Anyone else struggling with what you can eat during pregnancy?

[MOC]

Morning all,

I'm 6 weeks pregnant with my first baby. So far, I've been lucky with no morning sickness or any other symptoms. However, I'm really struggling with what you can and cannot eat.

I know about the big things such as pate and certain cheeses, but it all seems so tricky, e.g. is ice cream okay, can you eat eggs in a restaurant, can you drink coffee as long as its decaf?

Anyone else struggling with this?

MOC x

[Iloveautumn]

It is complicated isn't it .

I try to do it by disease, rather than food item, so:

Salmonella - raw/runny eggs, undercooked meat etc (not so worried about salmonella as I have an iron stomach and the risk is to you rather than the baby - so I still eat runny eggs)

Listeria: pate, soft cheeses, Mr Whippy style ice-cream (not wrapped ice-creams). (Def avoid as listeria, though rare, is a big risk to the baby)

Toxoplasmosis: unwashed fruit/veg, cat litter (def avoid as again is a risk to baby, although a lot of people are immume already)

Nut allergies: Nuts!!! (avoid only if you have a family history of allegies as there seems to be no clear evidence as to whether it is better to avoid or to eat in the absense of a history of allergies)

Caffeine: tea/coffee, fizzy drinks, chocolate (keep down to a minimum - so I do still drink one caffeinated coffee a day as I am an addict!)

Alcohol: have to make your own mind up on this one, personally I have a couple of sips of my dh's wine as that small amount won't hurt the baby but I wouldn't drink any more than that.

Hth

[Iloveautumn]

I just reread your op and saw you are in first trim.

There was some publicity last year about coffee and there was a suggestion that caffeinated and maybe even decaffeinated coffee may be linked to higher rates of miscarriage. So you may want to avoid coffee in the first trim. Or at least keep down to a bare minimum.

I'll google it and see if I can find a link.

[Iloveautumn]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7195500.stm

[MOC]

Thanks a lot - looks like I'm following the right rules, might give up the coffee though for the next few weeks.

I hope my little scoop of Haagen Daas ice cream on Saturday night doesn't cause any issue.

[Iloveautumn]

No, as for ice-cream it's only mr whippy type ice-cream out of machines as the machine itself may harbour bacteria. So it's not ice-cream per se. Ice-cream like Haagen Daas would be fine.

Enjoy your ice-cream!!

[babyinbelly]

Hi, I generally eat pretty much as usual but just using a bit of common sense. I also eat running eggs and ice cream of any type. I would avoid the soft cheese and liver etc tho. Most of the 'dangerous' stuff I dont like anyway so not a big deal.

[Tee2072]

The other thing that is not certain is cold meat when it comes to listeria. i.e. you should either avoid luncheon meat, like ham, unless you cook it piping hot before eating.

Some people say there is no risk in the UK if you buy the pre-packaged stuff, but others say there is!

[conkertree]

and if you have your own chickens and therefore know that the birds dont have salmonella, can you make your own ice cream with raw eggs? maybe i should ask that on the chicken keepers forum.