A pregnant woman has shared the response she gives to strangers offering unsolicited advice regarding her pregnancy, after someone told her she should not be drinking caffeinated coffee.
According to the expectant mother, who is six months pregnant and goes by the name Jax on Twitter, she was ordering coffee in Starbucks when another customer informed her that she should be “drinking decaf when you’re pregnant”.
In response, the soon-to-be mother lied: “I’m not pregnant”, prompting the stranger to profusely apologise.
“And that’s what you get for giving unsolicited advice,” Jax wrote on Twitter.
The tweet, which has been liked more than 699,000 times, has prompted other mums and expectant mothers to share their own stories of receiving and declining unsolicited advice regarding the health of their babies.
“Once told a nosey colleague who said I shouldn't be drinking coffee that he shouldn't be practising medicine without a license but here we both were,” one person commented.
Another said their response to unsolicited advice is usually: “Oh, that’s only if you’re carrying a HUMAN baby.”
“I had a woman next to me in line for a movie ask me about my birth plan,” another mum wrote. “I politely told her she was not part of the plan.”
In response to one mother who sarcastically asked: “Isn’t it amazing how you become everyone’s property when you are pregnant?” Jax said: “You are absolutely regarded as communal property, that’s the perfect way to phrase it.”
According to the NHS, pregnant women should limit their caffeine intake to 200mg a day, or roughly two mugs of instant coffee.
But, as some expectant mothers have pointed out in the replies, including Jax, many doctors will approve or advise continued coffee consumption throughout pregnancy to avoid side-effects from lack of caffeine such as migraines.
While most people agreed with Jax’s response to the stranger, there were some who criticised her for lashing out at someone who was only trying to help.
“You’re right, I don’t have any concern for my baby,” she responded. “I should follow the advice of random people at Starbucks instead of my doctors, midwives and the actual research.”
