To be really worried about breaking pregnancy food rules.

[honeytea]

I'm 24 weeks pregnant and live in Sweden (I am British but live here) the rules for pregnant women here are very simple, no blue cheese, no Baltic sea fish (too much mercury) and no alcohol. I have been going by these rules.

I read a thread about toxoplasmosis on the pregnancy bord yesterday and I was horrified I had no idea about it :( in the 1st tri I ate loads and loads of strawberries, often bought from fruit stands in the city and eaten right away as a snack (they were one of the only things that stopes me throwing up on the train home) I also went to 2 weddings this summer and at both the meal was slightly rare lamb.

I'm not sure what to do, I feel like I have been so stupid, the attitude here is very relaxed about pregnancy and I have trusted my midwife but now I am convinced I have harmed my DS. I was panicking and up all night.

I have looked into it and I really hope I am immune to it, my mother fed me unpasturised goat milk every day as a baby and we have allways had cats.

Did everyone stick to the pregnancy rules completely?

I remember reading the recommendation to sleep on whichever side it is, due to excessive googling, but my consultant and midwives never mentioned it to me. I can't imagine any of the doctors/midwives I've ever met telling a pregnant woman to sleep differently. They're generally au fait with the difficulties of getting innto a comfortable position while heavily pregnant, and the importance of sleep!

If you're comfortable in the recommended position, you might as well sleep that way. If you can't sleep that way, don't.

All in all, it could potentially be great advice for women with particular medical conditions. It's not going to be vital advice for most.

It's good to here so many babies have suvived unwashed fruit! The left hand side thing I read online, the problem I have is trying to work out my left hand side when im all sleepy, it wakes me up and then I can't get back to sleep!

I had low bp with DD1 and my doctor actually told me not to raise my arms above my head for any length of time. I did peg a bit of washing out and went dizzy....
The only 2 other rules I followed were no soft cheese (hence my previous nn) and no shellfish, i involuntarily followed the no alchohol rule as I can't even sniff any while pg without throwing up!

oh dear I am 28 weeks and have had the maddest strawberry cravings - at one point a punnet a day minimum. I mainly ate them at work, so didnt wash any of them. Feel horribly guilty now.

Did order my lamb well done in an expensive restaurant last week and got a snooty look from the french waiter. Had to stop myself explaining that I normally eat it rare, but didnt want to risk it at the moment (I doubt he would have cared much).

Oh no lambzig I hope I didn't worry you!

On the pluss side strawberries are great for iron levels, mine were "manly" they were so high, i blame it on the strawberries :)

It's all nonsense. All of it.
Except eating lots of liver as high quantities of vitamin A can be damaging.
And probably not a good idea to neck a litre of vodka a day.

Other than that - prawn cocktail followed by rare steak with blue cheese sauce, glass of red then a pavlova made with unwashed strawberries would be a meal I would happily eat in pregnancy. Gaviscon chaser obviously.

Maybe soft boiled egg and soldiers for breakfast the next morning too.

Honeytea for dd1, I followed the guidelines, worried myself to death about things and tried my hardest. For dd2 I did the same but with much lower standards of perfection. For dd3 I was down in the dumps for most of it, could not eat, hardly slept, drank some wine and had an odd fag.
All 3? No bloody difference at all!

Wash fruit ?

Nectarines? Really?
looks at healthy dd and shrugs

I ate raw egg pregnant as I was a cake mix addict

mmm dippy egg, I fancy that now!

ignore it all. You'll be fine

They are very strict here in Belgium about toxo, but I think it's because it's a lot more prevalent due to the high consumption of undercooked meat (a standard sandwich filling is l'americain, which is basically raw beef paste). So they test each pregnant woman for immunity at the beginning of the pregnancy and if you're not immune (like me), you have to have tests every month to ensure you haven't caught it as it can have serious consequences for foetus. I would think that the reason Sweden isn't as vigilant is because there's very little incidence of toxo - they don't control for it in the US either and they're super careful there about pregnancy diets. So, I wouldn't worry OP - good luck with the rest of your pregnancy and enjoy those strawberries.

14 weeks here, and been eating strawberries. I always forget to wash fruit and veg. Didn't realise I was doing anything wrong.

Also, eaten sushi, just avoided tuna sushi. Still eating chorizo and parma ham, as not been told to avoid it. Also eating shop bought mayonaise, as the eggs have been pasteurised.

I've been sleeping on my back.....! I didn't know. I might try and sleep on my left side now.

I've stuck to no shellfish, tuna, camembert, blue cheese, liver and brie rules. I've drastically reduced my coffee intake. And only the occasional sip of wine. That's it. I'm sure I'm going over the top.

You should only aim to lie on your left if you are getting symptoms ie feeling faint when lying flat on your back.

I never had a problem, so slept whichever way I fancied. If I got any sleep that is...