Help ! Anyone medical / scientific out there knows the risks of raw milk in pregnancy ?

[tomps]

I have accidentally consumed raw milk and now panicking that I may have done irreprable damage. I'm particularly worried because my last baby was stillborn, so it feels like a real, rather than hypothetical, risk for me. The milk was heated as it was in a coffee and probably only about half a mug full. I'm 15 weeks so out of that particualry vulnerable first trimester but even so ... Oh f**k what have I done ?!

what do you mean by raw milk? Unpastuerised I assume?

are you still there Tomps?

yes, unpasteurised.

how hot was the coffee that was added to the milk?

And how were yoou served the raw milk without knowing? were other people given it too?

I suspect you have been looking up raw milk on the internet? So have I.

In all liklihood, you will be fine. But please, at any sign of tummy pain, feeling sick, a temperature, you need to contact a doctor.

have you spoken to your midwife? Perhaps she can give you advice.

The coffee was from a place where I know they use unpasteurised milk but I had forgotten and this was first coffee there since being preg as I've not even felt like coffee ! The coffee would have been v hot as freshly made. I feel sick right now, but actually think that's more nerves and caffeine, don't think listeriosis / other would have such a fast effect. Have an appointment with consultant on tuesday so I guess there's f all I can do now and will ask his expert opinion then. If anyone would like to post that it's all a myth about unpasteurised dairy products causing problems in pregnancy and that there will definitely not be a problem then I would be quite happy to believe them and I will be able to sleep tonight !

I'm sorry, there is a slight risk from unpastuerised products,so the best I can do is reassure you that in all liklihood you will be fine, especially if the milk has come from a reputable source. listeria is very rare .

it's good that the coffee was very hot, hopefully this will kills off some of the bugs.

thank you

Presumably i could get a blood test to identify if I was carrying any infection eg listeriosis ?

Poor you - please don't freak out. Two of my best friends are French and consumed pretty much nothing but blue cheese, champagne and red wine throughout their pregnancies, and both have delightful healthy babies.

Listeria is, as belgo says, very rare, and if this place has a regular supplier the milk would have been very fresh. I think the last case of listeria in Britain came from lettuce, anyway.

A lot of this advice is cultural - in Korea pregnant women are told (by their mums, I think, rather than any scientific body) not to eat anything of an imperfect shape - e.g. a muffin that overflowed its cup in the oven - in case they have a deformed baby. In China you are firmly instructed not to cut your nails in bed while pregnant because it will cause cleft palate. The unpasteurised milk thing does, obviously, have more scientific evidence going for it, but I do think scaring pregnant women is a favourite source of entertainment for the rest of the world.

I think with most food poisoning you tend to get sick almost immediately, so if you're feeling fine by the morning I'd say you were in the clear.

Were you a regular at this place before pregnant? If so, you may well be FULL of fantastic immunity to all kinds of nasties...
How many farmers wives have babies (OK - little different if they're exposed every day...). Easy for me to say, but try to stay objective - your body is built to deal with bugs and hyper-active at present...but the slightest hint of poorly, go to Doctor...

Tomps - I was thinking about this last night, and I'm imagining that you have probably had a restless night worrying.

In particular, because you have previously lost a baby, your anxiety levels must be very high, which is normal in these circumstances.

As melie and ninedragons have said, the chances of you catching something from a small amount of raw milk in hot coffee are very very small. I'm not sure if a doctor would consider it necessary to carry out a blood test, unless of course you were actually ill. Maybe talking to a doctor or midwife would reassure you?

I have also remembered hat I had eaten unpastuerised raw eggs during pregnancy, in homemade mayonnaise, the eggs were from someone's hens that live in their garden. I was fine, but I did worry. I had completely forgotton about that until now.

Anyway, I wish you all the best with this pregnancy, and a healthy little baby at the end of it

Tomps, it's matural to worry but if this helps, there are mums who drink unpasteurised milk in pregnancy - my best friend drank it throughout both of hers and gave birth to two bouncing strapping perfect babies. Actually she was the healthiest woman I know!

I remember a sleepless night like you had having eaten some blue cheese which was recalled because of the listeria threat. Again, I was fine but I do remember that heartstopping moment when I realised.

Hope you feel better this morning.

Thank you, very reassuring advise. Also spoke to GP friend who said food poisoning from unpasteurised milk vv rare so if no symptoms within 48 hours don't worry. No symptoms so I'm no longer worried ! "Funnily" enough, have dodgy tummy today following takeaway veggie thai curry last night which I had overwhelming craving for ! Maybe they should have health warning on their menus. [hmmm]

or even

Ironically enough, I spent Monday night in hospital with food poisoning caused by a carton of pasteurised chocolate milk from a large commercial dairy.

Nobody at the hospital seemed to think it was a very big deal, they just wanted to keep me under observation because I am at 32 weeks.

So there you go - you can get a dose of the projectile vomits from anything!

Glad you're no longer worried, Tomps.

Thank you, glad you're better

Takeaways weren't recommended when I was pg. Has that advice changed now? Owed a few I think!