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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think that having a desire for crap like crisps and choc is NOT a pregnancy craving?

133 replies

NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 30/05/2013 15:41

I think the idea of cravings has been distorted. I have 2 DC and both times had full-on Pica. That's the need to eat weird things which aren't really food...also the need to smell certain things.
Mine were ice, smelling flash cleaner with bleach and coal.

THAT is a pregnancy craving. Fancying more Walkers than usual is not a craving.

Neither is a desire to gannet pies and cakes.

OP posts:
HeffalumpTheFlump · 30/05/2013 15:59

The way you worded your post was judgemental on all women who have craved these foods. I don't feel it's up to you to decide what is and isn't classified as a pregnancy craving.

I personally have hated cake since being a child yet recently HAD to have dark chocolate cake with thick icing in layers. It HAD to be that cake, no other would do. I couldnt stop thinking about it for days. I never buy cake and never have it at parties. That was evidently a craving, so I'm pretty annoyed that you have decided otherwise. Oh no sorry that was just a "desire to gannet pies and cakes". Hmm

suckmabigtoe · 30/05/2013 15:59

It baffles me how anyone can be so sure they know what another persons body did or did not crave.

HumphreyCobbler · 30/05/2013 16:02

I think if people have weight to lose then they will be fairly clear about why they need to lose it

FobblyWoof · 30/05/2013 16:03

I also loved the smell of oranges while pregnant. Loved and I desperately wanted to eat one but I couldn't. Actually felt sick when I did (I don't normally like oranges anyway, the consistency mainly). So I didnt crave crap but I craved a food I couldn't actually stomach!

Dahlen · 30/05/2013 16:04

I didn't really get any pregnancy cravings. I didn't put on any weight either. I think the two are probably connected, yes, but I wouldn't dismiss another woman's cravings.

When I had morning sickness, the only thing I could stomach was brown rice soaked in soy sauce. Confused Because that's relatively 'healthy' it wouldn't receive the same Hmm response as say salted crisps, but both are high-salt foods that could be described as cravings perhaps.

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 30/05/2013 16:05

Heffalump no it wasn't. You are the ONLY person saying that. Because it was not judgmental how can it have been when I admitted to eating the same crap myself?

OP posts:
Pozzled · 30/05/2013 16:05

It's perfectly possible to have a pregnancy craving for sweet, crappy food. I had a craving for jelly sweets with DD2, especially haribo sours. I'm sure it was a craving, not just fancying something sweet because jelly sweets are not something I would ever really eat. I also got through loads of packs of the things within a few weeks, then left a half-eaten pack when the craving wore off.

There were times when I also wanted to comfort eat, and you're right that it is different. But I think when people talk about cravings they generally mean the real thing.

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 30/05/2013 16:06

Pozzled yes...I am not saying that cravings are not all non-food....I agree that certain sweets like fizzy things especially tend to be common cravings...but chips? Nah.

OP posts:
Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 30/05/2013 16:07

Dahlen what you can stomach is not a craving. I had terrible morning sickness with DD2 and I clearly remember wanting icecream badly...it made me feel better. But it was not a craving...it was just what I could eat.

OP posts:
Longdistance · 30/05/2013 16:07

I was addicted to Gaviscon chalky tablets. I had heart burn as dd2 had a full on barnet, and could have coughed up fur balls and they were the only things that eased my heart burn.
Also the texture was something rather appealing Blush

loofet · 30/05/2013 16:09

I had pica with DC2, craved ice. It was so bad I bought 2kg bags of ice and would sit chomping on it like it was crisps, I even chipped my front tooth Blush. Everyone kept telling me I must be anemic because that's what it's a sign of but I wasn't at all, just really craved ice like mad.

With DC1 I had the same urge but for McDonalds. I don't usually go anywhere near Mcdz, I haven't been since either. But it was so strong that if I didn't eat it i'd get angry and upset! Like a sort of addiction so I don't think anything about that was me just wanting junk food and using the craving excuse. Luckily (sort of) for me it was only the last 2 months but I still gained 4 stone, 3 of it in those 2 months!!

I think some women do just say anything is a craving that is junk though, probably to get away with it. So for example if they fancy chocolate that's automatically a craving. It's not, you just want some chocolate. I think a craving is something you usually wouldn't eat but really, really can't stop thinking about. Like the women that eat really odd things like pickles and kippers which would usually make them feel sick.

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 30/05/2013 16:09

There's an episode of the Royale Family where Denise's Mum asks "Are you still craving Snickers?" and Denise is like "Yeah.." in that way of hers. The implication is clearly....no...you're not Denise, you just like Snickers.

OP posts:
Katienana · 30/05/2013 16:10

I sucked flannels! They tasted amazing.

Lavenderhoney · 30/05/2013 16:10

Op, are you my dm? Do you also believe morning sickness is attention seeking? :)

I craved lamb chops, weetabix and cornflakes, cheese sandwiches. Once I wanted fish and chips and a batter sausage and drove a long way to get them:)

Not cakes and biscuits, but each to their own.

Chunderella · 30/05/2013 16:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 30/05/2013 16:11

Loofet I got angry about my ice...I asked DH to smash me a cup of ice and he came in with it and he'd smashed an orange lolly in with it and it was my LAST tray! I was so angry! Blush

I think you've hit the nail on the head...a real craving tends to be something you might not normally want and your need for it goes above and beyond...turns into desperation.

OP posts:
blueberryupsidedown · 30/05/2013 16:11

So what, YOUR cravings are better than MINE? Is that also in the PregnancyLypic? Gold medal to you then.

Mine were Crunchy Nut corn flakes, Kit Kat Chunky and the maple pecan twist from Tesco. Nothing could stand between me and a box of crunchy nuts, any time of day and night.

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 30/05/2013 16:12

Lavender there's the key! You say you ONCE wanted fish and chips and drove a long way for them....that was a strong passing fancy not a craving. A craving is with you daily.

OP posts:
TallyGrenshall · 30/05/2013 16:13

'Like the women that eat really odd things like pickles and kippers which would usually make them feel sick'

^^ This. 9 times out of 10, I would throw up after eating my McD's but I needed to have it.

One day I really really craved pineapple juice, then threw it up 10 mins after drinking it. Acidic juice coming back up is most definitely not fun

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 30/05/2013 16:14

Blueberry I never said my cravings were better than yours or anyone elses. Just wanted to see what other people thought constituted a craving.

OP posts:
MummyOfSunbeam · 30/05/2013 16:17

I think Tallu is right - it's pregnancy craving if it is something you are totally unkeen on usually.

For me it was tart green apples. I really don't like them usually or since but god - from halfway through pregnancy I would devour them by truckload. I would wake up at 4 am desperate for green apples and wanting to go to 24- hour supermarket to get some. I ate them in droves! After birth lost interest entirely (but little dd likes them too!)

I would love to know what is in a tart green apple that made it craving-worthy. I mean sure they have vitamin c but if it was that why not crave oranges!

NancyOsbourne · 30/05/2013 16:18

Ffs who is the OP to judge and decide what pregnant ladies crave?

I only have craved fresh things during my two previous pregnancies (this one too early to say) and have of course indulged in crap too but doesn't mean I don't believe other women may have craved different things to me.

Every pregnancy is unique so it's rude to suggest you know everything about all pregnancies.

BabyMakesTheBoobiesGoLeaky · 30/05/2013 16:19

I never eat jelly sweets but I would've crawled over hot coals to get them when I was pregnant. Also used to like furniture polish when pregnant on dc1.

RubySparks · 30/05/2013 16:19

As a child I ate earth and pieces of paper torn from books..... When pregnant it was oranges and drinking milk - I really really don't like milk and would not choose to drink it!

blueemerald · 30/05/2013 16:21

My mum is not a chocolate fan at all. When it come to sweet treats she's all about the biscuits but when she was pregnant with me she sudden had an overwhelming craving for chocolate. She went from maybe half a bar a year (she really isn't fussed about it) to a bar a day (and could have eaten more) for about 6 months and then went off it again. I think that's a pregnancy craving. I do agree that the eating for two myth is misleading and dangerous though.

I am a chocolate fiend though.