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?

@mondaytosunday thats not true about france. My french friends had a baby in 2020 and they had a load of similar guidelines of what they could and couldn't eat including certain cheeses and pate.

Apparently I did

But in my defence I had ds abroad and they didn't advise against eating certain foods.

He was about 3 - after we'd turned to the U.K. - I discovered my pregnancy eating crimes

I ate smoked and salted salmon, just avoided OH's grandma's home made salted salmon. I also ate pate, after the midwife told me to because I was anaemic (but guidelines in my country allow a certain amount of pate)

Guidelines are there for a reason. Years of research has been done.

NHS advice is there for a reason, and it highlights food that can potentially or will definitely cause some level of harm to your baby.

Smoked salmon only has a potential to cause harm, in case it has been contaminated with listeria. Same goes for cold ready meals, for what is worth.
Is it likely it will do your baby any harm? No.
Is it possible? Yes.

Once you're aware of it, the risk is yours to take or avoid, you're the only one that can assess what you're comfortable with.
Personally, I'm very risk adverse and go above and beyond to minimize any kind of danger, but no doubt some people will think I'm very much OTT. I Just can't imagine having to deal with the feeling of guilt should anything go wrong. I've eaten some goose liver a couple of days ago by mistake (it was within a ragout in a restaurant, I had no idea until it was too late) and I'm already feeling terrible about it 😔

I don't recall anything being advised against when I was pregnant, so I just ate everything I wanted. This was many years ago mind!

I are home-made mayonnaise, albeit with enough garlic in it that it keeps for 3 months in the fridge, and also home-made ice cream.

I also drank a couple of glasses of wine when we went out for meals.

It was 25 years ago, and recommendationd have changed.

I’m still regularly eating prosciutto - maybe a bit less than usual but that was the only thing on the “banned” list that I might have eaten anyway. I have cut back on caffeine, a bit..

My child could be called Brie with the amount of it I ate. Same as you, severe sickness for 9mths, it was all I could stomach along with Jam donuts and Diet Coke!

I drank coffee as I blame giving up coffee for my previous miscarriage. All the rules and strictures are overbearing. If your body needs something, so long as its not ridiculous like heroin or something, have it.

I rarely even had tea!

I accidentally had a rare steak and spent days worrying in Google trying to work out the risks. I think I actually rang the doctor.

I couldn't have risked it. As others have said, even if it wasn't the cause of miscarriage/illness, I could never ever rid myself of the soul crushing guilt.

I did cosleep though, although if he'd have died I would absolutely have blamed myself, he's just a clingy little babe that still wakes up in the night and crawls over for a cuddle! We'd have all been lost to sleep deprivation otherwise.

I got shouted at by a stranger for eating a Mr Whippy type ice cream in the park when I was heavily pregnant with my first. I had no idea they were meant to be unsafe in pregnancy until I got home and googled it, I just assumed she was mad!

I ate prosciutto on a restaurant pizza once before realising the cured meat had not been in the oven, but added afterwards. It also had salad leaves (unsure if washed properly) that also had been added after baking.

I couldn't sleep that night, but then again, I have OCD and the focus was on contamination at the time.

I really struggled with food during my pregnancy, to be frank, but to each their own. How would you feel if the unlikely were to happen? I guess that should guide your decision making.

The problem with listeria is, where do you draw the line? People get it from bagged salad and raw vegetables, but the NHS has decided (on our behalf) that it's not worth warning against that, because vegetables have so many benefits.

In Italy, apparently, they do warn pregnant women against eating salad or fruit that they haven't washed thoroughly for themselves for this exact reason.

I did have a bit of smoked salmon recently. It wasn't banned last time I was pregnant, and there have been something like 12 documented cases of food poisoning from it. I'm pretty sure cucumbers cause more illness than that?

I had one pub measure of gin with a long tonic, most Friday nights. It was lovely, crisp and cool. (DS was an August baby).

And at 7 months pregnant I was standing in the queue at Tesco with a sandwich, a bag of crisps and a banana when a total stranger came up to me and started ranting about how totally irresponsible I was and 'people like me didn't deserve to be parents'. Then she stormed off.

I stood there completely stunned and bewildered until the checkout lady laughed and said 'That was about your sandwich. You aren't meant to eat prawns.'

Some people are really odd!

DS is a hale and hearty 14yo now. 😊

Are you not meant to drink coffee? No-one told me that. And I doubt I'd have stuck to that one either. Too stressful.

My children are grown up but yes, there was nothing I didn't eat. I think we were supposed to stay away from eggs or something but I ignored it. Also had a couple of alcoholic drinks every week. Shock horror.

I had one small glass of Prosecco at Christmas when I was pregnant and did eat a few runny eggs which were outlawed at the time! I stuck to most things because I assume if it’s advised it’s for good reason but I also think it’s absolutely fine to assess your own risk and do whatever you are comfortable with.

There were some restrictions, I think, when I was pregnant some 20 years ago, but I didn't really take much notice. I ate pate and brie. I ate cured meats, although I am sure they were OK at the time, and I definitely ate bloody steak, my favourite thing. I also ate peanuts. I didn't smoke or drink anyway, so those weren't an issue.

I also bottle fed and put my babies to sleep on their own in their rooms or out in the garden in their prams from two weeks old.

As with all these baby threads, not only does advice change over time, but attitudes too.

I was pretty cautious.

I had half a glass of champagne at a wedding, and a few sips of DH's red wine on another occasion (I'm not much of a drinker anyway), a couple of slices of jambon iberico in Spain, other than those three instances, I abided by the rules.

Sushi. From Costco. 🙊🙉😵‍💫

I'm veggie but ate soft cheeses and a bit of fish here and then because I was craving it.
Also had caffeine in normal amounts and the odd alcoholic beverage.

To be fair, I wouldn’t touch majority of the “avoid” list with a barge pole anyway - all the mould ripened cheeses etc turn my stomach when I’m not pregnant 😂
I love pate, but avoided that during my pregnancies. My mum came round when DC1 was a couple of days old with a “picnic lunch” consisting mostly of baguettes and every kind of pate you could imagine - I was like a pig in shit 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

in 2018, 156 cases of listeriosis were reported in England and Wales
the largest proportion of reported listeriosis was in those over the age of 80, particularly in men aged 70 and over
pregnancy associated infections accounted for almost 17% of all reported cases and, where known, a third of pregnancy-associated cases resulted in stillbirth or miscarriage
among non-pregnancy associated cases of listeriosis, death was reported for 24.6% of cases
incidence of listeriosis varied geographically, with the lowest incidence in East of England (0.16 per 100,000 population) and the highest in the North East (0.64 per 100,0000 population)
there were 4 listeriosis outbreaks investigated in England in 2018, including a multi-country outbreak associated with consumption of frozen sweetcorn

Mostly in the elderly, and the biggest outbreak from sweetcorn!

A Mr Whippy is fine!