to have a self-indulgent moan about pregnancy restrictions...

[Pandora2016]

Have been a good girl and have given up nicotine, alcohol, soft cheese, cured meat, rare meat, sushi, anything spicy (heartburn) and have had my measly, annoying, pathetic NHS ration of four cups of tea.... (That would have basically been breakfast in the past).

I'm starving and trying not to snack so as not to increase BMI. Dinner will not be ready for another hour.

FOR FUCKS SAKE. WORST FRIDAY NIGHT IN HISTORY. WTAF CAN I HAVE????

I HATE EVERYONE.

Mainly because we haven't told people yet (12 weeks) so I can't moan at them and think poor DP has had enough.

(I don't hate the cat, the cat is cute)

ARSE.

Tbh I paid zero attention really to the pregnancy food restrictions

DS seems to be ok.

I feel you pain. BUT as I have just discovered it has it's upside. If the cat is sick you are allowed, nay, obliged to refuse to clean it up. HTH.

Caffeine free black tea is available from tesco!! Tastes just the same. If your DH wants to feel left out he can also give up all the good stuff ;)

I drank tick tock which is naturally caffeine free rather than decaffeinated. Takes a few cups to get used to the taste though...
Sushi is fine.

That Expecting Better looks interesting.

Her profession is similar in practice and theory to mine so it might not annoy me as much as a lot of the fluffy guff advice around. I like data. Data is my friend (apart from when it restricts my tea intake).

Going to be Sushi Saturday!

The restriction on rare steak is due to the risk of toxoplasmosis. The parasite that causes this can be killed by freezing for a couple of days.

Prepackaged sushi is ok.
Pasteurised soft cheese is ok, too.

I missed runny eggs when I was pregnant.

Runny eggs are ok too as long as they're lion stamped! The hens are vaccinated against salmonella.

As others have said, read Expecting Better. It helped me to put it all into perspective.

Now that I'm at 15 weeks I'm starting to reintroduce the occasional treat back into my diet. Well I say I am but I haven't had the opportunity yet really! I did have about 1/4 of a glass of champagne on Easter Sunday (went straight to my head but tasted great).

Had no idea Came,Bert was OK baked!

I think as well with meat isn't it that as long as it's seared on the outside (eg. not raw) you're ok?

CAN I REALLY HAVE RARE STEAK IF I FREEZE IT FIRST?!

Sorry for the caps but this is a Big Deal.

I took all the advice by the book when I was pregnant. Got a bit obsessive about it even though I knew lots of things were just precautions. Common sense went out the window with the pregnancy hormones. I think it's harder at the beginning and then you get used to it.

I ate loads of rare steak when I was preggo. I craved it like crazy. The risk with this is toxiplasmosis. I have had cats all my life therefore I probably have been exposed to this already therefore the steak presents a minimal risk. So as you say you have a cat....

I'm 36 weeks and only found out last week I could have Stilton! I've been avoiding it for the past eight months! I was so annoyed!

I'm not pregnant but was thinking tonight that Morrisons salt and pepper bread is amazing and suitable for pregnant people.

It's almost like your intake is actually reduced to that of a young child....

Everyone always suggests Expecting Better but she comes down REALLY hard on the toxoplasmosis risk from steak. I thought that book would make me more relaxed but it didn't work, now I have to eat steak well done or I worry!!

Stilton is fab, last pregnancy it was on the avoid list, I was ecstatic I was allowed it this christmas. I also used it as an excuse to find some new cheeses to try on the Pong Website - found some nice new hard cheeses to try.
It's got crapper as I'm now 35wks and have Gestational diabetes so diet is extremely boring, am missing simple carbs - once this baby is out I'm having a pizza, jammy doughnuts, cheese course and a cold G&T, oh and some chocolate!
I was quite relaxed in my first pregnancy but we suffered a late miscarraige last year so I became much more cautious this time round.

I've been having runny eggs the whole time (currently 25wks)....poached, fried etc....

I miss rare steak mostly....

As my username suggests I'm missing Brie too.. Decaf tea is ok though so I have endless cups of that, cooking stroganoff with the fillet steak right now so getting round that one too!

I think runny eggs are ok now aren't they? As long as they have the stamp.

Does anyone find that other people make judgemental comments about what they eat now?? I had sushi for lunch the other day and my colleague asked if it was "allowed" with a face. I assured her it was, but she really got to me! Silly really.

Stilton is allowed now? How have I only discovered this at term.

Try a Gaviscon chaser with the permitted foods that give you heartburn.

I am planning my brie and grape baguette post partum with a glass of red.

I had my first DC in the uk in 2011 and followed most of the rules, second two kids in NZ where the list is twice as long! Thankfully I have seen both otherwise it'd be no ham or any processed meats, no cold cooked meat, no soft serve ice creams, no smoked fish eg salmon, no sushi, the list goes on and on and on....

And you get funny looks here in cafes when ordering coffees with a visible bump.

The restrictions really piss me off. We have been vaccinating chickens against salmonella since 1998 but the NHS only updated their guidelines recently so lion stamped runny eggs are OK to eat.

You're also far, far more likely to catch listeria from a supermarket sandwich or reheated rice than you are from unpasteurised soft cheese but those aren't restricted. The last outbreak of listeria was from tesco flavoured butter (sorry Tesco) but that's not on the NHS restricted list.

I'm expecting dc3 and so I'm pretty relaxed about things now, but my advice would be to read up on the risks and make your own judgement.

I'm not drinking alcohol at all now (8 weeks) but with my first pregnancy I had the occasional white wine spritzer in the second trimester. And there's no way I'm giving up shell fish.