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?

@BigWoollyJumpers Thank you! Exactly my point! Where are the dire warnings about sweetcorn?? 🤔😄

The recommend no more than 200mg of caffeine a day (2 cups of instant coffee)

To answer your question OP, I tend to stick to it - though the steak I had last weekend was ever so slightly pink.

No I didn't want to risk it. I weighed up everything I did in pregnancy on a would I forgive myself if I put my baby in harm? Just not worth it. My diet became even more restricted as I had gestational diabetes. It was really tough (particularly as I don't eat animal products), but it was worth it to keep my baby as healthy as possible.

I came home from holiday and found out I was pregnant. Had a large gin in the airport, prosciutto and salami, oysters and mussels, prawns, rare steak, sat in a hot tub all week, every cheese you can imagine.

I tend to be quite cautious, I don't find it particularly limiting but I am missing haggis. When I went in to give birth I asked my DH to bring me brie. The midwife came round and said oh dear i think the baby needs its nappy changed...nope just my stinky brie!

I was never told there was a "banned list" in my defence,

I ate soft cheese, blue cheese, smoked salmon, sushi, mr whippy ice cream, rare/medium cooked steak 😳

I never got unwell and DS came out just fine. Suppose I was lucky.

I found out when midwife came to do his first home visit and I was eating rare/medium steak and she said "bet you missed that when he was on the inside" and I looked confused at her and said "what do you mean?" 😂 She then explained I shouldn't have been eating it, along with a list of other things, and I confessed to having eaten loads of it. Especially December before he came and I demolished a cheeseboard and it wasn't just cheddar 😳...a bit late lol.

Yes I eat what I like (except pate) but I don't drink alcohol

With my first no, I was too anxious.
with my second I was much more relaxed and also hungry and tired so I ate smoked salmon, Parma ham, Comte cheese and sushi.
my midwife just shrugged when I told her

Hit and miss really. I've been strict about alcohol and caffeine only having 0% and caffeine free. My understanding was that smoked salmon was ok until the scare back in Spring, so I avoided for a few months and then figured it's probably more closely monitored/tested now than normal and should be fine sparingly. I've had a real craving for pate and deli meats, I think due to low iron and have indulged a few times now I've reached the third trimester

I ate runny eggs, British chickens are vaccinated against salmonella anyway and rare steak. Well done steak is an abomination. I also ate peanuts.

I ate whatever I wanted. I don’t eat raw fish or like pate anyway. Rare steak was 100% necessary in my pregnancies, babies needed it.

it’s not just 40 weeks of your life, not for lots of people, quick maths but I’d been pregnant for over 180 weeks of my adult life by the time I was 30.

Peanuts aren't recommended against at the moment, are they?

I ate feta which apparently was banned? We went to Greece while pregnant and I even researched advice given to pregnant women in Geeece. They weren't told not eat feta so I went with that! (I think the feta in supermarkets is mostly pasturised? But who knows about what they served in Greece).

Dd is nearly 15.

One of my friends thought you weren't allowed to eat eggs at all so got into a froth when I said I was going to make an omelette.

And of course about a week before I discovered I was pregnant I got absolutely hammered on cocktails. Obviously didn't continue with that!

I was pregnant for 35 weeks and from finding out at 8 weeks until I gave birth, I didn't eat one thing I wasn't supposed to. It was 27 weeks of my life.

Obviously mistakes happen and I understand if someone didn't realise one time, but why would anyone voluntarily eat something that wasn't advised, knowing it wasn't advised? A risk is a risk, even if it's low.

I can't imagine my enjoyment of a smoked salmon breakfast being more important than my child for the sake of 30 weeks, but that's just me.

No, except a few sips of wine. But it does frustrate me how inconsistent the advice is - statistically you’re most likely to catch listeria from pre prepared sandwiches or salads in the uk, like the kind you buy from a supermarket. But instead of saying that, the advice is to avoid cooked meats even though a ham you cooked yourself at home is fine… and some countries have different advice.

A good friend of mine got listeria food poisoning from soft cheese and her child was born at 32 weeks and has ongoing health problems as a result.

There is also a warning about the risk of listeria in smoked fish on the Royal College of Midwives website.

www.rcm.org.uk/news-views/news/2022/warnings-over-surge-in-listeriosis-cases/

Not a good idea to eat either soft cheese or smoked salmon when pregnant at the moment.

I did. I also dyed my hair and did other supposed no no’s you aren’t to do when pregnant. My dd is now a healthy successful adult.

I didn't and wouldn't. A friend's baby was stillborn due to toxoplasmosis likely from something like an unwashed salad that she ate. Not worth the risk to me. I just need to go for 9 months without something for my child. That seems like a minimal sacrifice to make when there is a lifetime of parenting to come!

Thanks ladies. I assumed the ‘be careful’ meant more ‘don’t buy it from some backstreet deli in a country with poor food hygiene’ but assumed Tesco was fine! I’ve had a look at this listeria outbreak, the only incriminated food so far has been smoked trout from Waitrose 🧐 anyway, I’ll give it a miss for the duration (wah!)

The thing is Uk rules are different from French rules which are different from Spanish / German / American/ Japanese rules. For me, this suggests that the science is not absolute in many cases, and it’s based on varying risk appetites in different countries. Given that there is a degree of subjectivity I find it hard to take it as gospel. I find it very very hard to believe that you have been dicing with death by eating a sandwich. YMMV.

Yes all the time but there was no list of forbidden foods when I was having my children.

YABVU especially since there is a current listeria outbreak in smoked fish and the advice is to cook before eating.

Well I'm the most anxious health obsessed person, yet I've eaten most of the things on this thread! I've eaten tuna, smoked salmon sandwiches (at a posh hotel so I figured it's probably fine), pink steak, cold cured meats, runny eggs. I even went back on the caffeine in my first trimester because I felt horrendous on decaf (never more than 2 cups of tea/coffee per day though)
I suffered badly with morning sickness so I was just grateful when I could eat. Baby doing fine so far.

www.seafoodsource.com/news/food-safety-health/uk-authorities-issue-listeria-warning-for-smoked-fish

I think I ate a few things because I kept forgetting. And also rules change between my pregnancies for example no alcohol wire the second but a small amount allowed with the first, changes to caffeine etc and I think I hadn't known the guidance had changed. They were only 3 yrs apart as well.

I was really careful although I’m vegan so lots of the foods that are a risk were not things I’d have been eating anyway. I made sure fruit/veg was thoroughly washed, cooked everything well. No alcohol. I’d have only worried otherwise and the risk just wasn’t worth it for me.

I never understand people that say they ate some food on the ‘risk list’ were fine so everyone else will be too. Theirs may not have had listeria but yours might. But saying that, the risks are low so women shouldn’t be panicking.