to be eating copious amounts of Danish Blue cheese on crusty bread whilst being pregnant?

[kidcreoleandthecoconuts]

And I'm enjoying it....yum!

Why can't you have mr whippy or milkshakes? Aargh, I hate these rules. My younger sister (who has never been pregnant) was horrified that I was eating sushi the other day. I explained to her that it was a cooked prawn on a bit of rice, I knew where it has come from, and did she think it would poison her? No? Then it won't poison me either. She seemed to think that sushi was 'poisonous' to babies, also brie, wine, caffeine etc etc. Its the judgey looks I can't bear. Bog off.

You know, this thread is making me really really want a bit of stilton. Or some sushi. Sadly we haven't either.

Mr Whippy - listeriosis
Sushi - raw fish (and everyone panicking about every sea item known to man) and high mercury levels - hence why they don't recommend tuna

I made it my business to look at why the nutritional guidelines were there, made my own judgements on the risks and ignored the ones I felt warranted it. I am careful with foods that have gone out of date, particularly meat, whereas previously I would have eaten them merrily

I've done quite a lot of study on food borne diseases both at a level and professionally (used to be a chef, done lots of food hygiene courses) so felt that I had enough knowledge to make my own choices having read around the subject.

ooooo, a bit of tuna would be nice right now!

This is the first time I have heard the sushi one, have been happily scoffing away.

I have a friend who had 2 pregnancies in France.

She could eat pate, all kinds of cheese, shellfish etc ....

The doctor asked if she was drinking and when she launched into a defence of her "one glass a day of red" habit, he stopped her and said, "no! not wine! Are you drinking spirits?"

If I am ever pg again (and I won't be) I am moving to Paris for the duration.

But then again there is also a lot of tolerance for smoking in pg in France, and that's proven to be bad (as is excessive wine, of course!).

I went for dinner with friends when I was pg, the woman who was cooking was Italian. She had cooked baked camembert and had called her sister in Turin earlier in the day to ask if camembert was ok. Her sister just went sort of quiet then said "why not?" (she was pg herself).

the UK is obsessed with listeria in pregnancy. I ate blue cheese, pate and had a glass of wine 4-5 times a week.

But my youngest is almost 6, I know things have changed a lot since then!

Now I really fancy some stilton or camembert!

Blue cheese - yum! Might put on too many pregnancy pounds though and no need to take risks when there are plenty of other yummy things to eat.

Wow, there's an attention-seeking op if ever I saw one

I love the fact posters are using words like "rules" and "restrictions" you do all know there are no actual laws about eating this type of stuff when pregnant, you are not going to be fined or go to jail, all there are are GUIDELINES which you can choose to follow or not as the case maybe. If the govt/doc/DoH knew about these risks (however tiny) and didn't tell you then there would be similar outcry about withholding information.

I don't judge you if you decide to eat danish blue/rare meat/drink wine during pregnancy but I'm not going to give you a round of applause either which the title of this thread seems to be aiming for.

sushi and sashimi are very different.

It's dangerous to not know the difference

I ate poached eggs throughout both pregnancies, and also had a bite here and there of blue cheese.

However I recently heard a really sad story about a friend of a friend who got listeria right at the end of her pregnancy, and would definately not do so again

Well I am 33 weeks and living in Belgium and when I asked my gynaecologist what I couldn't eat she laughed at me and said eat what you want in moderation, and then suggested a glass of wine now and then would help me relax.

Also when living in the UK the day before I had ds the consultant told me to go home have a steak and a glass of red wine and get some sleep and this was only a couple of years ago.

All this talk of roquefort has got me salivating... My first thought when I found out I was pg again was 'dammit! haven't eaten enough blue cheese!' . DH used to laugh at the way I scoffed it in the days after dd was born.

And I have always sworn that I would move to France when pg as they seem so much more reasonable there as I love everything I'm not supposed to eat/drink now...

When I was pg with dd, in France, nobody could have cared less what sort of cheese I was eating. No one asked if I smoked, and the GP was very disappointed that I wouldn't let him prescribe me some anti-nausea pills in the early weeks, after I admitted to feeling a bit sick. And I remember picking up a leaflet about alcohol in the hospital waiting room, whose message was 'try to avoid spirits if you possibly can'.

I was, however, sent for a monthly blood test to check for toxoplasmosis. Doctors were very to discover that we're not really interested in that one over here.

Yes move to paris for the duaration but under no circumstances stay for the birth. No Gas and Air, and they shave you and make you lie flat, unless of course you are with Monsieur Odent.

You can eat sushi if the fish has been frozen first to kill the parasites. I craved sushi, I guess it was the pure protein/ carbs hit.

Don't they do epidurals as standard in France? I had dd round about the time a French couple I know in the UK were having their baby. They insisted on going back to France for the labour as they said it was too barbaric over here as you weren't guaranteed that sort of pain relief

The issue with sushi/sashimi or whatever it is is not just about raw fish but about rice. Rice is an absolute bugger for giving food poisoning, and therefore I would avoid if I was pg. Food poisoning isn't necessarily dangerous for the foetus but it is hideous at the best of times and being PG (and therefore having a compromised immune system) chances are that if you're unfortunate enough to get it, you'll get it big time (I did).
Anyway, I agree with LibrasBiscuitsOfFortune. Except for the last bit, because I am going to judge a woman who eats unpasteurized cheese and listeriosis is bloody dangerous (I would say more risky than a glass of wine here and there), as Lotster can testify. It is not a risk worth taking imo. I wouldn't say she was evil, but I would say that she was as ignorant as some Daily Mail cliche pregnant teen with a fag in her mouth.

OMG, rice is evil now?

How do the 4 billion in Asia manage?

Thing is, how come the guidelines keep on changing, and how come they're not universal? Pregnancy is medicalised and pathologised beyond all reason, imo. It would be useful for whoever issues these food warnings to include the statistics and compare them to, say, a woman's risk of being beaten or physically abused by her partner while pregnant (this is a much higher risk, unfortunately). And to do something about the real risks women face during pregnancy.

I had a MC at 12 weeks. I only found out I was pg at around week 8. So, when I was 7 weeks pg (and didn't know) I had a blue cheese dish at a restaurant and was violently sick that night. I am convinced (rightly or wrongly) that the 'bad' cheese caused the MC .

So yes I think YABU.

My friend had a stillbirth due to toxoplasmosis so I wouldn't do it.

oh crap I've been eating BLT sandwiches are rolls lately is lettuce really that bad??? I washed it properly...? now I'm panicking. 6 weeks pg.

no, lettuce is not that bad! If you washed it yourself no worries, I think they just advise you to not eat it straight from a field type thing, and possibly give the bagged stuff an extra rinse. But you really are in the incredibly low risk section now!