Panic - ate beef carpaccio early pregnancy

[alex42]

Hi all,

I'd really appreciate some advice and reassurance. I'm pregnant 5w2d and spiralling into anxiety about a couple of things:

• Before I realised I was pregnant (around the 3w point), I had some beef carpaccio - daft choice, I know - bit of a long story but I've had a difficult fertility journey and for various reasons I was convinced there was no chance I was pregnant at the time. But... it turns out I am! And having googled raw meat, I'm now terrified I've got toxoplasmosis. Has anyone done something like this in early pregnancy and it was all okay?!
• I also managed to make another mistake last night - at a friend's house who knows I've been trying to conceive and she kindly gave me a glass of (supposedly) alcohol-free Prosecco. I probably had a glass and a half and only when googling the brand today, I've realised it actually has 0.5% alcohol.

I know I should have realised both of the above were bad choices - if I could just go back in time and neatly sidestep both, I would!! If possible, I would love some advice and/or reassurance from anyone who's done either of these sorts of things that either/both are not going to be as disastrous for the baby as I fear!!

Thanks for any advice

Oh mate, this is absolutely not an issue at all. The biggest worry your OP gives me is your anxiety which is understandable but not something you need to get through alone. Tell your midwife about your concerns. In the meantime I would bet my house that the miniscule amount of alcohol you had (an ant could probably safely drive on that) is fine. The beef is fine just I guess a food poisoning risk which you would know if you had!

I agree with PP

the main issue is your anxiety over nothing

Oh my god you’ll be absolutely fine!

I ate all the seafood in the world while pregnant, and I'm pretty sure I ate a fair amount of nice stinky cheese that I probably wasn't "allowed" to eat. You'll be fine. Most of these "rules" are there to prevent things like food poisoning. So to my mind, eating some beautiful shellfish in a high end harbour restaurant where it's come straight off the boat was fine - but I wouldn't have touched pre-packaged sushi in a dodgy corner shop where the fridge is probably on the blink... Use your brain and common sense during pregnancy :)

I my day we didn't know we were pregnant for weeks and weeks..
Most of us ate things that are now advised not to eat.
We all had perfectly healthy children.
We didn't get anxiety.. just enjoy your pregnancy.

I ate very rare meat almost every week at a Brazilian restaurant when I was pregnant- and before I realised, I was drinking half a bottle of Jim Beam at weekends. Baby is five years old, perfectly fine!
Don't worry, you'll be ok.

A glass of Prosecco at such an early stage won't make any difference I wouldn't have thought- while it's obviously best to avoid alcohol, loads of women have a drink at around 5 weeks because they don't know they're pregnant yet. I certainly did, and loads of my friends did too- none of our kids suffered any ill effects.

The beef I don't know about as I'm a veggie, but I would guess the chances of any harm are slim. What's done is done, so it's best to try and stop worrying and enjoy your pregnancy. If you're still worried, you could ask your midwife to reassure you at your booking in appointment.

Congratulations!

I had the same panic about toxoplasmosis this weekend! I’m 6weeks, and my husband used the same butter on my jacket potato that he’d used to baste a raw turkey. He spent about an hour on the phone to 111, and then a doctor called back the following day, and here is the main gist:

• In early pregnancy, there is a very low chance of passing the toxoplasmosis bug onto the baby, even if you have it yourself
• If you have picked up TX, most people don’t actually get infected - your stomach usually kills it off
• If you are still concerned, at your first midwife appointment you can ask for a blood test for TX
• If the blood test shows that you have the bug in your system, it can be treated easily with antibiotics

Regarding the 0.5% alcohol, that shouldn’t cause any issues at all - it’s way below any amount of concern. I’ve had some 0.5% alternatives while pregnant and it’s fine.

You’d be ill with toxoplasmosis.
A glass and a half of Prosecco is nothing.

I had several drinks throughout both my pregnancies(20+ years ago before you were seen as the devil incarnate for doing so) and ate mussels and got food poisoning before I knew I was pregnant. Both healthy young adults now. Relax.

Think all I did was not empty litter tray but mostly because it suited me not to😁

Your anxiety is of more concern.

Oh, I've just read that the Prosecco was only 0.5%! In that case I REALLY wouldn't worry (although I wouldn't worry about the hard stuff either as you only had a small amount). Normal orange juice can contain around 0.5% alcohol and no one tells you to avoid that!

And ripe bananas!

Seriously it’s ok. As pp said it might be your anxiety that needs a discussion with midwife. Enjoy this special time.

2 days before I found out I was pregnant I ate a 10oz blue steak and drank a bottle of red wine and a couple of disaronno sours. I think I was about half way through when I realised I wasn't supposed to be eating chicken liver pate like it was going out of fashion.

You will be fine.

Agree with previous posters those things are nothing to worry about.

I would really recommend getting some strategies to manage your anxiety though as you will be worn out with 9 months of this.

I have a photo of my friend on a girlie holiday in Spain, beer in one hand, cigarette in the other, one of many! She complained a week later of not feeling great - yep she was pregnant. No harm done.
I was once a host to spouses from my husband's firm's French branch. I was very pregnant at the time. To make conversation I asked the women what good restrictions were recommended first pregnant women - they looked outraged! That anyone would stop eating any cheese or meat or wine- bah! Moderation of course, abstinence - non!

Please make sure you make your midwife aware of your high anxiety levels when you have your first appointment. It’s very common but it can spiral easily and it sounds like it’s already getting out of hand. She can put you in touch with the mental health team.

Your baby is fine.

Thanks so much to everyone for your replies - it's been really helpful and has put my mind at ease somewhat! I definitely will mention the anxiety to the midwife when I have my first appointment... would very much like to avoid spiralling into worry about every little thing over the next 8-9 months! Thanks again.

@Lillers it is so helpful to read this, thank you for sharing!! It's good to hear how rare this is and the practical steps that can be taken in the (hopefully very unlikely) case that I've managed to get infected. That sounds a lot more calming and less catastrophic than some of the stuff you read via Google!! Hope you have a smooth pregnancy

Read "Expecting Better" by Emily Oster
It explains the reasoning behind these food myths and allows you make calm decisions.
Basically nothing is inherently harmful to the foetus bar too much liver)excess of vitamin A) and an excess of alcohol.

A glass of two is apparently fine but the government can't trust silly little women to understand that a glass or two does not equal rating alcoholic levels of binging and so they've told us silly little women to drink nothing because we can understand that as it has no nuance

Just to add further reassurance there is 0.5% alcohol in orange juice, ripe bananas, sour dough bread, soy sauce and mustard. Nobody tells you not to have these in pregnancy.