Interesting article from the Guardian on pregnancy guidelines

[bumperlicious]

Here. Not trying to be controversial , though feel free to debate away! Just though it might interest some people.

I love Zoe Williams and had no idea she was pregnant - great article and agree with every word

My Mum gave me this "Good Housekeeping Baby Book" that she has been saving me for all these years! It was originally printed in 1944 but the edition I now have was completely revised in 1969 (I was born 1973).

It's the perfect illustration of how times have changed. One piece of advice is to eat lots of liver for the Vitamin A content!! Furthermore, it says that a couple of cigarettes a day probably do more good than harm if they help the mother to be relax.

Mind you, it also says "Whilst your normal standards may slip after the birth keep one room clean and tidy for recieving guests."

My how we laughed

interesting. i had no idea about the actual levels of listeria...but i still bypassed the delicious looking pate i saw today

Fantastic article. I may carry it around with me and hand out to people I meet.

Great article. I might print it out and take it with me on my next weigh-in appointment.

aikigypsy- you have to get weighed?

Grrrr... to think I've only drunk one glass of champagne in the last 6 months (and at a wedding) and have been religiously avoiding all yummy cheeses and rare meats and other nice foods, only to be chomping down my bagged salad leaves, thinking I was being good!! I DID get toxo in my 8th month of the last pregnancy, and was ultra careful on that, i seriously think got it from either salad, or a tepid wedding banquet. Ie from nothing which should pose a threat - cats, etc. I think a g&t is in order after work tonight.. And DS was/is perfect, alert, bright, very very handsome, and active. You really get frowned on for doign anythign vaguely enjoyable while preggers...

i'm having a glass of wine tonight in defiance!

I can't stand Zoe Williams. She's a crap columnist and can't write for toffee. I agree with her in this instance though.

When I was pregnant I ate whatever I felt liked including non-pasteurised cheese on occasions. and drank a glass of red wine nearly every night. My baby was nearly 7 pounds at birth and at nearly 1 year is the picture of health. I was more cautious about drinking wine and breastfeeding particularly in the early days when I was demand feeding and couldn't predict when she'd want a feed.

francagoestohollywood I didn't know I wasnt supposed to eat salami too. Is there anything you can eat when pregnant?

Er, no. But make sure you eat enough because dieting while pg is very bad.

My MIL insisted that a glass of port would be good for my sickness when I was pregnant. And she was right. I couldn't stand the smell of vegetables, but strangely enough a glass of port made me fell much less nauseous. I never recommend it to other people though. Not since a strange woman berated me, loudly and in public, for having a glass of champagne at a wedding when I was 8.5 months pregnant with ds .

Becky, that is rather interesting. When I had HG I certainly found that what I could eat went totally against all healthy eating guidelines - the nearest I could get to veg for ages was extra hot salsa, and meanwhile I kept being given leaflets advising me to avoid spicy food

It's a good article, but she has misunderstood the advice on listeriosis.

Pregnant women can have a 'silent' infection and pass it on to the baby.

Listeriosis of the newborn is extremely serious and a friend of mine lost her child to it.

So the fact that full - blown adult listeriosis is rare is not the point at all.

re: getting weighed, I am in the US, and we have these appointments every 4 weeks where they weigh you, take your blood pressure, and listen for the baby's heartbeat. I'm finding them not particularly helpful, but it is nice to hear the heartbeat. They did also say that I didn't have to get weighed if I was getting too obsessed with it.

ah- we don't usually get weighed here. i got weighed once when i was pregnant with DS, but never after that.

oh thank god, babybore. i thought it was just me. can't stand zoe williams, i think she gets money for old rope. cannot bear her columns. am off MN the minute she turns up here, as she inevitably will...

Eemie - sorry to pry but could you tell me more?

I (very stupidly) ate some unpasteurised brie a few months back without thinking, and a few days later had a mysterious illness, which I suddenly realised then might have been connected. I rang the Dr in a mild panic and asked about the risks, she told me not to be so stupid as I'd have been much worse and also that it was very, very rare to have a listeria infection...not what I'd read, as I too thought you could have it without really noticing.

She refused to even countenance testing.

I am now awaiting the birth of my baby with a little anxiety, in case I really did him some harm .

I also meant to say, I am so sorry to hear about your friend's baby

Has anyone seen this?

(sorry can't do links)

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article1857049.ece

FA

Listeria while pregnant would probably have put you in hospital.

Thanks Colditz, but the articles I read on Google (about a hundred of them that week ) all said that the pregnant woman will most likely experience a mild, flu-like illness, and may not even be aware she has contracted it.

Consequences for baby are generally much worse

Not sure which info is correct, just what I read...

What a breath of fresh air! I am a terrible preggant woman - I do eat brie and gaots cheese, I di dhave a small glass of wine last night and I have a couple of cups of tea a day!

flightattendant, sorry I didn't see your post till now.

You are right. Of course it's a lot more likely that you had a harmless common virus than listeria. But listeria in pregnancy can be mild or sub-clinical.

Tell your consultant obstetrician about your worries, not the GP.

There was a good letter in Thursday's Guardian here correcting some of the mistakes in Zoe Williams' article.

Flightattendant, if you had had listeriosis and it had passed to and harmed your baby you would probably have mc or gone into premature labour. by now. It is very, very rare. Please try not to worry.