homemade hot chocolate
• Avocado and banana smoothie
• Elderflower fizz
• Berry spring cooler
• Summer sparkle mocktail

Or for a special treat, on a day when you've not had much caffeine, why not whip up some tasty dalgona coffee?

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We like The Whole 9 Months, a week-by-week pregnancy nutrition guide, packed full of recipes and medical advice. See more details here at Amazon.

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