Let Pink Drink Coffee While She's Pregnant
A pregnant Pink recently Instagrammed a photo of herself sitting on the floor, by a microwave, with a cup of decaf coffee. She captioned it, “When microwaving your decaf coffee becomes an excuse to sit on the floor and rest for a while.” Nice, right? Well, if you think the internet commentariat was capable of simply liking the gram and moving on with their lives, then whoo boy, you’ve got another think coming. Pink, you’ll recall, is pregnant, and pregnant women can’t take a sip of a beverage that isn’t water without scores of formerly pregnant woman and never-been-pregnant women telling them that everything they’re doing is wrong. Clearly, Pink drinking decaf coffee while pregnant (and in front of a microwave, no less!) would inspire some seriously sanctimonious alarm.
After the photo was posted on the Today Show's Facebook page, the comments section quickly filled with concerned voices. A sampling:
"She shouldn't be drinking coffee of she wants a healthy baby!"
"Can relate! But not with the coffee, though. You got to wean yourself off of some things you love for the sake of the baby."
"Feeding addictive stimulants to an unborn baby. Well, that's your choice."
And, "Why would you put a microwave down that low??????"
That last one may be the only fair point among them. Thankfully, there are now just as many commenters who have taken more of a "you do you" approach, and many who have shared their own anecdotes about healthily drinking coffee, decaf or not, while pregnant.
According to a brief internet search, there is no definitive evidence to suggest that drinking moderate amounts of coffee during pregnancy, decaf included, puts the baby at risk. But, you shouldn’t give anyone life advice based on a quick search of the internet. So, rather than spouting off that bit of true but unsubstantiated information, stop telling pregnant women what they should or should not drink while pregnant.
It doesn't matter if you believe that coffee does terrible things to an unborn child, and you're only trying to help. Regardless of your personal stance on caffeine consumption during pregnancy, you should never inform another woman what you think her stance should be over the internet. Or in person, for that matter. Even if you're a doctor of some kind. Unless, that is, you're that woman's personal doctor. Really.
Pink, unfortunately, has worse criticism to address, so I'd like to respond to these comments for her. To (loosely) quote the woman herself: So what? She’s still a rock star. She’s got her rock moves, and she doesn’t need you… to judge her for drinking coffee while pregnant.
