37 weeks pregnant and craving the smell of rubber does this mean i'm deficient in something if so what?

[Ledodgy]

Title says it all really i've never had any non- food cravings in my other two pregnancies but this week in this pregnancy I can't get enough of the smell of rubber and i'm even tempted to steal one of ds's dummies to suck/bite on. Do you reckon i'm deficient in some important vitamin or just a bit strange? I was in Wickes DIY today and couldn't get enough of the aisle which had some kind of rubber tubing on, i'm starting to get funny looks!

I know what you mean. I was obsessed with the smell of tar. Asked the doctor but he didn't say anything about deficiencies -- just told me not to go round smelling tar as it's bad for the baby. But I don't think smelling rubber can be bad for anybody?

I hope not!

just think it's your senses going a bit crazy - i.e. part of the pg fun

maybe you should leave the car tyres alone, they take forever to cook properly
sorry

(loving that book you guided me to ledodgy! )

Which book? >

OOh rubber suction pads now you're really teasing me. Stop it!

God - I still have this after 3 pgs, and I'm not pg now but adore the smell .

DH got a bit excited and thought I was gearing up for a rubber fetish but I swiftly knocked that on the head!

Message withdrawn

I remember making excuses to go to the stationery cupboard at work when pg as I loved sniffing the elastic bands . I stopped short of chewing them though!

Don't know what it means in terms of deficiency though....

Thank goodness I am not alone!! I am currently 30 weeks and have had this craving for at least 5 weeks now and its driving me mad. Before I experienced it I was a bit sceptical about non food cravings. I too have had a go at the rubber connection for the basin spray thingy but it wasn't quite the right kind of rubber, but Woolies have the best hot water bottles for it and I sniffed the most amazing rubber doormat in Sainsbury's the other day!

I googled it and its known as pica (all non food cravings) and sometimes it is thought to be a sign of iron deficiency/anaemia. As I had some other symptoms pointing to iron deficiency I started taking a supplement. The other symptoms have gone but not the desire to smell/chew rubber.

Must give one of those little soap mats a go

By the way, the doormat in Sainsbury's was for sale on a shelf, not an old dirty one on the floor, I haven't gone quite that far yet

Yeah it means you are deficient in normality that's all. I believe they sell it in M&S

My cat has Pica - attacked an ex-bf actually when he was wearing a condom - v funny (not for him obviously). At least you aren't licking bricks, (I knew someone who had a thing for bricks when pregnant....now that was seriously weird - they had to be red bricks too!)

Oh God rubber hot water bottle that's what I really want the one that smelt like the one I had as a child I loved the smell then too.

at Whomoved's Cat, condom and ex boyf saga!

Oldie et all i'm glad i'm not alone.

Wow, what a relief. I've been craving all kinds of chemical smells in the last week or so (28 weeks pg) and had never heard of a craving for a smell.

Rubber works OK for me, or the smell or new cars, or the smell of DH's underground carpark. I daren't even think of creosote, which I love the smell of even when not having weird smell cravings.

I think its normal..when I was preg with dd, I carved the smell of petrol!! when I was filling the car up I would stand there breathing in..not good, I woulnt recommend it!..I used to love going to Halfords and hanging out round the tyre and rubber accessories aisle..mmmmm..still quite like the smell wven now

Oh God yes I was the same with DD! I used to get the right hump with DS if he forgot to bring his PE bag home from school every night because I wanted to sniff his pumps/plimpsolls!!!

New mouse mats, rolled up and carried around with you! OOohhhh yummy.. I almost wanted to EAT it!!

I don't think it's a deficiency.. it's just a pregnancy weirdy thing...

My SIL had it when she was pregnant, along with a love of the smell of petrol (she hung around a garage forecourt breathing deeply for so long one day she had a proper panic about whether she may have harmed the baby!). Her hubby loves cycling and brought a new tyre into the kitchen one day, usually she is obsessively tidy but she let him leave it there for ages and I think even licked it...its clearly not unusual but its a very odd one isnt it!

With me its synthetic bath sponges - tear them into bits then chew (don't actually eat them). Dh refused to believe that this was a proper craving first time round but this time just goes and buys them without comment

OMG! I'm not the only one that loves the smell of rubber. Everytime I go to walmart i go to the tire section to sniff the wondorous smell and then to the bike section to smell it up close~I have never met anyone that shares this.

I also eat the bath sponges. Have done with all 3 pregnancies and i cannot control it! I have to have them!

whomovedmychocolate - I had a thing for bricks, still have it sometimes even though I'm not pregnant. And licking emery board, the cardboard grainy ones. Mmm. Not keen on the smell of rubber though.

I am anaemic - hoping maybe this explains it!

When pregnant with DD I was CRAZY about creosote. I used to wake up in the middle of the night and go down the road in my dressing gown to pick off bits of creosoted fences. I bought some Coal tar soaps as they smelt yummy too.

With my DS it was coffee grounds. I would sleep with a Bodum beside the bed and I must confess to chewing them. God I loved the texture .... but then had to spit them out and did not feel very ladylike at all.

Looking back I suspect I was a tad anaemic.