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Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Original poster

Keep accidentally eating the wrong food and drinking wine...

177 replies

completelyconfused · 18/03/2008 13:46

I am around 4-5 weeks pregnant and since I found out 2 weeks ago keep forgetting I need to change what I eat! So far I have eaten sushi, gorgonzola and prawns (though some people say these are OK to eat?). I also drank 5 units of wine last week. I have resolved to do better from now on but am paranoid I have already turned my baby into a four-headed alien. Any thoughts/reassurance out there??

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chickytwotimes · 18/03/2008 13:48

Ach, don't worry. Do your best to stick to the guidelines, but bear in mind what my mw said - "most babies are conceived thanks to a lot of alcohol"! And there are people out there who totally eat and drink the wrong things and their babies are fine.

MehgaLegs · 18/03/2008 13:51

How do you keep forgetting?

Sorry don't mean to sound so harsh, but how can you forget you are pg?

QuintessentiallyAnEmptyCave · 18/03/2008 13:51

I am not going to say well done you, but you have seen the error of your ways.
But I think it takes a little more than 4-5 units of alchol in the first few weeks, for fetal alcohol syndrome to develop, and I doubt baby develops asthma or allergy from prawns once or twice. So on the whole, baby should be fine.

Unless you continue to eat like this, of course.

slinkiemalinki · 18/03/2008 13:52

You would know by now if anything was making you ill. Some people say sushi is fine (the Japanese actually recommend it, but I'd be careful where you have it). Cooked hot shellfish is fine. The one thing you shouldn't have had is the gorgonzola, although the chances of catching anything nasty are extremely slim.
I would cut down on the booze a bit though - it is very easy at this stage to forget you are pregnant and feel like a fraud, but it really is the most important time to watch what you are drinking in the first three months. But remember how many women have not realised they are pregnant at your stage, had quite a lot more to drink than you and had perfectly healthy babies. You are probably within the limits of what was formerly advised as OK anyway!

slinkiemalinki · 18/03/2008 13:53

Asthma from prawns??

QuintessentiallyAnEmptyCave · 18/03/2008 13:53

Yeah, I wasnt going to ask that.

I was so on the ball with food that I even stayed away from M&S ready made sandwiches in case the Mayo was not pasteurized! Now that is paranoid.

slinkiemalinki · 18/03/2008 13:55

The vast majority of shop bought mayo is - certainly supermarket stuff would be (and usually says on the packet)

Tutter · 18/03/2008 13:55

errr... i can buy the idea of forgetting about certain "banned" foods

but forgetting about not drinking wine??? are you for real?

QuintessentiallyAnEmptyCave · 18/03/2008 13:55

Prawns are highly allergenic, which is why you should not eat them when breastfeeding, and also why you should not give your baby till at least one year old.

My sister who is a food safety engineer is for ever preaching about prawns.

crokky · 18/03/2008 13:56

The baby should be fine, some people are still unaware they are pregnant at this stage and guidelines are forever changing. However, you must now get used to changing what you eat and drink. It's best to try and follow the current guidelines without worrying too much about the occasional slip up.

themoon66 · 18/03/2008 13:57

This is all new stuff to me. Has food got worse recently?

My DD was born in 1986 and DS in 1991. I took brie or camembert on crackers to work for lunch almost every day.

I craved cider like a mad woman and had a litre on the weekends.

I don't think my DCs have turned out to have two heads or any allergies.

slinkiemalinki · 18/03/2008 13:58

I've never given them to my daughter but have never heard anywhere else that they were not safe in pregnancy (or bf in fact) other than the food poisoning risk. So you are saying they come into the same category as peanuts (which is highly questionable whether total avoidance actually does more harm than good at the moment I think!). Gosh... a minefield...

Tutter · 18/03/2008 13:58

the food hasn't changed, themoon, our knowledge has

MehgaLegs · 18/03/2008 14:00

lucky you themoon.

QuintessentiallyAnEmptyCave · 18/03/2008 14:01

Tutter, I am not sure I agree that food has not gotten worse. I think to some extent it has. Take Tuna. So full of (is it Cadmium?) heavy metals that even adults should refrain from eating more than a tin per week.
Cod liver too. With the pollution levels in the sea, and on this planet, and the way farming is done, food is possibly more harmful than before.

Tutter · 18/03/2008 14:01

true, QS

themoon66 · 18/03/2008 14:15

Am not sure if I'm lucky or not MehgaLegs. Its was just that nobody ever told me NOT to eat those things in the 80s and early 90s.

Original poster
completelyconfused · 18/03/2008 14:16

Hi everyone - yes, I know some of you don't believe me but I really do have trouble remembering what not to eat and drink. I don't feel pregnant yet and I find it hard to believe these foods really are harmful anyway so I guess I haven't paid much attention, because I'm generally relatively healthy. I guess I'm not one of those naturally cautious people. HOWEVER - I am going to make more of an effort from now on! I still don't get the prawn thing though - are they safe or not?

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Seabright · 18/03/2008 14:18

I found out I was pregnant whilst in France, when I got back I discovered I had eaten virtually everything on the "do not eat" list. Pregant French women eat all of this stuff and there seem to be plenty of healthy French babies around so I figure "If I fancy it, I'll eat it".

BTW, in Spain pregnant women are hold not to eat salad and in USA to avoid all chocolate (but then American chocolate is horrid...)

Tutter · 18/03/2008 14:19

yes i would suggest you "make a bit more of an effort" wrt alcohol

try reading up on fetal alcohol syndrome

Original poster
completelyconfused · 18/03/2008 14:22

Tutter - my GP who is in his 60s told me he had never seen a case of foetal alcohol syndrome in his entire life, and that it was something doctors associate with alcoholics who down a bottle of vodka a day.

OP posts:
mum2becks · 18/03/2008 14:28

I am 7 weeks pregnant and saw my midwife on friday, prawns are definately on the list of do not eat foods but it doesnt say why just dont eat them!!

I am paranoid about eating or drinking the wrong thing and then regretting it so I am avoiding everything that I am told to avoid!

slinkiemalinki · 18/03/2008 14:32

I have seen/read about cases where FAS was diagnosed with only moderately high levels of drinking. Everyone is different and reacts differently to alcohol - our babies are bound to be the same! I have a low tolerance and have therefore been very careful. Though I have a friend who's had a glass of wine most nights and her little boy is fine. You can't tell - but does it really hurt that much to be careful for a few months?

skidoodle · 18/03/2008 14:33

Most of the guidelines are totally ridiculous and tell you to avoid foods that are good for you on the basis of a tiny risk of food poisoning. Presumably you generally take steps to avoid listeria, so keep it up and maybe do a bit of reading so you know what the riskier foods are.

Probably a good idea to avoid drinking a lot of booze (1 or 2 glasses of wine, once or twice a week is a reasonable guideline and not a million miles from what you've been doing).

For some people it makes more sense to follow most of the guidelines until the end of the first trimester as the risk of miscarriage is higher.

Being stressed out and neurotic is no good when you're pregnant so it's good that you're not freaking out about food being poison.

slinkiemalinki · 18/03/2008 14:34

Well current government advice is only to avoid RAW shellfish - see eatwell.gov.uk