Oh crap, just scoffed paté and stilton last week and now have BFP!

[HollyFP]

Please can someone reassure me that the risk from eating these foods is actually very small?! I joked to DH last week that I wanted to eat a load of paté and stilton before I got pregnant again...little did I know I probably already was at the time but :)
Am slightly worried now that I've not given the baby the best start (over-reaction I know but I feel a bit silly)

[licoriceGreen]

You'll be fine, any risk of illness is gone as you would have been I'll by now and even if it was liver pate I woulnt worry about the vitamin a, I did a (stupid) powder food diet that had bucket loads of vit a in when I was 6 weeks (I didn't realise) and bump is now 39 +4. Relax and congratulations

[ladywithnomanors]

You'll be fine.
I ate blue cheese, dippy eggs etc all through my last pregnancy (I am not advising you that this is right by the way!) and I was fine.
Although I admitted as much on here and got absolutely crucified for it.

if you were going to have any ill effects from the food you'd have had it by now.

[HollyFP]

thanks I feel slightly less silly. Now I'll just have to wait for random cravings to rear their head

[Pootles2010]

Oh god... Pate... Stilton... soooo hungry. Ahem. Yes you'll be fine you'd be sick as a pig by now if they were dodgy.

Congratulations :)

[Crosshair]

Congratulations!

[HollyFP]

Pootles I couldn't bear the thought of going without for another year! As it is Christmas scoffing is now out of bounds

[MooseCakey]

I agree that if the pate was going to make you ill then it would have done so by now. Stilton is safe in pregnancy, see this page from the nhs which specifically names Stilton as ok (near the bottom): www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/cooked-brie-and-blue-cheese-during-pregnancy.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=216

[whizzyrocket]

Hmmm.. interesting Moose! Thanks!

OP, as the others say, you will be fine and so will you baby be. The risks are very small, and emphasised rather more in this country than in others (you don't get told to avoid brie and pate in France) so try not to worry too much.

The way I see it, advice is there for you to apply your own considerable powers of common sense to. We know that babies are most vulnerable in the first trimester for example, so perhaps follow the foody rules to the letter until after then. Once you reach that point though decide on which rules you think are most worth following- with eggs they tell you to cook them right the way through because of the risk of salmonella. These days most chickens are vaccinated against salmonella, so if you look at the eggs you buy and they have been stamped with a little red lion you know they come from salmonella inoculated stock and should be ok even if you want a dippy egg.

These are the principles I've been following, but obviously it's up to you to take responsibility for your diet and decide on which you think are important rules to follow. I just don't see much point in missing out for months given that women have been having babies long before the world became as free from food-poisoning as it is today! I haven't been scoffing the cheese and pate, but I have once had melted brie on toast, once a stilton sauce when out at a restaurant and I intend to bake us a camembert at some point this week. Treat it as a treat! :)

[HollyFP]

The NHS page refers to cooked blue cheese though; I'm talking uncooked, tasty raw Stilton
Anyhow, am not worried, ta for replies

[HollyFP]

Oh whoops just reread the bit about Stilton being safe to eat uncooked hooray!

[TrickyBiscuits]

I think blue stilton is fine anyway as it's a hard blue cheese?

[Oeisha]

Just FYI, supermarkets won't advise any unpasteurised cheeses or blue cheeses of any kind if pg, so if you go in with a query, don't be suprised if they're evasive. Some will just say they're not even allowed to comment and will refer you back to your MW...
For anyone missing soft cheeses, Boursin and things like Phillidephia are usually pasteurised and thus ok.

[PlinkertyPlonk]

Hmmmmm. Stilton. Pate. Oh how I miss them.

I've inadvertently eaten raw egg, twice (very free-range, so not a salmonella vaccine in sight), unpasteurised cheese (thinking the oh-so-tasty cheese in question was pasteurised), very rare meat (before I was told that it's also banned), nuts most days (because falafel is the only tasty sandwich where I get lunch that doesn't contain illegal cheese) and more than 3 portions of oily fish a week (because meat is now out of the question - cremated steak is just horrid).

And yes I panicked too when I realised. Then just got very depressed that there's very little of my usual diet that I can now eat.

[MrsCog]

Actually Plinkerty I think there is good news about rare meat (well steak anyway), the NHS website (the last time I checked) said if it was from a reputable source and well cooked on the outside (as that's where the germs would be) then pinker meat would be ok :) Just a shame I haven't blooming fancied steak for 14 weeks!!!!

[ChunkyMonkeyMother]

I didn't find out I was pregnant until the end of January - I thought I was perhaps 3 weeks updiffed, was very relieved when Doc suggested thats what it felt like - Booked scan etc for end of Feb - Found out I was 17.4 weeks pregnant, baby had so far ingested;

A whole litre of gin,
2 trays of pate
2 blocks of stilton
3 or 4 bottles of wine
Numerous dog-poo pickups/cat litter empties

My DS is now 2 and completely fine - I tortured myself until the day he was born worrying about what I had eaten over Christmas and could kick myself for it, my midwife assured me that some people do this right through their pregnancies (and do things like smoking + drugs) of course I stopped as soon as I even thought I was pregnant but we can't turn back time - Best not to worry too much, you'll just make yourself sick!

[PlinkertyPlonk]

Thank you MrsCog, if that's the case, you've made my night. It was my midwife that said ALL rare meat was a no-no but maybe she was just being cautious.

So sorry you've gone off it though. How frustrating!

[PlinkertyPlonk]

Oh the cat-poo thing. Forgotten about that too. Every cat in the bloody village seems to poo in our garden, but what can you do?

I think you're right, best to try not to worry about it after the event.

[MrsCog]

I quote directly from the NHS website :)

'Raw or undercooked meat
Cook all meat and poultry thoroughly so that there's no trace of pink or blood. Take particular care with poultry, pork, sausages and minced meat, including burgers.It is fine to eat whole cuts of beef and lamb such as steaks, cutlets and joints (but not rolled joints) rare, as long as the outside has been properly cooked.'

[HollyFP]

ChunkyMonkey not all in one evening I hope?

[twotesttickles]

Gawd you are making me hungry FFS :)

[Oeisha]

Most cats DO NOT carry toxo, but again, it's not worth the risk. Glove up and wash your hands after gardening/cleaning out the tray, or get someone else to do it and there's little or no risk...

[whackamole]

I've taken the line that I have never in my life had any form of food poisoning, so even if I am pregnant I will be fine.

So....I'll be seeing you later once I have polished off my rare steak with blue cheese sauce

[BelleRomford74]

I always crave what I can't have when pregnant!! each time (currently 16 weeks pregnant with my 3rd) I crave peanuts!! Just the smell of peanut butter makes my mouth water!! This time I have been craving prawns in seafood sauce like a proper retro prawn cocktail & pimms & lemonade!!! Have'nt smoked for years but even fancied a cigarette!! Must be in my nature to always want what I can't have!! But at least I know what to have to celebrate the birth in feb!! ;) xx

[HollyFP]

mmmmm I'm not so scared of eating Stilton any more! I'll prob be dreaming about it tonight

[Oeisha]

I thought you could have peanuts...
babycentre
NHS scroll down a bit...only talks about an 'immediate family history or allergies' and even then says it's probably fine.
Good news?