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

[completelyconfused]

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??

As far as I'm aware most of the banned stuff is because of the risk of food poisoning. Eg: prawns, shellfish, brie etc all have higher incidences than other foods generally. Same with rare steak, smoked/cured meats, fish etc. I avoided all of the above for the first 3 months. (No allergy history so I ate peanuts tho).

As someone else mentioned on here I even avoided shop bought sarnies/trifles because of the mayo/custard containing eggs....think I was probably a bit over the top(!) but for 3 months, it really wasn't that hard to do.

The salad thing also applies here in the UK a bit - they do not advise you eat pre-bagged salads without washing them thoroughly becuase of the chemicals used to wash them pre-bagging.

The 'no booze' whatsoever advice is to stop binge drinking. The odd unit here or there won't do any harm. Personally I find that just one glass of wine makes me want more so I don't have any (for about two years now), but if you can have just the one it won't do your baby any harm at all.

Chocolate (ignore the US) and cake absolutely fine though!

With my first one, I ate what i liked (incl prawns and whatever cheese) and had a glass of wine about 3 times a week after the first trimester (and about 2 glasses during the ist trimester). My baby was of a normal birth weight and is now a (quite advanced in terms of speech and concentration levels, according to her nursery) 22 month old. I did always wash my salad very thoroughly and took care not to 'get drunk' as that's obv a bad idea.

Now on 2nd, feel sick all the time and my precious glass of wine is the last thing I feel like. However, if I did want one, I'd have one and not feel guilty.

If it makes you feel any better, I was lucky enough to holiday in Sardinia during the early stages of my pregnancy (B4 I realised I was Pg). Spent the entire week eating raw fish, raw prawns, raw squid & raw meat - raw stuff obviously a bit of a delicacy & I like to try new things. Also drank way too much. And smoked. Now 29 weeks & Scans show baby does not have 4 heads & is in fact, a bit of a chubber. Have been V good since finding out I was pregnant (2 glasses of wine at xmas, no fags, no raw stuff) mostly coz of horrible MS. Prawns are fine as long as they are well cooked (think its a bacteria thing) and peanuts fine as long as there is no history of allergy in the family. Also V good source of good fats & protein. So, give yourself a break about whats already done & try your best from now on.

I think there's confusion about prawns being eaten hot or cold.

Basically frozen prawns that are little C shaped pink things are cooked. So you can eat them defrosted and cold in a prawn cocktail and they are still cooked and safe.

The packet would say RAW on them if they were raw and the prawns would be grey. These you need to cook before eating.

Sorry just keep seeing prawns mentioned and I've eaten loads of them with both pregnancies usually in the form of prawn mayo sandwiches and I'm totally fine!

am of all you who weren't puking their guts out from the day dot whilst pregnant and were well enough to 'forget' they were pregnant.

I did not even figure out I could possibly be pregnant until I was nearly 6 weeks late (thought it was the menopause) I cut out alcohol and blue cheese at that point but it took me another 2 weeks to take a test and confirm it (did not dare believe I was) and go see my doctor.

Cutting down on my normal intake of tuna was easy I went right off it and did not even realises I should not be eating it, I accidentally ordered something with a blue cheese sauce early on because I just did not think until it arrived but considered as the risk was listeria it had been cooked any risk was dead. I have continued to eat peanuts (and especially peanut butter have a total craving for it) although I have a list of allergies as long as your arm have no nut allergies in the family. Having read the most recent evidence not convinced avoiding it during pregnancy is at all helpful. Had wine (only half a glass) at Christmas and today shock horror 1/4 pint cider when I went to see a friend very much doubt it has done bump any harm.

Personally I would say be sensible but don't panic.

I'm with Seabright. I found out I was pregnant (about 6 weeks) when I returned from a week in France. In that time I'd drunk far too much red wine, coffee, smoked, eaten brie, nuts, prawns and gone canoeing and fell in the river. My baby is now a very robust 2 year old.

Curiously, very soon afterwards I was completely unable to drink red wine as it tasted about 5 days old and coffee made me sick! I think maybe this was my baby's way of instilling some order!

If I were you, I would get used to the guilt which is piled on you as a parent, because it's only the beginning. From now on, someone, somewhere will wrinkle their nose over your birth plan, breastfeeding choices, weaning choices, sleeping habits, whatever they may be.................. but as long as you love your baby and do what feels right for you both, you'll be a great mum!

I'm with Seabright. I found out I was pregnant (about 6 weeks) when I returned from a week in France. In that time I'd drunk far too much red wine, coffee, smoked, eaten brie, nuts, prawns and gone canoeing and fell in the river. My baby is now a very robust 2 year old.

Curiously, very soon afterwards I was completely unable to drink red wine as it tasted about 5 days old and coffee made me sick! I think maybe this was my baby's way of instilling some order!

If I were you, I would get used to the guilt which is piled on you as a parent, because it's only the beginning. From now on, someone, somewhere will wrinkle their nose over your birth plan, breastfeeding choices, weaning choices, sleeping habits, whatever they may be.................. but as long as you love your baby and do what feels right for you both, you'll be a great mum!

You have all made me feel so much better - thank you so much! ps - morning sickness has kicked in now so not so easy to forget!

CC, was going to suggest the knowing line of "just you wait till that morning sickness kicks in my girl!", then realised patronizing isn't especially helpful is it. Welcome to the Mashed potato diet. I'm now 29 wks & still can't look at a prawn without retching. Take care now.

don't worry, i didn't find out i was pregnant until 7 or 8 wks and by that time had treated my little boy to 12 pints of lager, 20 cigs and multitudinous bags of nuts on one rather drunken boxing day. as soon as i found out i just had 2 halves of guinness a week and cut out the dodgy cheeses, mayo, sea food and caffeine, obviously i gave birth to a perfect child

I have seen a case of feotal alcohol syndrome, and believe me - if you had seen the child, you would never drink alcohol while pregnant

Have only seen case of FAS on TV. I understood it to be from seriously heavy drinking until some study or other published recently said not. Its hard to know where to draw the line isn't it? In the same week as the DON'T DRINK AT ALL study was published, another said DON'T BE SO SILLY, small amounts are fine. I'm just relying on common sense and hoping that I've done the best I can.

Well if you weren't completely confused before you will be now!!
You sound like a sensible person, make your own decisions, if you follow every bit of advice you won't eat. In france they happily eat soft cheese and wine during pregnancy, and the information on prawns varies I think they say they are ok as long as they are from a reputable source , but I mean who eats prawns they know are dodgy!!
Don't worry too much I was totally neurotic during first pregnancy, and I forgot and ate baked alaska and I was really worried but ds was fine. I am now 30 weeks pregnant and I have to say I am slightly more laid back this time, I have the odd glass of wine etc I think this is due to the fact I had only just given up bf a few months before I fell pregnant.
By the way Congratulations, try and enjoy your pregnancy, morning sickness and everything else a side I love being pregnant it's a lovely time. So enjoy !!

Am reading this thread with interest as I was certainly an "all things in moderation" believer when I was pregnant.

I've seen posters here talking about the low risk of listeria but someone challenged me on that view when i was pregnant by explaining that when you are pg you are immuno-compromised to some degree (like the elderly or very young) and therefore more likely to get something than when not preg. That's why you shouldn't be too blase about eating certain stuff, i was told (eg blue cheese, raw eggs in unpasteurized mayo etc)

Anyone know if that's true?

I wondered that too, countryhouse, and also if you don't get sick after eating the brie/raw eggs/sushi, does that mean everything's OK or could the damage be being done silently without you realising it? (asks 8 wk pg mbitg who yesterday had some kind of red mist and ate a whole brie).

Also haven't seen pate mentioned on the thread and wondering if it would be less likely to breed listeria if I made it myself. I have a whole freezer full of liver which needs using up. And I fancy some.

I'd love some pate! It's definitely on the list of no-no's when pg though (I'm 37 weeks now), but I don't know if you make it yourself.

Liver's not recommended coz of large amount of vitamin A which can apparently be harmful to baby, (back in my mums day, mums were recommended to eat it!)

There are certain herbal teas which you're sposed to avoid, but I can't remember which ones.

I found ginger nuts really helped with morning sickness (though why it's called that I don't know - I was sick ALL day in the early months!).

Congrats on the preg!

Yes it is true about your immune system being lower and you are more likely to catch things and become ill. mbitg - I wouldn't make the pate caust you're not supposed to eat liver - too much vitamin A in it

Don't worry about it. FAS is very rare and may well have a major genetic component (given that desperately alcoholic women do give birth to babies that do not have FAS and some unlucky women have babies who show the relevant disabilities when their mothers had something like 1 glass of wine in the entire pregnancy).
ALl life is a risk - you don't know what might be lurking in your chromosomes nor those of your DH/DP. Take what precautions you feel are sensible and try not to be too freaked by the screaming shitheads who think that pregnant women become walking incubators, not people, and unless they are actively making themselves unhappy their babies will be born with no noses.

I know I'm adding to the confusion here, but I thought you could eat certain pates as long as they were pasteurised? Not sure now so don't take my word for it. I think its raspberry leaf tea to be avoided in the early months as it can bring on contractions, though I think its actively encouraged at 37 weeks and onwards.

at screaming shitheads. OP, you are a walking incubator for the next 30 weeks or so, that's a fact. whether you choose to be a risk-taking incubator or a risk-averse one is up to you. if your child is sick or injured because of your behaviour (whatever that is) then it's you and the child who'll have a lifetime of dealing with it.

re the salad, by the way, it's got a lot to do with how they are grown. there was a case a couple of years ago of lettuces that had been grown in Murcia in Spain that killed a number of people in Wales. they were ridden with listeria because a drought in spain had threatened the crop and farmers had responded by putting their household waste water and sewage onto the ground. also, a lot of the time the pickers are migrant workers who are abused by the farmers and not allowed toilet breaks etc. so they shit/piss in the fields etc. my cousin's wife got listeria when she was pregnant, it nearly killed her and caused the baby to come early and in so doing exposed her to great danger.

sometimes, if it's a really nice-looking salad, i'd have risked it, sometimes not, but i always knew i was taking a risk. i never just forgot.

can't pass this by without adding a bit about a cheese.

Whether the cheese is pasreurised or not is neither here nor there. It is the way the cheese is cultured that is important. blue cheese and mould ripened cheese (eg brie, camembert etc) carry a risk of listeria. I used to work in an artisan cheese shop and we regularly tested the cheeses that came in for listeria. In the four years I worked there we only had one batch of an Irish washed rind cheese that was affected. Cooking the cheese removes the risk.

Hard cheeses like parmesan and cheddar, because the milk is effectively cooked at a high temperature are fine whether past or unpast.

I'm also of the all things in moderation camp so the occasional glass of wine is fine IMO (and that of my MW, GP and HV).

congratulations on your pregnancy. come and join us on the november AN thread

What's the risk with baked alaska?

I was quite blase (can't do the accent) about the guideline during my 4th and final PG. I was PG same time as good friend who is a GP (her second). During her training she had seen some frightening complications caused by listeria. What she told me gave me the kick up the bum I needed to start being careful.

The guidelines are there for a reason, they are the results of research, it is not some great conspiracy to stop pregnant women enjoying themselves.

Put it into perspective, it's 40 weeks of your life (I know it seems like forever) when you can't eat a few foods that you probably wouldn't think twice about at any other time.

Why risk it? I often wonder if my not cutting out alcohol (like I did with the other three)in the beginning of my PG has anything to do with DS4's SN.

allnew 12 years in NICU and I did not see a single case of foetal alcohol syndrome saw lots effected by drugs and smoking mind.

Aitch I really do not see the need for being abusive to other people just because they have assessed the risks differently to you and to be honest you are more at risk crossing the road or just breathing.

DO people actually realise that 100 odd years back you only drank mild alcohol even children drank mild beer drinking water was life threatening. How many cases of FAS were around back then? If it was going to be caused by much more than just excessive drinking then it would have been rampant.

I wonder sometimes why cold rice is not on the banned risk it can grow some lovely bacteria which make can even a healthy no pregnant person ill. It is a case of what the latest fad is.

The answer is be sensible

Oh and I am still eating dippy eggs if eggs are from the UK most are salmonella free