I used to work in a coffee shop with a woman, a mother to be more specific, who didn’t eat white sugar or white flour. She didn’t dye her hair or raise her voice, and she didn’t drink caffeine. I suspected at the time that I would probably make different decisions as a mother. Not that she was wrong, our lives are just different. I was right.

I laid off caffeine while I was pregnant (OK, there was some iced tea) and breastfeeding. But once The Kid went on the bottle, I was back at Starbucks making up for lost time. How could I not? How was I supposed to keep up with life, work and motherhood without a few espresso shots to get me through day?

Everyone told me to “sleep when she sleeps,” and then I would be able to keep up with new mommahood. I did that when I could during the first couple of months, but while I was sleeping no one did the dishes or the laundry, paid the bills, cleaned the house, went to work, took the car to the garage or solved the world hunger crisis. And now that The Kid is 10 months old, she’s not sleeping as much anyway.

With all of this in mind I clicked on the article ”Caffeinated moms drink up to keep up” looking for some insight. The headline didn’t promote insight, I just expected some since it’s an article on CNN.com, a trusted news source, and in general reading articles is a way to learn new information about important topics.

In this case, though, the illuminating information is that:

1- Moms are busy. They drink caffeine to keep up.
2- Caffeine is not the best thing in the world for you, but some things are worse.
3- Moderation is the goal.

With all due respect, someone get the author of this article a Red Bull or a Doubleshot. Perhaps next time they’ll tell us something we don’t know. 

And in regards to my previous co-worker at the coffee shop, I think there was something in the air. While I worked there my caffeine intake significantly decreased. There was something about working around coffee all day that made me feel satisfied and awake without actually drinking a cup. My theory is that it gets in through the pores. So while my co-worker wasn’t drinking the stuff, if we were anything alike she was getting a bit of a caffeine buzz just by showing up at work.