How much should you worry about food?

[summerbaby2014]

Does anyone else have those "OMG is this butter pasteurised" / "should I be eating this ?" type of moments? How much worrying is normal? eating out can be quite stressful plus I'm not the most logical thinker at the moment!
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts

The bits you properly need to worry about are toxoplasmosis and listeria. Listeria is pretty random - the NHS guidelines for avoiding it seem a reasonable baseline, but nobody should freak out if they accidentally stray.
Toxo is more likely to come from undercooked meat than, say, kitty litter.

Salmonella is not more harmful in pregnancy than at other times.

I'm a born worrier and 8wks pregnant at the moment but felt much better when my best friend, who's a midwife, told me not to worry too much. She said food in the UK is incredibly safe and as long as meat is thoroughly cooked and you're not gorging on Stilton and raw eggs you're likely to be fine.

If the food is in date and cooked piping hot throughout then I don't give it a second thought. The only thing I've been denying myself is pâté as I get homemade stuff from the market and I can't be sure if its 100% safe.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. The only one I'm being careful about is cheese. I'm sticking to hard cheeses, which is tough seeing as I'm currently living in France and surrounded by tons of soft mould-ripened cheeses.

It really didn't worry me at all but I am very laid back about that sort of thing and didn't know I was pregnant for the first 10 weeks .

Most foods that need to be pasteurised will be, or will be clearly labelled, so that's definitely not something I worry about. There's a lot of misinformation I think so i've been sticking to the NHS guidelines.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/foods-to-avoid-pregnant.aspx

Dizzy, that page says stilton is fine as it's a hard cheese.

I'm looking forward to being able to tell people, then it should be a little easier. I'm planning on staying in for the next 2 weeks!

wispaxmas - I feel your pain, DH will be bringing a whole wheel of brie to the labour ward for me :D You're probably avoiding the steaks in restaurants over there too... I was in Luxembourg over the weekend and ordered a well done steak. It was so well done, it was CRUNCHY! On the continent if it's not blue it's not worth eating.

... and thanks all for your posts. Must try. Not. To. Worry

I didn't mean Stilton I meant Brie. They're not even alike. Oh dear, baby brain

I'm avoiding unpasteurised stuff but like toast said! that's pretty much always labelled and you would probably need to be actively seeking something unpasteurised to come cross it away from the cheese counter. I've stopped my penchant for products that contain blatantly raw egg, like home made cake mix (I'd normally scoff a few cup cakes worth whilst making them!) but if a fried egg (for example, not in the habit of ordering them) is unexpectedly runny I'm not going to be bothered by it. Just won't order it again. It's all about risk isn't it and your attitude to it.

My incredibly risk averse sister in law would inspect shop bought sandwich labelling to see if the ingredients contained mayo- wouldn't touch it if so (only the home made unpasteurised stuff is not recommended and marks n sparks don't tend to use this!)

I'm steering clear of pâté, liver, and soft cheeses, but I refuse to give up my dippy eggs, and hell will freeze over before I eat my steak well-done. I'm compromising on medium as opposed to mooing.

Things like pate and liver are worth avoiding because of the extra vitamin A. And the fish like swordfish (who eats this?) they warn you against because of the mercury.

The rest are more of a "risk" thing than a "too much is always bad" thing. I eat runny eggs as the risk is from salmonella and hens in this country are generally vaccinated. I'm fairly lax on special occasions but generally try and minimise soft cheeses otherwise. I do eat cured meats such as parma ham as I personally believe I am more likely to be in a car accident on the way to the supermarket.

If you lived in the US, 99% of all food is off the menu I am glad the "rules" are a lot more lax here, if only because you don't get as many judgey looks when eating, say, a ham sandwich when out and about.

It's all such a personal choice and your attitude to risk. It makes me smile because I have refused an amnio with a high risk screening result in the past where most people would just go ahead - but those same people would never eat runny eggs or cured meats or a small glass of wine. We all have our personal "nevers".

I don't think anyone can tell you how much you should be worrying.

I haven't worried at all about what I eat/drink this pregnancy. It's my 3rd. I think that probably makes a difference. I mean, I've obviously virtually stopped drinking (I've maybe had 3 glasses of wine so far. I'm 34 weeks), but as for rare-ish meat/cheeses/runny eggs/tea etc, I've just had them whenever I've really wanted them.

I realise reading this thread I don't worry at all!

The foods pregnant women are advised to avoid...soft cheese, rare cooked meats, eggs, liver, coffee etc etc all make me bauk when not pregnant so being pregnant has very little impact on what i eat! I don't even drink!

Read the guidelines and use your common sense. You'll be fine.

The only one I actually paid attention to and avoided was pate/liver in the first 2 trimesters as the vitamin A is too high and can cause problems for a developing baby. Everything else I haven't worried about if related to possible sickness bugs. I do have a fairly cast iron stomach as a rule though :) now I am in third trimester I am having a bit of pate as baby is now growing not developing.

I know the risks are very low, but I stuck very closely to the NHS guidelines and am really glad I did. My DD was born five weeks ago with a congenital condition - basically part of her body didn't develop as it should have in utero. It's thankfully not serious if spotted and treated, but she will be medicated for the rest of her life.

I only mention this because I take comfort in knowing there's nothing I could've done differently to avoid the condition.

I don't mean to scaremonger, but you have to satisfy yourself that the risks are worth it when the stakes are potentially so high.

I find the NHS guidelines don't take into account UK food safety regulations so there's a LOT more that you can eat than you may think. Sushi, british red lion eggs (even raw!) are all on the menu.
With meat, it's actually the internal cooking temperature which matters more than the colour so I regularly enjoy medium rare steak.
I only avoid blue veined cheeses and pate, really. And food from sources I don't trust. I'm frankly more worried about all the other toxic chemicals we put into our bodies every single day (e.g. aspartame) than a bit of hollandaise sauce.

I'm a bit more relaxed second time round, I think. Though I wouldn't eat pate, liver or raw eggs (am allergic to eggs) anyway.

I'm going with all things sensibly in moderation. I'll have a brie, bacon and cranberry baguette or smoked salmon or a bit of medium rare steak if I feel like it, I just won't eat it for 3 meals a day, every day.

The hardest thing for me is cutting back my tea and coffee but that's gotten easier over time. But I will treat myself to the odd gingerbread latte or glass of mulled wine when I'm Christmas shopping.

I've been sticking to the guidelines pretty rigidly... I'm actually a bit worried about the sausages I had for dinner tonight...they were cooked in a casserole and as a result were not as 'well done' as I would have liked. I'm not eating pate or brie, salami or gravlax...nor am I eating runny eggs. I have started to eat ready made sandwiches again, but only from m&s... It is really hard and in an effort to avoid all of the 'not recommended' foods, I find myself eating utter rubbish...mainly cheese (in paninis, on crackers, on toast..my arteries are going to hate me!) and chocolate. My sensible side tells me that I'm being daft as the advice changes so often that it's hardly worth listening to...but if I'm doing 'as I'm told', I'm doing all I can to make sure baby is safe...

Not at all. I've avoided under cooked eggs and pate (sob) but other than that I've used them as guidelines not rules.

I have started to eat ready made sandwiches again, but only from m&s..

:o:o:o

Followed the guidelines fairly closely for the first 30 weeks but since then all bets are off- had seared tuna with a goats cheese curd on Friday and it was bloody lovely.

I love Swordfish! First choice normally if it's on the menu.

Happy to leave it and the Camembert for the next 7 months though.

I had a huge Pepsi max addiction before i got pregnant. Probably about 4 cans a day. I've cut that back to one can every few days. I don't have any other caffeine in my diet so i don't think that is to bad.

I don't worry about anything food related really. But if Dr/Midwife/Guidelines/my mum told me i couldn't have something I would follow it to the letter. :)

I don't worry about food at all tbh. I'm 14 weeks w dc2 and I think I worried a lot more last time round. I think it's important to keep in mind that food is generally very safe in the Uk and in Scandinavia where I am.

I've quit smoking completely (yay me!!!) and had maybe 3 small glasses of wine with this one. I would only avoid raw seafood and excessive amounts of liver - i looooove both...sob...
I happily eat medium rare steak, homemade mayonaise, prawns, sushi, parma ham, runny eggs, peanuts.

Strangely lettuce makes me and I would rather starve than eat soft cheese, preg or not

I don't worry much - but do a bit! The first time round I read on MN that eggs in the UK were fine, and then had the worst food poisoning of my life after a meal in a restaurant where I ate a dessert with raw eggs - my stomach cramps were so bad I thought I was losing the baby (I didn't!), but I was more careful out afterwards, more relaxed at home where I knew the source of the food!

Apparently the US rules are more restrictive as their factory food standards are not as high. There have been recent listeria cases there involving cooked meats like ham (so my pg American friend tells me) for example but the UK hasn't any I don't think