Foods to avoid?

[gebs]

Hello, just found out I'm pregnant last week so really early days, but I wondered if there's any foods I should avoid? I was eating prawn mayo on a jacket potato with a side salad that had feta in at work and thought afterwards 'maybe I shouldn't of eaten that' 🙈

I know some of the obvious ones but any pointers would be super please ☺️

Hi @gebs Congratulations on your pregnancy. I recommend looking at the nhs website www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/foods-to-avoid-pregnant/

So long as its cooked, or prepped properly, and isn't something that would give you and upset stomach without being pregnant, and you have a normal balanced diet (like seriously, who can eat that much tinned tuna to cause too much mercury?) carry on as normal.
The only thing I changed in my diet with the first was I added a vegetarian omega vitamin. This time around now that I eat fish (and almost eat too much tinned tuna for a month, yay cravings 😉) I still have runny eggs, soft cheese (never ate blue anyway...) and didn't take whatever silly precautions everybody seems to take when they become fragile and pregnant.

There is a lot of misinformation/myth about what is unsafe. Try reading the book Expecting Better which presents the statistics behind some of the more common ones so you can make your own decisions. I Didn't make major changes save for giving up alcohol and cutting down coffee. The only one I did pay attention to was liver/pate, as I'm a fiend for it and there's a pretty proven limit - for the same reason take pregnancy vitamins not normal ones or check the Vitamin A content. Runny eggs are now fine, as I believe is sushi in the UK (because all fish has been frozen, but do check this). My understanding is rare steak is also fine but steer clear of rare burgers/mince, because the bacteria can get inside if the meat is minced but obviously can't if it's left whole. Oh and congratulations!!!

My midwife has said, no soft cheese, sushi, hot dogs, most that has been cooked then cold down, be very careful reheating foods, runny yokes are fine as long as the egg has the lion stamp on them as it means the chickens have been vaccinated and a huge thing is undercooked beef, don't have your steaks red or pink in any way as there is a risk to get toxoplasmosis, I ve heard of a lot of women lose baby's to this.
I love medium steaks but I think what's nine months if it means protecting my baby. I think if you hear any potential risk of foods being potentially harmful to baby, you should just try to avoid them. X

So Megan you’ve heard of a lot of women losing babies from toxoplasmosis? Are these people you know? Was it confirmed as toxoplasmosis?

2 people were confirmed to have the parasite and they were people I know and then it's been more friends of friends for another couple that supposedly had it but I couldn't say 100% for them as I was told about them and not from them x

Congrats @gebs! As another poster said here, stick to the advice on the NHS choices website as it’s the most up-to-date and accurate. It’s also good to have it handy to refer people to - I’ve had a few older people who became self-appointed ‘anti-soft-boiled egg’ enforcers. But also there’ve been folk who’ve made me feel silly for following some food avoidances (e.g cutting down caffein). Following the diet advice and keeping healthy is one of the first things we do to keep our babies safe, so never feel daft for following the published advice! Best of luck OP xx

*soft-boiled eggs addendum: look for the lion. Friendly lion = dip away!!

sushi, hot dogs

You can have sushi if it's been frozen first. Hot dogs are not on the avoid list either. Think your midwife is making stuff up tbh

Thank you everyone, I've just read the nhs guidelines and I'm probably going to have to cut back on the oily fish I eat but seems all good otherwise! 😂

When I was pregnant with my DS I was very strict with what I would/wouldn’t eat till about 16 weeks then I allowed myself shellfish and the odd tuna sandwich. This time round I’ve cut out caffeine and the obvious things like pate but still eating cooked prawns etc. Interesting to know about the sushi though, I eat loads of it and that will be the one thing that people will notice before we tell them the baby news!

yeah, I believe that according to EU regs, sushi-grade fish has to be pre-frozen anyway, so if you get it in a restaurant you should be fine. Probably best to order it freshly made rather than one that's sat about on a conveyor belt/chiller for who knows how long.

I've been going by the NHS regs and informing myself on the risks with Expecting Better, which I agree with PPs has been the best book I've read regarding pregnancy. I've been surprised by how little is really off the menu.

The risk of contracting toxoplasmosis from rare steak/meat from industries agriculture (not grazing in the meadow) is virtually 0.

So avoid eating anything organic in that department and you'll be fine.