First Time Mum..Help!!

[LovelyKatie]

Hi everyone

I am only 10 weeks and 3 days due 10th March.

I have been getting information left right and centre about everything from eating to exercising etc etc

anyway i love peanuts!! and my OH had some the other night and whilst I know theres no scientific evidence that links eating peanuts while pregnant to the child being born with a peanut allergy i am still very wary.

anyhow after trying to control myself i couldnt!! and ate quite a few which then made me panic worry etc so i looked it up and it said its ok to eat them aslong as you dont suffer with allergies eg hayfever which i suffer with terribly!! so i am just a little worried and scared and need some reassurance


also i work in a chocolate shop and have been eating alpini too much!! i am so bad i know. its a praline choc!!

any advice id really appreciate!

[lullabellesmummy]

'I do the little bit every so often thing with alcohol as there's no evidence that's harmful'.

This is not true! The answer is we just don't know!

Of course its a cut and paste job above! I'm not preaching to know everything. My point has been all along that a little bit of something every now and then does no harm what so ever. Never did I think missing a simple word out like 'usually' would get me flamed. The op has already stated she has 'been getting information left right and centre about everything from eating to exercising'. Wonder what shes thinking now!

So to rephrase my original statement and hopefully finish this as I think we both know what I was trying to say (and what you're trying to say r.e alcohol) 'A little bit of something every now and then is very rarely going to do no harm!

[ChallengingCitrusHalibut]

Nor does it make sense to ask me to link to evidence that there's no evidence.

Your own copy and paste job doesn't actually contradict me btw.

[ChallengingCitrusHalibut]

Lulu I was talking about small infrequent amounts of alcohol. There isn't any evidence that it's harmful. That's not the same as saying it's definitely fine, they don't know at what point damage will be caused so to be on the safe side, as they don't trust people to understand that, the guidelines say have none.

This thread shows that lots of people don't understand all the advice and risks.

You're the one eating pate Lulu, which is known to be risky! Your approach doesn't make sense.

[hoolabombshell]

Too many foods to get stressed about in my opinion, it seems that the list grows longer every bloody week!

I am obsessed with feta cheese and was told it was fine, however I read yesterday that it's not , so, um, there goes that. No point getting stessed about what I've already eaten - I just won't eat it any more.

You'll be fine Katie. And how jealous am I that you work in a chocolate shop. Num num num.

[MumNWLondon]

No evidence that eating or avoiding nuts makes a difference, FWIW my SIL avoided peanuts totally in pregnancy and BFing and her DS is allergic to them anyway.

No point in worrying about that sort of thing, my GP commented that it drives her mad that she gets pregnant women in stressing about things like that and when she sees them later babies are not being BF and then later kids are eating sweets.

But if its going to worry you, then you may as well avoid, why worry for no reason?

[QueenofDreams]

Ethelred the pate is still about listeria risk. BUT most pate is made of liver, which is too high in vitamin A so it's a double whammy on pate!

[EthelredOnAGoodDay]

i thought the pate thing was not to do with the listeria risk, but to do with the fact that pate is high in vitamin A which can be dangerous to feotus and also small babies? or have i got that completely wrong-there is a fair chance that i have! :)

[Vistana]

If the eggs are brought from a supermarket they therefore from vacinated chickens and therefore not a risk. My midwife says that is out of date info and for me not to worry about that! :)
(Obviously if you get your eggs from another source they may not be vacinated etc so may cause a risk)

There is some thing about soft cheeses particularally with a rind ie brie and camb
I was again told as long as it is pasturised so again I kept to supermarket variaties as they are labelled and ate it cooked. I love dipping foods esp camb with cranberry.


Be careful though of what you eat when you are out as I ended up with a touch of food poisioning after eating a sausage bap from a place at work. Wasn't till I was back at wok that I realised that food hygiene was prob not met - they cooked the sausages somewhere, them walked accross with them in a pot to put them in a heater and left them there till they sold or they stopped serving them at lunchtime! I was definatly more subsectable as I was preganant as no other collegeues seem to have had a problem though will avoid them even after as I am kinda put off!

Congrats on your pregnanacy! :)

You'll find everyone has something to say about what to or not to do when you're preganant. I suggest going with what feels right for you, if you are going to worry about doing something then don't do it! Its better not to do something IMO than to do something and worry and be anixous after.

[Applemuncher]

I think the FSA guidelines say the peanut thing is no longer supported by them - you can read the article here www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2008/dec/peanut08

It's going to come down to personal decisions, my husband suffered with very serious childhood asthma so I decided not to eat peanuts during my pregnancy. I chose to do this simply because if my child were to develop a peanut allergy I would beat myself up about eating peanuts even though there's no scientific evidence to back this up (just my nature to give myself a hard time).

Regarding alcohol, my GP said that out guidelins say that 1 or 2 units a week are acceptable but in the USA the guidelines are that 0 units are acceptable. I don't crave my one unit to take it up so I just do without (and yes, it's the blame thing again).

[lullabellesmummy]

To say that there is no evidence to suggest that alcohol is harmful during pregnancy is not true and would like a link to this evidence please?

Prenatal exposure to alcohol is associated with a variable spectrum of effects referred to as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), with fetal alcohol syndrome at the most severe end of that spectrum.

Current evidence supports the conclusion that women who drink heavily during pregnancy may produce children with features of fetal alcohol syndrome. Low-to-moderate levels of maternal alcohol consumption have not been well studied in human pregnancy, but evidence has not suggested a threshold dose below which no effects on cognitive performance or behavior are seen. In the absence of adequate data, no level of alcohol consumption in pregnancy is known to be safe.

[ChallengingCitrusHalibut]

Listening to your body is not always going to see you all right unless it's done a lot of peer- reviewed research into sources of listeria infection and its effects on a foetus. Eating pate or bagged lettuce is not the same as having the odd glass of wine or cup of coffee.

Damage from alcohol and caffeine is cumulative but this is not the case with sources of listeria.

Again, nuts nothing to do with infection and not an issue.

[beckie90]

i ate nuts through my pregnancy i loved them, and my son is fine cause by accident my dad gave him an ice cream that had nuts in it,and he was fine. congrats btw :)

[splashy]

Current evidence says nuts are fine, in fact eating lots of peanuts may reduce your babies risk of developing peanut allergy.

Only proven way of reducing your baby's risk of developing allergy is to eat lots of fruit and veg :)

[Cluds]

Am wading in here in my size 3 1/2's (!!) and hope that I am not offending anyone, as we are all entitled to our own opinions, and that is all this is, my opinion, but i do agree with lullabellesmummy that a little bit of what you fancy every now and then does you no harm. I am on my third pregnancy (35 weeks) and have never not allowed myself anything - i just listen to my body. Never fancy any alcohol in the first 3 or 4 months so I don't drink, but after that have the odd drink or two whenever I fancy one. First 2 pregnancies I went off coffee so didn't drink it, this time round I never went off it so have had one cup every morning........i eat sushi, i eat peanuts, i eat eggs runny or hard. I think you need to just listen to your body. Neither of my kids have any allergies LovelyKatie (i do have mild asthma). Follow your body and I am sure you and your baby will be fine. If anything, worrying about it all causes more stress for you and your baby and that really isn't good for either of you. Congratulations on your first baby by the way!

[lullabellesmummy]

Each to their own! x

[ChallengingCitrusHalibut]

That was to lullabelles, x posted with cocopops.

[ChallengingCitrusHalibut]

Eh? I said it poses a risk, which it does, unlike nuts. Not sure how you can take offence at that or disagree with it. Though I don't agree that a little bit of pate can do no harm, if that little bit has listeria in it. But the risk is low.

As it happens I don't like runny eggs or pate so quite an easy rule for me to follow! I do the little bit every so often thing with alcohol as there's no evidence that's harmful.

[CocoPopsAddict]

Nuts are not a problem at all.

I disagree with you, Lullabellesmummy - if you eat something just once that happens to give you a listeria infection then you are in trouble. It is, of course, very very unlikely, but the point is, it won't be a consolation if it does happen that one time. Saying it 'does no harm' is misleading. It probably won't do any harm, but you can't say for sure.

[lullabellesmummy]

Like I said a little bit of something every now and then does no harm. I'm guessing you abide by every single rule in the book challengingcitrushalibut!

[ChallengingCitrusHalibut]

Nuts are not a problem at all, not in the same category as runny eggs and pate which pose a risk of salmonella or listeria infection.

The nuts thing was about allergies but there is no evidence for it.

If you say you know there is no evidence for it why are you still worried?

[lullabellesmummy]

Don't worry lovelykatie. I personally don't like nuts so have never had this problem however the other day, I ate duck liver pate and runny eggs. A little bit of something every now and then is going to do no harm what so ever.