Pregnancy, breastfeeding and caffeine – how much Coca Cola can I drink this Christmas?

Christmas can be frustrating when you’re pregnant. Smoked salmon staring at you from tiny tempting plates. A board full of pate and cheese to avoid. And then of course there’s the alcohol…or lack of it.

Same goes for breastfeeding when it comes to drinking.

So what CAN you get away with drinking at Christmas?

There are plenty of non-alcoholic fizzy options around, or interesting juices, or lots of things to do with elderflowers. But for me, there is nothing nicer than a big glass of Cherry Coke, served over a few chunky ice cubes. Thing is though, I know there is caffeine in it. And I don’t really want Little B bouncing off the walls, so…how much of it can I actually drink?

Happily, it turns out that Coca Cola have a handy caffeine counter just for that very purpose. Even more happily, it turns out that one can has a much lower level of caffeine than I thought – and certainly a lot less than you’ll find in a cup of coffee.

It’s interesting to see the comparison with other products too. I didn’t realise that a bar of plain chocolate has more caffeine in it than a can of coke; equally I didn’t realise I could have had two bars of that and three cans of coke and still be within my limits when I was pregnant!

(not that that stopped me – a sure sign that I’m expecting is the desire to eat nothing for breakfast every morning other than a Cadbury’s Boost and a can of cherry coke, it’s happened every time and it was the only thing that would get me through the morning).

In any case, I can certainly indulge in some coca cola love this Christmas…I’ll be off stalking the Holidays are Coming truck for sure!

EDIT: I found the truck, hooray!