Midwife said I NEED to eat meat?

[dazedandconfuse]

I've been a vegetarian for about 3 years now, got asked at my pregnancy booking in if I had a vegetarian diet and when I told the midwife yes she gave me a massive lecture on how I NEED to incorporate meat into my diet!! Surely if I just take the recommended vitamins for vegetarian women in pregnancy it'll be fine?

AIBU to think it was ridiculous for her to say I NEED to eat meat??

At an app with my consultant one pregnancy he told me to eat liver at least 3 x a week and not to go to him if something was wrong with my baby!! Same man who suggested I had my tubes tied as i had enough dc!!
Smile and ignore op.

Just make sure you are getting enough protein and iron. Both you can get from a healthy vegetarian diet. If like me after 8 years I’d ended up surviving on cheese sandwiches and crisps. I’d left myself pretty much void of any decent vitamins or nutrition. Just give your veggie diet a real shake up make sure you are getting lots of colourful veg and if you can eat them lots of eggs. I can’t see how it would be an issue.

If however you want to eat meat make that choice for yourself. I think sometimes we cling to our decisions without really thinking it through. Just to reiterate though you really don’t need to eat meat to get the nutrition you need for pregnancy.

I have hg from 6weeks until labour and rarely survive on anything bar a few crackers and flat coke, neither things would factor into my diet any other time,

I wonder if she was asking if you were actually a vegetarian, or if you were just cutting out meat as a diet choice? Maybe she thought you did eat it generally, and should make sure you do during pregnancy. Either way, it’s not an issue! I’m 23 weeks pregnant and a veggie, was just advised to take iron tablets before it becomes a problem ie anaemia.

Oh and my last baby was just under 9lbs surviving on my fab preggo diet lol

Very strange, I’ve known a few vegetarian ladies who have had no issues in pregnancy (other than usually iron). They did struggle to put the weight on as easily as non-veggies but that’s understandable... and a fun challenge!

How incredibly ignorant, she needs to go back to school. I've been a vegetarian since 1981 and had a very successful pregnancy. My son who is 35 has never eaten meat and is a marathon runner.
If you know about healthy eating and eat a wide range of food you are fine.
This kind of comment really pisses me off.

Another one here to say been veggie for twenty years, just took regular pregnancy vitamins and never had an issue with iron levels. My midwife just told me to eat dark chocolate for iron!
(Also didn't struggle to put on weight thanks to my first trimester cheese and potato diet as the only foods I could stomach )

My BMI is spot on, I haven't had any iron deficiency problems for about 5 years! Very strange indeed

She's just out of date. I had two healthy veggie pregnancies without becoming aneamic or anything.

Also advised me (very very strongly advised I would go as far to say she was pushy) about subscribing to a daily vitamin thing. It's like £12 a month for these special vitamins? Anyone else heard of/ take these? Completely forgotten the name

What an idiot (her not you.)

Just take a pregnancy multivitamin and try (as much as possible) to eat a balanced diet. Can be hard if you’re nauseous or have food aversions, etc. Look at the NHS website for guidance if you’re unsure. She sounds fucking crap.

Did she say why dazed? Are you getting plenty of protein & supplementing the essential proteins that veggies/vegans can miss out on? Have you had a vitamin & mineral check recently?

She might have been talking bollox or she might have had a genuine concern. It is hard to know without her reasons for why.

is the mw selling juice plus? or some other questionable 'health' company?

My children were all born large (family trait - long babies) and disgustingly healthy despite me being vegetarian and having severe HG to the point of being on a saline drip for dehydration more than once.

They are all tall healthy adults, still vegetarian. I was never told to eat meat by HCPs, they did check my iron levels (as they did for everyone at that time) and talked about healthy diet.

Two of the midwives said their focus was on women with poor diets with little fresh fruit and veg and not on healthy women who simply didn't eat meat.

Your midwife may simply know nothing about vegetarian diets. If you have a specific issue aborbing B12 or iron (which can happen to meat eaters too) then you can get supplements for those items suitable for vegetarians.

Two perfectly healthy vegetarian pregnancies here, iron levels were fine and babies born healthy weights. Nobody NEEDS to eat meat, you can make changes to your diet to make it more iron rich and incorporate more protein without eating meat! She sounds dangerously ignorant!

She sounds delightful! I'm a fussy eater so I only eat chicken, cod and tuna on occasion. Very rarely touch anything else! I honestly wouldn't worry, I've just had a chickpea curry for tea! Aslong as you're still trying to get some protein, veg etc in and drinking plenty of water I don't see the problem! As for the vitamins, I take boots own, fairly cheap and my midwife seemed content with them, you don't need special fancy ones! See if you can get a different midwife!

On the supplements front, I think it's useful to take veggie omega 3. There's plenty of ALA in oils and nuts but the conversion rates to EPA and DHA terrible. I take algae based EPA and DHA as their really important for the baby's brain. I also do a multivitamin but I suppose that's not necessary if your diet is varied.

I'm only just 6 weeks along but my iron levels tested as high recently as I incorporate a lot of beans, nuts and seeds, spirulina and chlorella + eat 8-10 of my 5 a day.

Your midwife sounds a bit dumb - I'd struggle to trust her after that comment...

That’s shit advice. If you are low in iron (which it’s her job to check for certain) there are tonics such as floradix or spatone that are vegetarian.

Sorry just read a couple of replies and realised sever others have said this! 😑

Why in earth didn’t you quiz her then and there for proper answers?
Did she ask about your diet and check your bloods?