First world question! Would you do this if 8 months pregnant?

[CakeandBake]

Posting on here for quick responses mainly.

I'm 8 months pregnant and it's my birthday. I am very lucky and DH has prepared a lovely picnic. Would I be okay to eat a slice or two of iberico ham?? Or is this an absolute no-no? The NHS says charcuterie but not sure if it means processed sausage type meat as opposed to slices of iberico?

Also, would anyone consider drinking a small glass of champagne in my position? I haven't drunk anything so far in my pregnancy. Seems so close to the final hurdle now so wondering if I might...! I know opinions differ so just interested to hear views.

You're questioning it though, so you already have doubts. It's not our baby @CakeandBake it's yours. You decide if it's worth any risks.

I'd have the booze, but only ham if it was frozen or very safe type. Prob got my priorities wrong.

I avoided all the things on the not advised list, while my friend, who was also pregnant at the time, ignored all the all the food advice and had an occasional glass of wine. Both our babies were fine . I think it depends on your personality. I'm a worrier and wouldn't have enjoyed it, my friend is really easy going and enjoyed the treats.

I wouldn't risk it myself, but if you deem the risk acceptable, go for it.

It really depends on whether those 2 pieces of ham and one glass of champagne is worth the tiniest of risks to your baby.

I dont get it. I'm 9 months pregnant and haven't touched a drop of alcohol, Indian you probably can but what's the point? Are you that desperate? No

*I mean, not indian

Happy Birthday!
I would do both, 1 glass will be fine, I had the odd glass on a few occasions in both pregnancies.
The ham has been salted and cured and the risk will be extremely low particularly with the long hanging time of the meat.

The only things I wouldn't have eaten in pregnancy were lots of liver (had the odd faggot though), and I wouldn't have eaten pate unless it was one I had prepared that day at home for example salmon or mackerel pate.

No I wouldn't do either (but generally drink very little alcohol anyway so no biggie on the champers for me.

I look at those 9 months as a short period of time from my life where I avoided those things versus the risk of eating listeria contaminated food.

I am in Aus, while I was pregnant there was a listeria outbreak and I was very glad that I hadn't touched any high risk foods when that happened.

Yes to champagne.

I would freeze the ham. Freezing cured meat (or fish if being eaten raw) kills the majority of parasites. I think you are supposed to freeze for 4 days so might be too late for birthday picnic but something to look forward to!

I would do both, if you were having babies in the 1970 era {like me ) you would eat what you liked all the time, and some champagne would go down well also.

I would have a small glass of champagne before the cured meat that might have been at room temp (or hotter) for hours.

Yes, definitely. I had a few drinks throughout each of my pregnancies and honestly, I didn’t really limit any of the foods I ate.

Personally I would avoid both. I wouldn't want to take any risks. Pregnancy doesn't last long in the grand scheme of things and there will be plenty of time to enjoy myself once baby is here and safe. Knowing me, i would blame myself if anything went wrong.

Bit late now but read ‘expecting better’- it has all the actual scientific stats as to what is a risk in pregnancy and what isn’t. A small glass of wine/ equivalent is fine. Obviously up to you, but I absolutely would enjoy one as a one off treat. Re charcuterie, do you have time to freeze and defrost it? I’ve read somewhere (can’t remember where) that freezing for a couple of days kills the bacteria and when you defrost it, it’s safe to eat. If your birthday is actually today, that obviously won’t work but could be used in future if you wanted to consider it. But with all these things- only you can decide what you think is best!

Would absolutely have the fizz, I'm 30 weeks and have had three glasses of prosecco during the course of this pregnancy, one of which was on my birthday and I really savoured it!

I've been eating cured meat since about 24 weeks but only pre-frozen. I wouldn't worry too much about it though. My biggest concern about touching the 'banned' stuff is whether I'll enjoy it or just feel hideously guilty and worried. If you don't think you will then go for it

I would eat the ham but wouldn't drink the champagne, but then I am teetotal anyway. Happy birthday!

Yep definitely

cooked meat is fine in this country, the only thing to be a bit wary of is cured meats - but with UK hygiene standards. I wouldn't eat them if your picnic didn't stay reasonably chilled before eating and I wouldn't eat it from a buffet that had been standing around. Straight from the fridge or cooled cool box not a problem.

Small amounts of alcohol are not a problem, especially at 8 months. The advice works on the premise than we are not able to judge a 'moderate' amount and if they said it was ok we would drink gallons.

Do it. Enjoy it xxx

It’s literally a couple of weeks until you can freely do both. If you can’t wait a couple of weeks for a glass of wine then you have bigger problems than just that one drink. Why would you take even the tiniest risk with your precious baby? Your baby should be more important than your desire to drink tbh.

Get a grip. If you’ve got in a car once in your entire pregnancy then you’ve put your baby at far more risk than any 8 months pregnant woman who has a single glass of champagne.

Humans take sensible, assessed risks every single day and it’s fine, but for some reason pregnancy always gets some people hoiking their bosoms and treating some behaviours (but never the ones they do themselves) as proof that the woman in question is a feckless tart who will happily risk the life of her baby.

By all means, decide not to drink at all if you don’t want to. But stop spouting all the unscientific crap about ‘why would you take the risk’ just because you like looking down on people.

What judgy crap. I assume people who truly think this have never crossed a road, lived in a polluted city, been the tiniest bit overweight ect while pregnant

^^ This. I hope the 'why would you take the risk' people have never used stairs or travelled in a car, during their pregnancies because both of those are likely to be statistically more dangerous than a small glass of not very strong wine or a couple of slices of ham.

Enjoy both and happy birthday OP!

I'd do both.

I had a rare steak on my birthday we went for a night away and went to a really fancy restaurant where the steak was out of this world the last time we went and I can't eat steak cooked any more than medium rare at a push so I treated myself. I was only about 5 months pregnant, but it was so good. I never had alcohol though as the smell made me feel sick. I'm also diabetic, it sends my blood sugars high so it wasn't worth it. I wouldn't judge someone else who did though!

OP might be bf-ing in a month's time for maybe a year or more, when the potential for damage (due to sleepy mother not having drunk a drop for 9m plus everything else) is much higher. You might even find yourself being denied the simple pleasures of fruit juice, dairy, caffeine, chocolate, tomatoes (the list goes on and on, it certainly did for my ds) if baby doesn't agree with it in breast milk.

Enjoy a birthday toast OP, and your fancy picnic!

I would do both, especially the champagne as the evidence for any impact of very low alcohol intake is literally non-existent. The medical establishment just recommends to avoid alcohol altogether because they don’t know where the boundary between damaging and non-damaging amounts is and it’s not ethical to do clinical trials on pregnant women. But the boundary is definitely significantly higher than a single glass of fizz!

With ham, it’s because of the risk of listeriosis which is very rare. I probably might avoid but the risk is tiny.

At 8 mo., my OB/Gyn would totally have given the thumbs up - and she was expecting herself!