Does it matter if I eat rubbish?

[Macaroona]

Not literally

I'm 16 weeks ish, and am on cyclizine for hyperemesis. It's helped me get back to normal-ish life, but the only food I want to eat is carby crap! I normally love meat and veggies, but I just can't face anything more complex than toast, cake, crisps and pasta. I believe you are what you eat, and when not pregnant I'm highly aware of the food I eat and its effect on my blood sugar, energy levels, skin, flabbiness and so on.

My question: is there actually any research which shows an effect on the health of the baby is affected by the diet of the mother?

It seems obvious somehow that it should, but I can't find anything to suggest it matters what I eat as long as I'm getting enough calories!

I had / have HG too, and am now 30 weeks.

I went an entire month where i ate NO fruit / veg / even almost healthy food at all.
The only things i could eat sometimes were sugary drinks like coke / lucozade, and chocolate / mars bars / galaxay counters / crisps / chips etc etc

stuff if never normally eat.

Midwives were not bothered and said anything at all was fine.

by about 18 weeks it improved somewhat and im now 30 weeks and almost crave healthy food and fresh water!!!!!

I think just go with it, after all if you have HG thats all you can do

Yes, I think there is that suggests if you eat a lot of fast food the baby is more likely to grow up with those tastes - don't know if that's true or not though just remmember something in the paper.

I did eat a fair bit of crap in my second pregnancy, but not all the time. I did my best to counteract it by making sure I always ate good stuff too - always tried to get me five a day etc and then didn't worry about maybe one pizza a week? Innocent smoothies are good for helping you get your 5 a day, although they gave me raging heartburn so I had to neck them and then gulp down the gaviscon!

Toast and pasta aren't bad though! And the odd cake and crisps I owuldn't worry about either.

Straw - I am having smoothies when I can stomach them, it's the only way I can eat fruit or veg atm. Vitamin pills are my friend too. If you were only eating one pizza a week and eating 5 a day, your diet was def considerably better than mine!

The links with the mother eating fast food affecting the child's tastes, I think were shown to be that the mother is more likely to feed the child fast food if she ate it in pregnancy.

I swear, every single pregnant woman I've known (including me) has gone through an all-carbs-all-the-time phase, especially those who normally eat healthily. Which leads me to the scientific conclusion that there must be some reason for it. Ignore the books with their ridiculous snack ideas of six nuts or a handful of dried fruit and get the crumpets in! I think your body needs fast, accessible energy and carbs give that.

I don't have HG but just can't eat salad for some reason (normally love it) and have just wanted to eat stodge - white refined carbs that I never normally eat. I've tried to balance it with veg / fruit but I am hardly eating healthily. I'm working on the the theory its better the babies get some calories rather than none:). And ice cream and cheese is obviously very necessary for calcium!

Also I'm a low-carb convert before being pg so ate loads of protein and veg, and nuts and seeds, and got my blood sugar properly under control. So it's hard for me to think of puffy white carbs like toast and pasta as in any way healthy or nutritious.

Woohoo, I'm glad to hear that about that study, I was getting worried there!!!!

I ate TONS of chocolate second time round.

Only thing I WOULD say is avoid haribo. I developed a taste for thos in my first pregnancy (not eaten them since) and DD1 weighed 2 pounds more than DD2 at birth! Prob not related, but scared me slightly.

i wouldnt worry about it! When you have HG yr body craves what it craves and as so few things stay down, just go with it! Had HG since 6 weeks and wasnt able to eat any fruit or Veg for months as it made me sick. Fruit ok now but only small amounts every few days. Vitamin tablets tend to make sickness worse. I lived on pizza and ham and dairylea toasties until 16Wks and since then have branched out to McD, KFC, curry, Chinese. I was healthy before and i shall be after as well.

As for kids getting hooked on junk cos you ate it in pregnancy...bull. They get hooked on this stuff cos their parents and guardians give it to them!

The baby will take what it needs. You will feel a bit shit if you eat crap as the baby will take all the nutrients and you'll have nothing for you :)

Re: the baby getting a taste for Macca's burgers I believe that is total tosh. The mum living off fast food is less likely to stop once she is weaning the child and start feeding the family Annabel Karmel creations, IMHO.

In both my pregnancies I went through a sweets and carbs stage. I also only eat McDonalds when pregnant

I'm sure you'll be fine. It doesn't matter, no. But you will feel better if you can get some green stuff down you at some stage!

When you feel like that, your body just doesn't give you a choice. I am 10 weeks and have a fridge full of veggies which are being ignored - I just can't force myself to eat them. Used to love a good salad, now the thought of anything green turns my stomach.

I was the same in my first pregnancy and afterwards judged myself for letting myself go in pregnancy and put it down to lack of discipline. Now I am here again I know that it's not down to willpower; I just can't make myself eat the healthy things I would normally. Instead I want savoury salty things - cheese, salty chicken, bacon sandwiches (mmmm).

My body is giving me a message loud and clear. I think it is telling me that it needs energy NOW and also calcium and salt. Second time around I know better than to agonise over it.

I think as long as you are taking a good pg vitamin supplement you shouldn't worry. As others say, the baby will take what it needs. You are clearly aware of what healthy eating means and you will naturally go back to that when your body wants you to.

Before I was pg I knew about morning sickness but nobody tells you how crashingly tired you get or how, when you need to eat it needs to be NOW which often means grabbing the first carby stodge you can lay your hands on. So relax and congratulate yourself on being completely normal

I agree with Coastgirl, everyone I know had a carb thing in the first trimester - for me it was thick white toast with ham or marmite, and brioche rolls. I think I may be carrying two mini-brioches! The thought of broccoli or rocket, which I eat all the time usually, made me heave.

Now 19 weeks and eating pretty much everything (still not sure about white fish actually, which I normally adore) and loving big salads especially with added cheese of things like avocado which are both calorific and nutritious. Have developed a massively sweet tooth though, back on Dairy Milk for the first time in about 10 years!

I went from literally not being able to watch food programmes or adverts on telly, to phoning my DH and saying "I need a roast chicken now" after catching a glimpse of Jamie Oliver cooking one!