Food worries.. reassurance please!?

[hopefulsunshine11]

Hi,

I have high anxiety levels and have done all through pregnancy so I might ask things others wouldn't even think twice about.

I was out for coffee with a friend and had a lemon cake which was made with sponge and cream cheese frosting according to the waitress. I did ask and she said all the cakes are homemade, using shop bought eggs, milk, cheese etc! I am assuming as they are a reputable local coffee house all the products would be pasteurised. Everywhere on Google says to try avoid homemade baking. Am I being a bit paranoid or should I be worried at all? I am 20 and a half weeks and baby is doing well so far.

I also ready that listeria can take up to 2 months to show symptoms and pregnant woman are likely to show no symptoms.

Should I try and forget it? Nothing I can do about it now I guess!

You'll be fine.

What did you read that says to avoid home baking? I have literally never seen that ever and eat home baked stuff constantly, including through 3 pregnancies. Just enjoy the cake, wouldn't even occur to me to check or worry about that. Maybe talk to your midwife about your anxiety.

Only look at the NHS website when it comes to food. There's zero chance it suggests that you should avoid homemade baking during pregnancy. You'll be absolutely fine. Don't Google.

Everywhere on Google says to try avoid homemade baking.

absolute codswollop.

please stop googling and just stick to the NHS advice (which doesn't mention cakes at all and says cream cheese is fine)

www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/foods-to-avoid/

Cakes are cooked so even if the butter and milk was unpasteurised (it wouldn't be) then the cooking would kill any bacteria anyway. They are not going to use unpasteurised cream cheese either. Where have you read that you should avoid home baked goods?

You are being really paranoid!!
Not saying that in a nasty way, just meaning please try and relax, you’re completely fine, literally nowhere says ‘avoid home baking’

It’s going to be a long second half of pregnancy if you’re this up in arms about a slice of cake.

And stop reading American websites for food/things to avoid. Theyre not relevant.

Good grief. It's amazing humanity survived this long if babies can't navigate a home-made lemon drizzle.

Oh I 100% agree with you all! I've been on anxiety meds in the past, came off then and I was doing great until I become pregnant lol. I had a MMC last year and can't totally relax this time round but I don't want to go back on tabs yet.

I think tbh it's been American pages I've seen as you can't be 100% about the cleanliness of home made and on the off chance it's been unpasteurised but this is a business so will have health and safety checks down. I am more worried about the soft cheese as that wont have been cooked but you're all right I'll be fine I think I just need folk to say to me stop being silly and relax you idiot lol.

Thanks 😊

@JennyForeigner 🤣🤣 I know, it sounds even more daft because I'm sure my mum ate pate and other things you "shouldn't" and never had Google back in her day but jt just feels like there's warnings everywhere but again, that's Google and it's daft!

Cream cheese is specifically allowed. It’s not the soft cheese you are worried about. Deep breaths. You’ve done nothing to worry about.

www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/foods-to-avoid/

Congratulations on the baby! A lot of the warnings relate to the days before modern food processing when listeria was more common, tinned fish was a (small) risk and so on. Very little need to worry in 2022, and people trying to spook you generally have something to sell.

Oh, and EU food laws are stricter than US ones anyway. Let's hope we stick with them.