Did you eat ‘forbidden foods’ in pregnancy?

[Wouldloveanother]

After 2 weeks of horrendous morning (all day) sickness and accompanying gastro problems, I NEEDED a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich. Bought one from Tesco, it went down a treat, currently smacking my lips and feeling better than I have for a day or two.

But… the NHS website says to be ‘careful’ with smoked salmon. Surely Tesco sandwiches are pretty safe? Have I committed a pregnancy crime?

Sorry YANBU = go ahead and enjoy some smoked salmon
YABU = best to avoid

Yes I ate smoked salmon and sushi.

Think someone told me that the fish is frozen first so kills anything. In Japan pregnant women carry on eating sushi and it is recommended as part of a healthy diet.

What on Earth is wrong with smoked salmon? It’ll probably be the most minuscule minute risk of listeria - which as far as I’m aware hasn’t been caused by smoked salmon ever in the UK

Personally no. But only to avoid anxiety. The risk is tiny tiny. Also the advice is ridiculous. Wtf does be careful mean? Jackshit that's what

I stand corrected - according to FSA there is an ongoing listeria issue with smoked salmon they are investigating which I guess is why they have that warning. You’ll be fine though!

I cooked smoked salmon, but did eat it- hot.

Yes, listeria is rare, but having to help look after my cousin who nearly lost her life to it- I didn't risk anything. She lost the baby at 6mths, spent 2 weeks in ITU and almost died herself.

I’d imagine a packet of smoked salmon is fine. Sandwiches are often a bit more risky to my mind

I wouldn't and didn't eat anything that was unadvisable during my pregnancies. That is because a friend who was pregnant before me, lost a child. She had eaten a lot of pate (which was "banned" at the time, don't know if it is now) and she blamed herself for the loss of her baby.

I think it's incredibly unlikely the pate was anything whatsoever to do with her miscarriage, but seeing what that perceived guilt did to her put me off placing myself in the same position.

I didn't, because a close friend lost a baby to listeria and the guilt and grief nearly killed her.

Yes. Unpasteurised cheese, sushi and a my least a glass of fizz or two a week to make sure people didn’t guess.
(also had an ELCS purely because I didn’t fancy a vaginal birth and formula fed from day 2 because I couldn’t be bothered breastfeeding).

My point being, you’ll be judged for every choice you make as a parent and it starts in pregnancy. Do your own research and make your own mind up. FWIW my DC is an absolute joy and hasn’t been traumatised by any of the above.

This is why I follow the advice! How terrifying

Those things with potential bugs in them, including smoked salmon are unlikely to cause harm but if they do it's serious harm (including fetal death).

Things where the substance itself is teratogenic (alcohol, valproate), technically always cause changes/damage but that change/damage is dose dependent and likely undetectable at v low doses.

I had pate on Christmas Day.

It was glorious

I ate half a pack of salami when making a pizza, just completely forgot it’s best to avoid cold cured meats. I also ate smoked salmon at the start of my pregnancy as the guidelines hadn’t yet changed to avoid it. I only followed the NHS guidelines which list very few things to avoid.

I ate quite a bit of sushi as everything I read suggested the fish was always frozen first when raw. In my first pregnancy I did intentionally eat some fois gras at a fancy restaurant. I felt that eating it once throughout a pregnant wouldn’t be an issue.

The one thing I never had was undercooked meat. I did a lot of research on this as I thought about rare fillet steak pretty much every day but I didn’t find anything that could possibly justify the risk.

The issue with pate is not only the listeria risk, but liver contains high amounts of Vit A- hence you are advised not to eat it. Pregnancy vitamins don't contact Vit A, because too much is dangerous to the baby.

I followed the nhs guidelines at the time so I ate plenty of smoked salmon.

I didn't eat anything not recommended, the pregnancy was too difficult to achieve to do anything with any perceived risk. Everyone chooses the level they are comfortable with and that's the important thing. I didn't care about the Expecting Better book, I did what I needed to get through.

I ate smoked salmon as it was OK according to the NHS website. A week later they changed the guidelines. If there's even a slight risk then they need to issue a warning but it's pretty minimal.

I was OTT no tuna, coke, coffee etc. but I'm a worrier.

This reminds me when I was pregnant and a friend practically leapt across the table as I was about to eat a peanut! I ate it (and many more besides).
I also recall hosting a spouses table at a work conference- most of the women were from abroad. Being heavily pregnant I asked what food restrictions did they have in their home countries? They looked at me as if I was mad! A French woman said 'of course you don't have wine every night perhaps but cheese? We are not going to give up our cheese'! Any other foods I said we were warned against (raw eggs etc) they literally laughed at me.
Enjoy your salmon and cream cheese.

A friend of mine ( very robust; 3rd healthy pregnancy) had listeriosis from cream cheese. She was very, very lucky the baby survived.

When I thought I was pg with dc2, but hadn't yet tested, I went to a housewarming party with a massive buffet and ate all sorts of blue and soft cheeses, whilst I still could. (I was right about being pg)

My friend in France ate beef carpaccio.

@mondaytosunday such a tired trope trotted out on here. French health authorities do advise against all the same stuff as over here and most women adhere to it….

Just use your common sense, there are risks but they are small. Other countries don’t necessarily recommend avoiding specific foods in pregnancy.

Unless you're fully trained and have a large sample of produce and other people's pregnancy info, you can't "do your own research". You can Google. That's not research. You'll find an article to support whatever you want to believe.

I'm sure it'll be fine OP. A one off. But I reckon guidelines are probably based in caution for good reason. It's 40 weeks of our lives