Help! I've just eaten a medium steak!

[Correlation]

Please help, I stupidly ate a medium steak for lunch (it was a bit pink on the inside but not red though there was also some pink juice on the plate). For some ridiculous reason I thought it was fine but now I'm worrying about toxoplasmosis and even if baby is ok now they may not be in the future. I'm 18 weeks. Can anyone help? I'm considering asking for a toxo antibody blood test but will have to wait a few weeks for antibodies to show up - is this worth doing? I'm really stressing out. Tried calling the midwife but can't get hold of her as it's the weekend!

@Correlation oh my you sound just like me!! I ate raw meat when I was pregnant. Stressed me out so so much. All was fine.

Lol at Friday night treat including pinot noir!!

@howmanyroads poor you it is so easy to get worked up when you look at some of the stuff out there online. Deep down I'm sure we are both fine!

Thank you @Kitkat05 you've made me want a kit kat now! My diet has been so bad I actually thought I was doing well having good quality red meat rather than junk! Oh well, I'm going to try and stay positive now.

@Correlation aw don’t worry! I even had a massive melt down after eating ice cream from ice cream van. Apparantly they can have some kind of bacteria too. Literally stressed out so much. Google didn’t help. Looking back I wish I just took it easy. FTM and was just stressed.

@correlation I'm sure we'll both be fine! When's your due date? I'm 1st April

I’m 40 weeks and have had low iron so have had steak weekly throughout. I prefer medium rare but have pushed myself to eat it medium which has annoyed me greatly. You’ll be fine

@howmanyroads Mine is 31st March so we are at the same stage! Steaks aside, have you felt any movements yet?

@Correlation ahh so close! I can't say for certain (early private scan said I have an anterior placenta but this wasn't mentioned at my 12 week one) but I'm sure I've felt little taps/prods/flutters!! Not definite big kicks that's for sure, but also nothing like I've ever felt before so surely must be baby. What about you?

@howmanyroads I'm not sure. I think I've felt flutters but nothing really clear yet. Looking forward to feeling something! Good luck with everything and congrats!

Love - it’s fine. For about 5 months of my pregnancy with DD2 it was even allowed as long as the meat was thoroughly sealed on the outside. I was gutted when they changed it back...

@Correlation I can't wait for proper kicks! So exciting. Good luck to you too x

In my pregnancy book given to me by my midwife at my booking appointment it says that you can eat rare steak if it is seared on both sides (which I imagine it would be if you got it from a restaurant or pan fried it yourself) I’m not in England but am in the UK, so I expect it would be the same advice wherever you are too.

I had a medium steak tonight. Pregnant with baby no.4 and not worried in the slightest.

I wish I could be more relaxed!

I’m a midwife. This is my second pregnancy and I fee like I’ve basically played ‘banned foods bingo’ all the way through. I know the risks and I’m comfortable with the decisions I’ve made. I honestly couldn’t get too worked up about a bit of slightly rare steak or some Stilton.

Please be careful. Someone I was in school with lost her baby after eating soft cheese so these things do sadly happen. I’m sure you’ll be fine but the advice is there for a reason. At 18 weeks you should be clued up on the advice by now

This article is old, but really good: www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2007/may/29/health.medicineandhealth

You can view listeria contamination alerts here (they usually make national news and an outbreak certainly does):
www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/search/alerts?type%5BFood+alert%5D=Food+alert
It’s worth noting that none of these are actually ‘banned’ foods either. The latest outbreak last year was actually hospital sandwiches.

OP I posted exactly this 2 weeks ago but mine was a burger not a steak. So according to a couple of people on this thread you're fine but I'm not

I’m sure you are fine but to be clear a rare burger is riskier than a rare steak. Rare and medium-rare burgers were banned by Westminster council for this reason. Mincing the meat creates a much bigger surface area which increases the risk of toxoplasmosis, but we are talking about really tiny risks here.

Someone upthread mentioned Stilton. As a hard cheese is it considered safe for pregnant women to eat, regardless of whether it is pasteurised.

It's never going to happen again that's for sure!

I regularly ate medium steak in pregnancy. Would normally go rare but being aware of risks I looked into it and took the decision that so long as it was from a reputable source and no lesser cooked than medium I was happy. Saying that, when on holiday I avoided it as I didn’t know how well they were regulated.

It was British steak bought yesterday from the supermarket and cooked immediately until pink in the middle but not raw..

@thanksithaspockets

Yeah I get it thanks. Was just joking around to try and take the edge off my crippling anxiety.

I'm really sorry to hear that, @howmanyroads, and I hope that you are getting some real-life help and support to treat your anxiety.