Food poisoning during pregnancy - is my baby ok?

[Babylovesmuffins]

I'm 22 weeks pg and just back to work after a really nasty food poisoning bug (vomiting and diarrhoea for 18 hours solid - or not so solid !!)

The m/w didn't seem too concerned as long as I could eventually start to keep fluids down. A week later and I'm back to normal eating again, if a bit cautious...

I was only really concerned when I had quite bad bleeding with the diarrhoea (sorry to be graphic) and I panicked and thought it was the baby - horrible moment. Again the m/w and hospital said this was common in food poisoning and it was probably a small tear inside my bowels or stomach lining, caused by the bacteria.

Does anyone know if this will affect the baby?? If anything, the baby has started to kick even more regularly now!

Hi

I had a really horrible stomach bug when I was about 16 weeks pregnant (I'm now almost 38 weeks) and naturally panicked. It don't think it was food poisoning as my sister also had exactly the same thing and I think I picked it up from her.

I'm paranoid anyway as I have Crohns Disease and was scared it could be a flare up of that but thankfully it wasn't.

Anyway I was really quite ill and off work for a week and had really bad stomach pains and diarrhoea like you.

I went to the hospital and they checked the babys' heart beat and said that everything was fine. I asked them about the baby potentially being affected and they said that as the baby is protected by the sterile amniotic fluid then there was no risk of this. They also said that a few days of not eating also wouldn't harm the baby and pointed out that woman in third world countries sometimes don't eat for days and their babies are fine!

Hope this reassures you a bit but if you are still worried ask your midwife but if your baby is still very active everything is probably fine xx

Thanks! That's reassuring. It's just hard to believe that the baby's ok whilst you're being so violently ill but I guess they're pretty resilient!
:-)

I know, I was convinced I was having a miscarriage as the pain was so bad!!

Everything seems 10 times more worrying when you're preggars. Am glad I haven't got long left to go as I can't stand the anxiety much longer...

I also got a 48 hour vomiting food poisoning bug when i was about 28 weeks pregnant , and no long term problems.
Your baby is quite tough in there with respect to diarrhoea and vomiting bugs.
Hope that helps a little

Hello,

My husband and I went away for our last romantic weekend before the baby arrives (I am 31 weeks) and I got food poisoning and spend the whole night in the bathroom! I was being sick contiuously for about 8 hours along with diorrea (sorry, can't spell!). In the end the hospital called an ambulance and I was put on a drip. They checked the baby's heartbeat and said he was fine and it shouldn't cause any problems - it was just the dehydration that was the only concern, but once they got some fluids into me it was fine. He has been kicking so much since, so I hope he is ok but it was a horrible experience.

I hope you feel better and just take it easy!

Hi babyloves- remember your baby takes any nutrients etc from your body before you get any so even though you were being sick etc, the baby was still getting whatever few nutirents etc you did have in your body. They are selfish like that !! If your MW isn't concerned then I wouldn't be either. Maybe if you haven't been taking any, take a few pregnancy vitamins (like pregnacare or something) to just give you a boost.
Hope you are feeling better now!
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