To be worried about eating a wild blackberry while pregnant

[Erin343]

Me and DS was playing around walking home and he picked a blackberry off a high up bush and ate it. He tossed one to me and I ate it. I then realised you can’t eat unwashed fruit while pregnant can you? I’ve now been panicking reading Google and I’m really worried about Toxoplasmosis. I’m 8 weeks pregnant. What should I do now?

If the blackberry was high up, there is no chance that it could have been contaminated with animal urine or faeces, @Erin343 - and your stomach acid will kill off a lot of germs anyway, so I honestly wouldn’t worry.

Is this AI or a troll thread? I honestly haven’t seen or thought about blackberries in years and now three threads in a week.

In case this is real, yes, OP, you will be fine. If you remain worried after what I’m sure will be a thread full of reassurance, speak with your midwife.

Call D’NHS and log with D’101 if I were you.

I honestly wouldn’t worry about this at all OP. There’s nothing you can do now anyway. I accidentally did the same while I was pregnant with my daughter last year and we went strawberry picking, family tradition to go for a picnic afterwards and eat the strawberry's we picked in the field with chocolate. It wasn’t until I got home that I realised what I’d done, my perfectly healthy 4 month old daughter is coming with us to that same strawberry field on Saturday x

Defo get an emergency appointment with your DGP.

Pull yourself together and stop worrying!

Wtf?

You'll be fine, OP.

It's a wild blackberry, it's not been sprayed with any chemicals like you say. It's as natural as they come! You'll be fine. Please don't worry.

Good old Dr Google causes far more stress than he's worth. You have more chance of winning the lottery than you do of contracting toxoplasmosis from a blackberry

The risk of toxoplasmosis is very low. I know pregnancy is stressful and causes anxiety. Have you been worried generally in this pregnancy?

Highly unlikely to be infected. The risk of any infection is vanishingly small as the berry was high on the bush and you only ate one (dose was very small).

Birds can carry toxoplasmosis but don't pass it on in their waste, so any toxo risk would come from animal waste (cats, dogs, foxes) at the base of the plant. Even then it would be a low risk as the contact is not direct faecal-oral contact.

Unwashed fruit in general is pesticide residue risk (farmed fruits) too, so it is wise to do it if you can. However, on this occasion you will be fine.

Please have a chat to your midwife if you find yourself ruminating on health worries.

I hope you’re not seriously worried. If you are, get some mental health support. I never wash any fruit or veg! Or check use by dates. I’m 33 weeks now.

Worrying will cause more potential harm than eating a blackberry.
Seriously, you will be fine. Sometimes I genuinely think ignorance is bliss!

Infection with toxoplasmosis during pregnancy is only a problem for the foetus, if the mother has never been infected with toxo before. Most healthy adults have had it with minor or no symptoms and are healthy carriers of the parasite. In these cases, re-infection won't harm the foetus during pregnancy. So even if you did eat an unwashed blackberry with toxoplasmosis, it'll only harm your baby if you happen to be one of the few who has never been infected. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I am 32 weeks and ate a couple of wild blackberries a couple of weeks back on the way home and just about made it home before spending the rest of the day on the toilet.
I didn't even think about it until that happened but it's more likely to have been the sorbitol disagreeing with me than food poisoning so maybe I'll give them a miss in future but I'm still here and so is baby.

Oh gosh I'm sure I ate plenty off the bushes while pregnant, there's nothing to worry about!

Big Blackberry is monitoring the site, I reckon.

Absolutely fine.

🙄

Are people trying to create a climate of fear over Blackberries.
What's going on, what's with all the panic?
Just eat the Blackberries.

Mumsnet - sponsored by Ribena

What do you get from being nasty to the @op? You make yourself look like a dick.

Oh no. Bad move.

You know Violet Beauregard from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Your baby will 100% come out looking like her.

🙄

Toxoplasmosis is actually really really really rare in the UK as we have no wild predators anymore. I got scared after gardening and coming across a load of cat poo when pregnant with my first - my midwife talked to the hospital and they properly looked into it and did my bloods and the lab said apparently they’d never ever had a case of it at their major London hospital and actually scientifically speaking it’s more of a thing in countries that aren’t basically entirely cultivated islands (eg., have real bears and wolves etc). Something to do with the food chain.

What should I do now?

Get a grip?