So how good are you really being with 'banned' food?

[Heatherbell1978]

Ok second pregnancy here (15 weeks) and I'm definitely being a little more relaxed than last time. Currently eating sushi and haven't paid any heed to the runny egg thing at all this pregnancy. The week I found out we were on holiday and I decided I still wanted to enjoy a few cold beers. I might have had the odd glass or 2 of fizz too. Last time I was much more strict although had a few beers after the 36w mark. Just wondering if I'm alone....

?

My understanding is that it's possible to get listeriosis from almost all food if improperly prepared. Hence the faith in food hygiene standards bit.

Arseicle

American? Nope. One of the leading centres for research and diagnosis of FASD is actually based in Surrey.

www.fasdclinic.com/resources plenty of links to many, many clinical studies which do indeed state that even very low levels of exposure to alcohol can and have affected unborn babies. No doubt of no interest to you as you seem absolutely determined to ignore hard clinical evidence for no apparent reason. I cannot fathom your agenda. Nor can i find any facts to back up your own opinions within your posts.

I'll clarify once more because you seem to have missed it in my previous post - I am not in any way saying that low level consumption can cause fetal alcohol SYNDROME. You are totally right that FAS is only caused by heavy, sustained drinking throughout pregnancy. I am talking specifically about fetal alcohol SPECTRUM disorder which can be caused by even very small amounts of alcohol exposure.

Maybe it would be worth telling you that initially I was researching in order to prove to my DP that light consumption while I was pregnant could not have a detrimental effect on our baby. I'm no anti-drinking evangelical nut - what I found was to the contrary and shocked me. Yes, this is only my opinion, but one which is formed from careful reading of scientific study. Openly decrying this evidence is ignorant at best, harmful at worst. You are stating that pregnant women should ignore this because you, personally, find it offensive. I find that a strange stance.

To call this information misogynistic is quite a stretch. If nothing else, thank you for the laugh! I've derailed this thread quite enough now, apologies once more.

I'm avoiding everything. My first baby was born with neonatal meningitis because of listeria. She nearly died so not sure why anyone would take any risks.

I guess I'm quite lucky in that I don't like pate, not arsed for cheese, or seafood or any of the stuff that's apparently banned.

But the rest... I've had the odd beer, eaten supermarket deli meats, medium cooked meat etc etc. Just like I did in my last pregnancy.

The way I see it: read up on the research and make your own decisions.

I haven't eaten any pate or raw steak, and didn't drink alcohol at all in the first trimester.

Everything else in moderation. I have been craving salmon sashimi and it's packed full of goodness. I live to fight another day.

And I don't see any peer reviewed studies on FASD. So I don't see how you can possibly say something like "a little bit of alcohol at the wrong moment" causes problems. No one knows that! I've scoured the BMJ database for articles and I haven't found anything that has shown any harm (severe or moderate) from low levels of alcohol consumption. So I feel comfortable with drinking 1-2 units a week - tbh I'd feel comfortable drinking more but I don't feel like it.

Agree with Nolly and second Expecting Better. A really informative book.

I'm following guidelines to the letter. This is a very much wanted pregnancy and as umbongo says, not sure why anyone would take the risk.

Well helbelle for me it's more the point that you can't avoid all the risks! If you worry about listeria risk you wouldn't ever leave the house as you're far more likely to be run over by a bus than that. Ditto I live in London - I'm far more likely to be affected by pollution than a bit of cheese. It's just a bit strange to single out food related risks.

I had no idea I was pregnant for the first 10 weeks, and was drinking my usual 2-3 glasses of wine per night and eating soft cheese, pate and rare steaks. I cut down a little when I found out ............ for a few weeks.

Is Brie not allowed at all?

I've just eaten a whole wheel! (not at once)

You can have it cooked but shouldn't have it uncooked

www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/917.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=130 a link to the NHS foods to avoid site

I ate raw/soft eggs during my last pregnancy and this one as I knew the risks of salmonella are so low. I eat rare steak if I want to and have cured meats as long as I know they are very fresh. I do avoid bagged salads and prepared veg in bags as they can easily contain nasty baddies. I think salmonella is more likely to be in bagged salads than eggs (but cant remember where I read this) and bags of beansprouts have been the source of a few recent salmonella outbreaks.

Can anyone answer a question: I know that meat and veg pate are to be avoided as listeria can easily breed in the chilled mashed up product. But how come hummus isn't mentioned? Texture wise, it seems even more of a risk than pate for listeria but there's no mention to avoid it. Its been bugging me for ages!

Hahaha mouse!!

I definitely didn't eat mouse, that was a mistype of mousse! (As in chocolate mousse!)

jobrum pate isn't on the banned list because of listeria risk, it's because pate made with liver is too high in vitamin A. So hummus is fine lucky because I'm eating it by the bucketload. I think veggie pate is also fine!

All pate is on the NHS banned list.

And no, it doesn't make sense jobrum. Hummus is basically chick pea pate.

Eating everything as normal except liver pate (which I love) because of the Vit A. Cut down on alcohol but will have a small drink if I fancy it.

Homous is fine as long as it's kept in the fridge and eaten within 2-3 days.

I have avoided liver, pâté (and other processed foods that I think likely to cause food poisoning), very rare steak (although I tend to go for medium to medium-well rather than incinerated), charcuterie if not previously frozen to kill toxoplasmosis, and unpasteurised soft cheese. Oh, and raw or undercooked shellfish - we went out for a fancy lunch for our anniversary and one of the courses was scallops so I just asked the chef to make sure mine was more cooked. Same with the lamb dish.

On the other hand, I have been enjoying a very small glass of wine most weekends, and have eaten raw/runny eggs, unpasteurised cheese if hard (as very little chance of listeria in hard cheese) and sushi. I also cut back on caffeine but still have a few teas / coffees a day.

Fennella (hi!) - I work above an Itsu and craved their sushi last time I was pregnant but could only eat the tuna as it said on their website that only that was safe. This time it says both their tuna and salmon are considered safe, but if in doubt consult your GP, and I figured they must be quite confident about that statement if they put it on their website so I've been tucking in, as I think the benefit of omega 3 oils to me and the baby from the salmon are probably much, much greater than the risks from the sushi. I had some for lunch yesterday in fact :). Funnily enough I'm not craving sushi as much as last time, perhaps because it's not off limits!

I ate pastrami sandwiches daily not realising you weren't allowed gp did a toxoplasmosis test. Prob have a bit too much diet coke. Ate pate before I found out I was pregnant. Otherwise have been good, gave up e cigarette instantly and have only had sips of husbands wine

I have stuck with pretty much all the guidelines.
Runny eggs are OK now, have been eating loads!
Have had some uncooked camembert but reluctantly staying away from that now.
No pate, much as I want it.
No alcohol, but I don't miss that yet. I will miss it at Christmas!
Can whoever said rare steak is OK please post a link to where they got that info? I miss steak, so this makes me happy! All I can find on Google still says no....

Someone even asked me the other day if taramasala is OK in an accusatory manner. I hope so because I've been eating it by the bucket load. It's not homemade though but shop bought. I go on the basis that if it comes from a reliable source, is heavily preserved/ pasteurised and/ or is well cooked then it's probably ok.

You would literally not eat anything if you listened to every single bit of advice thrown at you. As for alcohol, many women on mn were born to mothers who drank because there were no guidelines then and have no signs of fetal alcohol syndrome or spectrum disorders. Who's to say that any problems that some say are attributable to alcohol weren't actually the result of exposure to something else entirely, like bleach? We're told to abstain from alcohol entirely because there is no reliable evidence either way when it comes to light or moderate consumption and so err on the side of caution. Even the Royal College of Obstetricians admits that the advice is precautionary due to lack of scientific.evidence, yet they believe that if there is a high risk time it's probably during the first trimester, while one to two units once or twice a week later in pregnancy is unlikely to be a problem.

We used to be told we couldn't eat peanuts. We're now told it's ok to eat them and actually might be beneficial. They're reviewing and revising guidelines all the time. How long before someone conducts a study that proves that the nutritional benefit of eating the things on the 'banned' list actually far outweighs the risk?

Ive followed most of the food advice, cut downnon caffeine and allowed myself one small alcohlic drink per week though i dont always have it and usually end up with mostly lemonade and a touch of something for the taste! (Its more of a mental thing i think!)

NHS still says a firm no to a rare steak