don't eat this. Or that. You fancy what? Nope you can't have that either.

[socktastic]

Aaarrrggghhhhhh!!

How on earth did our parents successfully produce us? I'm sure my mum enjoyed soft cheeses and pate when she was carrying me.

FFS!

[LouLou030783]

Ur allowed some soft cheese ie Philadelphia and such X I love pate and only ever had occasionally but now I'm preg I want it all the time

[BathtimeFunkster]

Do a bit of research and decide on the advice that makes sense to you.

I ignored most of the restrictions.

I stuck to the pâté one because I hate pâté.

I still had my steak rare, because I love rare steak.

[Runningupthathill82]

What Bathtime said. I've eaten all the cheese I want to during this pregnancy, as after doing my own research I was satisfied that the "risks" are minimal. Ditto rare steak and runny eggs. Have basically eaten whatever I like, and had the odd glass of wine too.
I haven't eaten any pate because I don't like it. Avoided shellfish too, but that's it.

[Junosmum]

Pate is the only one I've stuck to religiously. All the others I've taken under advisement and had some of. But only had rare steak once and I've not had occasion to eat cured meats.

[frikadela01]

I love Brussels pate soooo much but it's probably one of the only restrictions I will be strict with, mainly due to it containing liver and the vitamin A risks.

I've had runny eggs, cured meats and a bit of brie the other day.

[dementedpixie]

Cooked shellfish is fine you should just avoid having it raw

[frikadela01]

Oh and I've cut out most caffiene but only because I was a hopeless addict and thought it as good a time as any to reduce my consumption of it.

[dementedpixie]

You can eat any of the cheeses if they are cooked too

[DannyFishcharge]

I'm craving coffee like mad and you can't have too much of that

[dementedpixie]

Switch to decaff?

[dodobookends]

A friend of mine is a (very) senior midwife. She said that the thing about liver and vitamin A is as a result of person years ago thinking that liver was full of nutrients and would be a good thing to eat during pregnancy, and so she ate a lot of it - an awful lot - pretty much to the exclusion of all else for the whole pregnancy. Naturally, she ended up overdosing on Vitamin A.

In my learned friend's view, an occasional meal containing liver would do no harm at all to a pregnant woman, or the foetus.

[immortalwife]

I asked if she would like to wrestle my runny egg sandwich out of my cold dead hands and she backed away. Just go with sensible advice. You can get salmonella from touching the egg shell or any meat therefore eradicating the requirement to incinerate it. You'll get it if you get it. Anyone preventing me from eating when I puke up so often can get fucked cos I am fucking starved...

[sleepyhead]

If the guidelines didn't exist then some pregnant women would be exposed to bacteria/parasites such as listeria, toxoplasmosis and salmonella that they might have taken steps to avoid, or might have too high an intake of vitamin A.

A few of those pregnant women would pass the infection on to their baby.

A few of those infected babies might be ill, born earlier, be damaged or very rarely die.

On a population level it's worth warning about these things because it allows women to make a choice about the risks they are willing to live with and potentially prevents some adverse events happening to babies.

At the individual level, the chances of anything bad happening to you and your baby are very, very, very small. It's up to you what you eat and drink during pregnancy - read up on the risks and follow the ones that make sense to you.

[StellaAlpina]

The other day my mum made me some soup and said 'don't worry, it doesn't have celery in it'...I mean FFS we have to worry about celery now?

[dementedpixie]

No we dont

[JennyC520]

I do think some stuff is silly. Like, back in the day before all the scientific advances, people ate whatever they want I bet, and people have all turned out fine! but saying that, I still follow some of the guidelines.. just in case :P

[toffeeboffin]

Seems like the only thing you can actually eat is McDonald's and junk food.

Oh, and a bit of veg if you're lucky!

[Nicky333]

Since I found out you can only have two tins of tuna a week, all I want is tuna...

[PrincessPunzie]

Nicky333 good news! The NHS says you can eat four tins of tuna a week. Unless you've been eating really big tins, that is!

[CaptainKit]

I'm being sensible, but not completely martyring myself. Have dropped from rare steak to medium rare as my research suggested that a nice fresh steak completely cooked on the outside is much safer than dodgily cooked burger/mince as the inside's less likely to have come into contact with the bacteria which makes you ill.

Likewise, listeriosis is actually not that common, so although I've stopped buying blue cheese or rind-matured cheese, I've had a couple of brie sarnies in the last 30 weeks when the alternative was having a sandwich I knew I wouldn't like.

I think if I were more prone to getting ill then I might pay a little more attention to the rules, but as it is I'm rather hardy and have put consideration in to what the risks actually are.

[waxweasel]

I agree - just do a bit of reading and decide what level of risk you are personally willing to accept. I've eaten pretty much everything this time - sushi, blue cheese, runny eggs, odd glass of wine.

I have to say though, the guidance is infinitely better and more measured than it was 3 years ago when I was pg with DD1! Then it was basically 'everything is banned, don't even look at it'. Now it is actually quite helpful, with explanations of the level of risk and useful work arounds like 'cured meats/soft cheeses are fine if cooked' or 'sushi that is made with frozen fish or farmed in this way is fine' etc etc, rather than just banning them outright.

[mmmuffins]

They are just guidelines, you don't have to follow them! I don't eat most of the things on the list anyway, but the ones that I do I still eat occasionally. Have had both raw egg and goat's cheese this week.

[youngestisapsycho]

I only started drinking coffee when I was pregnant.... Loads of it! Didn't know you weren't meant to?

[BabyGanoush]

Too much caffeine prob not good

But saying that, I ate everything during pregnancy, but that was 14 yrs ago. people are soooo panicky now it seems. Is it part of the general hysteria about food these days?

[DinoSnores]

"Seems like the only thing you can actually eat is McDonald's and junk food."

Nonsense. Read the NHS advice rather than being hysterical about it all. It is all pretty sensible. I've been pregnant 5 times in the last 6 years and haven't found that the advice has changed very much at all. Decide what you want to do about the (albeit small but sometimes very significant) risks.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/foods-to-avoid-pregnant.aspx