Runny eggs, pleasepleaseplease...

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Are they definitely off the menu, hard yolks won't do? DH and I often treat ourselves to a scrumptious full English in our local cafe (not a greasy spoon). I became weepy (so pathetic, crying over an egg) in there the other day as I munched on my bacon sandwich as he (deliberately, I'm convinced) saved his eggs until last and then ostentatiously dipped in his toast!

i ate eggs and soildiers throughout both of my pregnancies, every day in the last few months of my last pg as we got 3 chooks so had fresh eggs,mmmm.

the only thing i avoided was ice cream van icecream and anything from dodgy looking burger vans.

I personally have decided to avoid them because the FSA guidelines advise against eating them unless hard boiled.

...I miss them too...

I would do it so long as they are lion stamped (ie vaccinated against salmonella)

As per MrsBadger, I eat them as long as they are fresh and lion stamped as they have been vaccinated against salmonella.

D

I read up on this when last pregnant as I loved runny eggs...

Eggs in the UK are usually lion stamped which means they come from chickens which aree vaccinated.

Vaccination is not 100% but I think I read that random tests did not find any salmonella in lion marked eggs.

So, on that basis, I would imagine any risk has got to be miniscule and I would eat them. But then I chomped parma ham and bloody steak all day long in my pregnancies.

Yep, I eat them. Aren't all shop bought eggs lion stamped nowadays anyway?!

I've eaten them all the way through. I figure if the eggs are fresh and vaccinated, the risk is very small. Also (someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is correct) I think that whereas listeria is actively bad for the baby, salmonella wouldn't harm it, just be unpleasant for us, which is why they tell us not to eat them - you don't want food poisoning on top of dealing with pregnancy. Personally, I'll take the risk if I can eat a soft egg once in a while.

Also, you can have rare steak as long as the outside has been seared (that's in the purple NHS pregnancy book!) and sushi with raw fish as long as the fish has been previously frozen, which by law it must be in the UK. Two things a lot of women don't know which cheered me immensely when I found them out!

I didn't eat them last pregnancy, but I am this one and I'm much happier for it as a result!

I decided that the chances of contracting salmonella were teeny tiny and even if I did, it doesn't directly damage the baby like listeria or toxoplasmosis. I always use organic eggs(battery flocks are five times more likely to carry salmonella) and make sure that they're lion stamped.

Like you, I got really upset over not eating runny eggs, perhaps because there is so much else to give up in terms of physical and emotional stuff - along with plenty to be gained once baby arrives!

Then after a few months I did some internet reading and started eating them, as long as others say - they're lion stamped. I still don't eat blue cheese but eggs yes, will happily eat homemade mayo also.

Glad i found this thread, ive been dying for a bacon and runny egg sandwich

While were on the subject of eggs its fine to eat eggy bread isnt it?

Here's the NHS guidelines, which say not to eat raw or partially cooked eggs www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/917.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=130

The following link explains why lion stamped eggs aren't necessarily salmonella free www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/nutrition/foodsafety/eggsexpert/

It's going to come down to what you want to do but I'm off eggs for now unless they're cooked thoroughly.

Clarebear1 - Eggy bread is fine! Egg is well cooked for that!

agree with the rest of you, am happily eating ham, runny egg and chips this pregnancy and loving it - the hens are vaccinated and the risk is minimal and you are more likely to catch salmonella from the shell than the actual egg (according to the research I read)

Lurcherlover are you telling me I have eaten boot-leathery steak throughout my WHOLE pregnancy when I could have eaten it nearly blue?

Arses.

That link also says that salmonella won't harm your baby - i.e. it's just the same food poisoning you could get when not pregnant, but not especially nice when you are pregnant and you are slightly more likely to catch it since your immune system is lower.

Also, it was one egg in every 250 boxes had traces. That's a 1 in 1,500 risk that there will be a trace in the shell. Now think how likely it is that that will make it into the egg. And that that egg is the one you have soft boiled or whatever.

I seriously believe that the pregnancy advice we receive in this country is bonkers. It's designed to make you feel like you are in control, but actually focuses on tiny risks. I am utterly convinced you are more likely to get sick from a buffet or a sausage roll from a dodgy bakery, but those aren't on the NHS lists....

I've been eating them, no point to an egg with a hard yolk!

I agree with you RibenaBerry - so many women I know who were previously sane, intelligent people and were turned into gibbering wrecks in pregnancy with all the advice. One even now refuses to eat peanuts, even though the advice has changed and says we're OK to eat them - because she "couldn't live with herself if something bad happened." This advice is not empowering women! Obviously there are important things to avoid because they have known bad effects - smoking, alcohol, listeria - but other things aren't half as bad, but they all get lumped in together.

Agree lurcherlover, and there is never any easily accessed information about actual risks rather than theoretical risks. The advice is all 'some people feel' and 'studies suggest' and 'it is possible that' rather than giving you actual numbers to alow you to make an informed choice. What I want to know is literally, how many pregnancies/foetusus have suffered harm in the last year from the mother eating brie? I know it's unpleasant to think of it in those terms, but really, that's the only information that is actually useful in terms of assessing risk.

And when things are off limits in the UK but fine in other countries, it just proves that a lot of the advice is not universally (or in some cases even generally) agreed on by the medical community.

D

I have eaten and loved them, but if you will fret about it I would leave well alone, the worry won't be worth it

Am with you RibenaBerry and lurcherlover - and have got myself quite a few nasty replies when i have said this before, but i do believe a little of what you fancy is fine. After 12 weeks i have eaten sushi, sashimi, runny eggs, coffee, soft cheeses - none of this in abundance but i don't eat meat and so cheese and fish are the staple part of my diet. I checked the guidelines on sushi/sashimi on the government website and it said it was fine in pregnancy so long as it was from a restaurant as they have to freeze all their fish prior to selling to kill any bacteria etc. I even drink alcohol (shock, horror....) but obviously would never get drunk and never drink more than one of two glasses. I have 2 gorgeous healthy boys (10 and 7) and am 36 weeks pregnant now.
There, I've said it........am waiting for the backlash now.........

I too eat runny eggs that I've cooked (so I know they have the lion mark), I also eat seafood that I've cooked myself and smoked salmon. I don't eat blue cheese - the listeria risk is a bit too high for me. I have two small glasses of wine twice a week as well. The risk in beef is E coli, rather than salmonella, which is more horrible.
I can't stomach any meat at all in my first 12 weeks, but I have induldged in a couple of rare steaks.
Both my DS's are fine too x

33+1 and I eat runny eggs and soldiers. Where's the point otherwise? You would have to spread your soldiers with the hard yolk

It's the same with anything that the FSA recommend you don't eat in pregnancy; they only recommend you don't eat it because the risk is really REALLY low (I've never heard of a non - pregnant person having salmonella or listeria), but at the end of the day they can't test on pregnant women because obviously it's unethical.

There's always some idiot with an opinion on how you should live your life. If you want to have it, have it. It's your body, your choice. If you were smashing in the heroin and neat whiskey on an hourly basis, then that probably wouldn't be my opinion

Wow...so glad I found this topic....was so upset about not being able to eat rare steak and runny eggs!!! Going to have eggs for breakfast and a lovely seared rare steak for tea!!!!!