Any vegetarian expectant mums?

[Tinwe]

Hello

I'm in my first trimester and struggling with nausea. Just wondered if there are any other veggy mums who might offer any advice about this or veggy diets during pregnancy in general?

Thanks

Hi

I'm vegetarian and 14+2... I haven't suffered much nausea so can't help there (sorry that you are and hope it passes before too many weeks go by) but you need to make sure you're getting enough protein and particularly iron.

So eggs, beans, lentils etc., tofu, spinach, watercress and other dark green leafy vegetables are the way to go. Quorn for protein too, if you eat that.

I have heard that protein can sometimes help sort out nausea so maybe try keeping something like cooked veggie sausages (if you like them) in the fridge to nibble on?

Oh thanks JeelyPiece

I'm in a bit of a vicious cycle as the only thing I can fancy when I'm sickly is just bland things like plain bread or potatoes or similar and that's not very high in protein.

Just tried some quorn for tea but ended up balking so had to abandon it. I was taking a multi vit but my midwife said to stop unless the blood test results were bad and I haven't heard any thing so I assume they're not... then again they wouldn't be because I'd been taking a multi vit!

Hi Tinwe
First of all congrats, I've recently found out I'm pregnant too and it is so exciting!
I'm vegetarian and have been for over 10 years. I have found that I have been nauseous but not actually sick.

Basically what I do when the nausea starts is snack on the following:
AM- water crackers with marg
PM- Pumpkin and sunflower seeds with dried apricots
I've also found that Kettle crisps are really good but only in the salted or unsalted versions (go for Kettle as they have no MSG etc in them).
I've also found digestive biscuits with milk chocolate are good with a cup of tea!
The trick I have found though is to eat something as soon as the you get the slight hunger pang and nausea starts (but remember that may mean a snack every couple of hours or so!!!)
On a side I've also found that Walls Vienetta helps after dinner (really odd I know but whatever helps!!!!)
J :)x

I found making a thick soup, loads of veg and potato, was something I found easier to keep down. Made a massive batch and just heated some up when I wanted some.

Nuts,dried fruit, dry crackers, rice cakes, toast and oat cakes good for snacking.

Thanks for the tips JenniferR and congrats to you too! Seems you've got it sussed!

I've been veggy for about 20 years so am used to getting a balanced diet generally just can't seem to face anything at the mo. I also don't feel hungry, just full or sickly which makes it difficult. Think I'll have to time myself to eat regularly. My other half is being very supportive (he's veggy too) but gets frustrated when he says "what do you want?" and I groan "nothing", even though he knows it's true and I'll try whatever he puts in front of me!

I think it's a good idea to try nuts and seeds, they should be easy to nibble - I'll try that. I've found kettle chips easier to eat than other things too! Think it's because they're nibbleable and fairly bland. Will also try the water crackers. Ginger biscuits don't seem to be helping much so I'll try digestives as they're blandish too! Can't drink tea any more though for some reason I'm just right off it, so I'll stick with fruit juice.

A friend recommended Loveheart sweets for heart burn so I'm wondering if they'd help settle my tummy too...

BTW are you on the due in May thread if you've just found out?

Congrtas :)

I'm now 24+2 and surffered badly with most of the day nausea and some sickness until wk 17, and still at times can feel or be sick.

I took multivits up to week 15, stopped as heard that folic acid can worsen MS. I have restarted them again as been feeling very tired the past 2 weeks - almost back to 1st trimester tiredness. My theory is that if your body doesn't need the extra vits, it'll just pass them out of your system anyway!

I found that I couldn't eat quorn, a lot of veg/fruit and anything with more flavour. Stuck to what my body wanted, trying not to eat too much unhealthy things.
Things I ate:
Oatcakes/crackers with mild cheese
Ice lollies
Love hearts
Ginger biscuits
Baked potatoes
Bread
Sometimes strawberries/banana/vanilla yoghurt homemade smoothie
Hard boiled eggs
Apple juice with fizzy water

I'm now prety much back to my normal diet - just making sure that I really vary what I eat as much as possible so get plenty different vits etc. Making big pots of soup and freezing, as find that is a great way to fill up.

x post - I went off tea too, but can drink it again. And def try the love hearts :)

although my dcs are teenagers now i have been veggie for over 20 years iand i was very sick with both my pgs.all food was blegh so to keep going fruit was good and fruit juice, bread and best of all throughout the day fruity sweets - pastilles or starburst.oooo maybe biscuits too - you can go back to a healthy veggie diet once baby is born.good luck!

Hi WalkTheDog

Sorry to hear you're still sickly but glad to hear it's eased. I've found out I've been given the wrong dose of folic acid by my doc and I'm sure that's not helping the sickness (5mg instead of 400mcg tablets). Will get the right dose tomorrow. I thought similarly to you about the vitamins but the MW was not agreeable (mind you she also made a mess of my arms taking blood and I'm sure she got my blood pressure wrong so I'm not sure I trust her fully!)

Your diet sounds similar to my current tastes, as much as I fancy anything. Does the fizzy water thing really help? I suppose being off my food is a good thing as opposed to being hungry all the time as I'm getting married in December and a friend put 5 stone on during her pregnancy!

Hi
I found apple juice too strong, but the fizzy water seemed to help settle tummy more than normal water. You can buy a big bottle in supermarket for about 17p. Don't really need it now.

I'm never convinced that health care workers are experts in most things, unless they have read or are interested. (I can say that as I was one!..lol). No expert in vits, but just my opinion.

True true, but it's big step to ignore their advice, particularly for your first. I'll ask when I have my scan I think.

Will try the water idea, thanks

Hello,

I'm veggie and got a travel sickness-type feeling when pg. I ate lots of bland carbs (oven chips were a favourite ) but the best thing was a slice of lemon in water - hot or cold.

Although I've been a veggie for 20 odd yrs and know how to eat I did get anaemic with all three of mine so you may want to keep an eye on that.

I'm veggie but have craved meat this pg. I'm veggie due to not liking meat so gave in to the cravings which lasted a couple of weeks and have now gone again.

Missed saying I take vitamins after bring v aneamic in previous pg ( wasn't veggie then though)

Worth asking another health care opinion, but I haven't read anything to say they do you harm - apart from taking non pg safe ones, allergy, overdosing (ie taking more than one) and some side effects like constipation/nausea.

Oh and congrats on the wedding news too

I took pregnacare which is formulated for pg. I think vit A is the one you have to be careful not to get too much of when pg.

I'm a veggie and was sick in the first 5 months of my pregnancy :s I just ate what I felt like eating and ate very little. I lost 3kg in the first 3 months! Sickness have gone and I started to eat loads! I took preagnacare vitamins all through my pregnancy & iron supplements towards the end as I'm anaemic due to a genetic condition.

Thanks WalktheDog and spiritmum! Think I'd feel much more confident taking a multivit, especially since I can't eat a normal diet at the mo.

Thanks for the idea of fruity sweets sharbie, think I could eat them, thought that sugary things might make the sickness worse though as it's meant to be unstable blood sugar that causes sickness isn't it?

Maybe you were craving iron rich foods nymphadora since you were anaemic and that's partly why you craved meat? I can't imagine I'd ever be able to eat meat even if I wanted to after all this time my body wouldn't take it!

I craved really crap stuff the really cheap wafer thin ham ( dh tried buying 'nice ham' but I couldn't even get it in my mouth) and KFC. I ate a packet of Ham a day for about a week, & a couple of KFCs & within 3 weeks I couldn't eat it again. Think it may have been salt rather than iron I wanted.

A friend recommended Loveheart sweets for heart burn so I'm wondering if they'd help settle my tummy too...

Oh no but lovehearts and pastilles aren't veggie! They have gelatine in.

Just in case you didn't know about the gelatine - but not all veggies go with the non-gelatine thing, so whatever works I guess!

Oh bums! Are they? I'm a non gelatine veggy so that looks like it's one option out of the window

I took a vitamin B complex (Sainsburys own) which apparently is good for nausea but only meat eaters get enough of this. It really helped me so hope it does you!

Hello :)

Have been a veggie all my life and am currently 33 weeks pg.

I had awful s this time around and found that oatcakes were my saviour! Also (for some odd reason) very cold Dr.Pepper really helped.

Some Haribo don't have gelatine in and are great for settling a stomach. And I think I remember having a distict craving for Prawn Crackers (which is something I don't usually eat - don't eat fish - but a lot of 'prawn crackers' have never seen an actual prawn).

I drank a LOT of full-fat milk too (something I don't usually do either), but often, I didn't want to eat and milk is filling and comforting, and keeps away the dreaded hunger pangs that lead to sickness.

Ooo and in Adi they do these delicious jelly-beans which have no gelatine in either - they are yummy and really hit the spot for me.

SORRY! That should be ALDI!!