Is all pâté out of bounds?

[Jenjen85]

Hi ladies, just wondering if there's any kind of pâté that us pregnant ladies are allowed to eat? It's just not Christmas without pâté ha ha

[Pascha]

I've been eating it. Not if I don't know where its from though. So packaged branded stuff ok but not homemade farmshop gubbins.

[SoYo]

It's just pate with liver and unpasteurised cheeses you can't have

[MrsEddChina]

As far as I know all pâté is a no go. Even vegetarian ones. I am as my Christmas isn't Christmas without pâté either.

[blackteaplease]

I thought it was all pate not just liver. I avoided it just to be safe, i think its the listeria risk

[cupcake78]

I thought it was just liver pâté that wasn't possible due to the high vitamin A content.

[nannyl]

i thought it was liver pate due to the vit A in liver

[SlouchingPanda]

NHS website says avoid all types of pate, even vegetable as it can contain listeria. Pregnant women are 20x more likely to get listeria infection then non-pregnant ladies, and it can cause miscarriage and still birth.

Looks like it will just have to be Christmas without pate for us all this year. More chocolate will soften the blow, I hope...

[blackteaplease]

Its all liver due to vitamin a plus all pate due to listeria risk. Even veggie pate

[Jenjen85]

slouching I'd usually love the idea of eating more chocolate this Christmas but Iv gone off it since becoming pregnant oh well looks like ill have to just carry on eating cheese of the hard variety then

[StaceymReadyForNumber3]

You can eat Stilton though. Nhs says so! So enjoy scrummy cheese instead ladies!

[SlouchingPanda]

Here

And here

My first effort at links, and am on my phone so hope it works!

[SlouchingPanda]

Hard cheese all round, huh?

[Jenjen85]

That's the only thing I'm craving at the minute, trying not to go through a packet a day

[bigkidsdidit]

Fuck! I thought it was because of the vit A so I happily ate loads
of smoked salmon pâté at the weekend :(

Having a wee panic now

[nannyl]

i wouldnt worry bigkids.... im sure you would know if you had listeria buy now...

im hoping that come christmas 2014 i wont be pg of BFing and able to enjoy all the perks of xmas again.... for yhe first time since xmas 2009!

[Bue]

bigkids, there's no need to panic, you are fine :)

Generally I think the listeria risk stuff is a bit OTT, but pate is one food I probably would avoid. However it's only fresh pates that are an issue. All tinned or 'shelf stable' pates are totally fine.

[bigkidsdidit]

Last pregnancy I was very blasé about it all, bit then a friend of a friend caught listeria and had a still birth and I am very anxious this time round.

Risk is funny, isn't it. Her catching listeria was SO RARE it made the national paper here (Scotland) and te most dangerous thing I could possibly do this pregnancy is get in a car. But my brain doesn't seem to be able to deal wih that!

Nanny can you not eat pâté when bf either? Last time I came home and DH had prepared me a pate, soft cheese and wine spread which I munched away while DS fed

[KateShmate]

Not trying to scare any one, but its not really the listeria that is the issue, its the fact that Pate is extremely high in Vitamin A which can cause harm to a developing baby, and even deformities.
Really not trying to panic any one, its just important to be aware.

[bigkidsdidit]

That's only liver pâté though Kate

[SoYo]

The listeria risk from veggie or other pates is if the soft cheese or egg used in them isn't pasteurised. Lots of them from supermarkets specify the cheese and eggs are pasteurised so worth a check!

[bangersmashandbeans]

I eat loads of fish pâté and the recipe I use is just smoked mackerel or trout, creme fraiche, mustard, chives and lemon juice so I reckon that's pretty safe!

[lurcherlover]

I always wonder just how much vit A is in pâté to actually potentially cause birth defects. Carrots are high in in but no-one tells us to avoid them!

[KateShmate]

It is the liver in Pate which is particularly rich in Vitamin A, far more than carrots. Its not just pregnant women who have to limit their intake; none of us should eat large amounts of liver.

[lurcherlover]

Yes, I know it's the liver Kate - my point is that realistically how much of it would you have to eat to risk damaging your baby? I don't think pate is a foodstuff that most of us eat every day (like bread or milk or whatever) - and sure, carrots are lower than liver, but we probably eat them much more regularly than pate. Pate is generally spread on toast in relatively small amounts and eaten on infrequent occasions, and yet it's completely banned...just seems odd to me.

[confuddledDOTcom]

Firstly, you can pretty much eat and drink anything when you're breastfeeding.

There was a thread less than a week ago about pate, not that I'm telling you not to start a new one just that it had some really good information that you might find useful.

As with all foods and drink as long as it's in moderation there's no reason to worry about it. I go with the opinion that if you ban a food then you make it an issue and you notice it missing, whereas in reality you might go longer without ever thinking about certain things. The Paul McKenna diet for pregnant women