What can't you eat when pregnant? just got bfp

[Newmom2b]

Hi all, I just got my bfp and was about to make a fried egg with my dinner but remembered that I probably shouldn't. My lo is nearly 3 so have forgotten and the do's and donts. Can you remind me? TIA x

Really recommend Emily Oster's book Expecting Better on pregnancy and food guidelines. She takes a good look at what the research says and what the risks are, so you know what's behind the guidelines and so you can make up your own mind on what to eat or avoid based on what risks you're comfortable with.

tea Why would you not eat coleslaw? Surely there's enough real pregnancy things to complain about without having to just make stuff up...

I think it's important to understand why a particular piece of food advice is given, so you can make your own assessment as to whether or not it is a risk you are prepared to run.

Ruth I was thinking that.

There is a myth about mayo (loads of people don't offer it until I ask if they have any 'ready made' i.e. nuked in a jar) because home made has raw egg. But Hellmans doesn't, it's been preserved to last 2 weeks in the fridge!

Other people not offering because they know best makes me - mainly happens with nuts (handed round but not to me at a party/gathering), mayo (condiments at pub dinner) and cheese boards (I can eat the cheddar, stilton and pre-packed le roule!).

I eat normally when pregnant. Rare steak and eggs, cured meats a particular favourite of mine. It has never bothered me and I am happy with my risk assessment. I avoid caffeine and alcohol however.

ruth she's terrified of mayo!

I have to admit that being pregnant for the 4th time, I am not all that strict with myself so I guess its also in an effort to point out how careless I am about my unborn child's safety .

The only thing I've really avoided is alcohol, pâté and blue cheese. I still have a few cups of tea a day, enjoy a poached egg or 2 at the weekend and have the odd sandwich with deli meats or tuna. I don't feel all 'woe is me' about the things I shouldn't be eating and there's an element of common sense involved. The guidelines are mainly focused around things that could give you food poisoning so if you have a sensitive stomach and have suffered in the past, you might want to pay more heed to them.

Heather deli meats (is cold cooked meat) is an absolute NON ISSUE in the UK!
Sorry but mentioning it alongside soft eggs and tuna (recommended but not every day) might give the impression they are in some way limited.
They're not!

If you want blue cheese BTW Stilton is also regarded as completely safe in the UK.

I ate mr whippy ice cream during both my pregnancies, didn't know you couldn't! I also ate eggs and prawns. My friend wouldn't eat hellmans mayo, said she wasn't allowed.

Prawns are fine (if cooked and frankly who eats them raw?).

Eggs are fine if cooked (and many people including me feel that lion marked runny ones are also fine).

I divide food into 3 categories:

(1) Things that could give you listeria
(2) Things that could give you toxomoplasis
(3) Things that could give you salmonella

(1) is the most important b/c it can cause miscarriage, but also the hardest to police as so listeria outbreaks can arise from all sorts of random foods, so I just go for the obvious triggers: shellfish, unpasteurised cheese (impossible to get hold of where I live), Mr Whippy.

(2) is also important as could cause brith defects so I avoid rare meat and also cleaning out the cat's litter box actually I suspect I have toxo immunity as have always had a cat but it suits me to make DH do it

(3) is less risky to the baby but could be unpleasant and slightly risky, so I just take care not to eat dodgy food which might cause food poisoning (which I would do anyway). This is why I continue to eat sushi and hummus from safe sources, for example. I'm not that worried about eggs as I think the salmonella risk is v low.

Alcohol and caffeine don't fall into any of the three categories, but I think are fine in moderation (moderation for pregnant woman, not what I would've considered to be "moderation" pre-pregnancy!! ).

Gennz did you know the last listeria scare in the UK was from lettuce? It really is very random and much more to do with storage and washing than the food itself.
Hence Mr Whippy no, Mcflurry yes. Raw seafood no, picked over and freshly cooked seafood (you know it was alive then boiled) yes.

Seafood makes me vom at the moment though. Anyone else?

Yes as far as I can tell if you tried to track foods traced to listeria outbreaks you would drive yourself mad quite quickly (which is basically what my ob said) so I'm just trying to cover off the well-known risks. Mmmm McFlurry.

Gennz yeah I was SO happy when I discovered they are definitely clean and raw-egg-free!

I'm a bit like Gennz - I divide into

1. things that can harm the foetus directly

2. things that have a higher risk of making me ill but won't harm the foetus directly

so:

1. liver and vitamin A supplements, unpasteurised or mould rinded cheese (listeria risk), rare meat (toxo risk), any sort
   of "unhygienic" food eg buffets in hot weather, whippy ice cream, pate (listeria risk)

2. seafood, runny eggs and foods containing raw egg

I'm not sure which category sushi falls into. The issue with sushi is nothing to do with hygiene - it's because raw fish can contain parasitic worms . Ironically, supermarket sushi is actually safer than posh restaurant sushi, because the fish is more likely to have been frozen, killing the worms.

Cured meats are fine, the curing kills any nasties.

Personally I avoid category 1) (and sushi) but not 2).

I think all sashimi has to be made from frozen fish. Sushi, whether it contains fish or not, could be a risk because of the rice - rice being a bugger when it comes to food poisoning.

Listeriosis, whilst rare, is potentially catastrophic and of course pregnant women are more susceptible to it, hence advice to avoid certain cheeses, Mr Whippy and chilled foods such as bagged salads and indeed pâté (that's on top of the vitamin A thing).

I ought to have added that pregnant women are more susceptible to food poisoning full stop, so regardless of the outcome for the foetus it makes sense to pay more attention to food safety than one might when one isn't pregnant.

I had food poisoning at about 30 weeks and it was bloody horrible (the baby was fine but it was terrifying and physically far worse than when not pregnant). Out of about 10 adults all eating the same lunch (at a restaurant with extremely high standards of hygiene - I know because I worked there!), I was the only one to get ill - obviously this doesn't prove anything but given pregnant women's weakened immune systems generally I imagine this was no coincidence.

Johnny sushi is generally considered safe because of the way the rice is prepared, as is bagged salad. Poorly washed fresh salad is actually considered more of a risk in the UK!

Johnny, do you mind me asking what you ate at the restaurant that gave you the food poisoning? (If you know)!

FoodieMum the problem is it is so very random. Some of the banned foods are red herrings, you could as easily (or rarely) get it from a burger and chips, pasta and sauce or anything. Safely prepared fresh prawns are safer than spag bol reheated in a filthy kitchen.

The one thing I do that is beyond the NHS guidelines is scrutinise how many food hygeine stars a place has before eating there! 4/5 is my cut off! :)

If you look on the websites of sushi places here (at least the chains) they tell you what is frozen. I looked at a couple (I think Yo Sushi and Itsu, but I'm not 100% sure now) and they said they froze all fish apart from salmon (I think).

It was rice we think, which wasn't one of the things commonly listed as "to avoid". Poor colleague (the chef) was mortified. I suspect it had sat around for too long waiting for us to finish our shift, something which just wouldn't have happened had the food been destined for a customer.

Of course I might have picked up whatever it was from elsewhere - from clearing customers' plates or something (although I was obsessive almost with handwashing - as you should be when you work with food, regardless of being pregnant).

squiz whatever it is they do to the rice to make it safe, I would treat sushi in the same way as I'd treat any chilled food and avoid it unless I trusted the source 100%.

I believe the fish has to be frozen by law, euro. Same would apply in a swanky Michelin starred place as it would in a Tesco Metro.

Can i ask a stupid question?

Would i KNOW If i had listeria or toxemia or any of those?

iv'e had runny eggs wuite a few times, and had ice cream-van ice cream a few times too..

Have not been sick AT ALL, but could something nasty have crossed the placenta in any case?

I have a stomach of iron and an immune system like no other, i'm wondering is this actually a bad thing and have all sorts of nasties been crossing to the baby all along!

I realise this is probably a whole new level of pregnancy paranoia.. at least i hope it is.

I tend to avoid all the things they tell you not to eat, yet somehow I still got food poisoning from fruit a few weeks back. It was horrible!

Just goes to show reality, that anything has potential.