Food aversion during pregnancy

[Timetoeat]

Hi , I'm early in my pregnancy, and I'm really struggling with food. Eating it,looking at it,smelling it,making it for other people etc.
I've no appetite. I'm having to make myself eat the plainest things I can cope with such as toast, digestive biscuits, cereal bars ,and sometimes a bowl of fruit salad.

Has anyone got any tips on how I can get through having to be around food 🤦 and when this phase will pass? Thank you.

Keep away from food-smelling environments. Eating outdoors or in well-ventilated rooms helped me. I found it easier to eat dry things, or things with a same-y texture, or in small chunks I could eat separately. So a few chunks of tofu or toast or thin soup was better than, say, a stew, or salads with lots of different textures. Nothing strong-smelling. I found it helped to have access to scents I found soothing, so I used to carry lemon or grapefruit essential oil and sniff it.

I more or less lived on plain Hula Hoops for months of my pregnancy and DS was healthy, so you just do what you have to.

I had this but to a much lower level than it sounds like you have it. In my case, most of the aversions just sort of disappeared by 14 weeks or so (except tortellini which we used to have regularly and I still can't touch - 10 years later!). sometimes with basic food I think it's important to try to find which ones you're properly anti and which ones you just don't particularly feel like.

But I do appreciate that yours sounds pretty intense vs mine. And my aversions did come with some slightly odd cravings - I ate more yoghurt while pregnant than during the rest of my life combined, for example! :)

I knew I was Pregnant before I'd even tested positive. How did I know. Well aside the massively painful boobs and sheer exhaustion I completely went off chocolate. Even the thought of eating made me feel queasy and I could eat buckets full of the stuff daily. I still waited a week to test, but as soon as the drink I had tasted off (it wasn't) I was straight over the road to buy a pregnancy test.

@JustAboutMuddlingThrough So funny becuase I didn't know I was pregnant the second time even though there'd been a few physical signs and food aversions - the pasta for example (which had DH and my BFF giving each other knowing looks apparently as I was in complete denial about being pregnant for lots of legitimate but very boring reasons). But I do remember saying to DH that even I would have had to concede what was happening when I went off coffee overnight. The exact same thing happened, at the same point in my pregnacy, with DS!

Food aversion is so weird isn't it. I have gone off meat but I've been fine with fish and often dairy products taste 'off'. I've been eating a lot of plain food and just getting by with what I can stomach that day..! My partner has been doing 95% of the cooking as I struggle with the smells too, and even find the morning after the kitchen smells too strongly!

My advice would be avoid strong smells when you can.. but essential oils or a peppermint stick can help (or smell toothpaste!) and eat what you can stomach, last time mine went away mostly by 12-14 weeks

I could not stand the taste or smell of chocolate. It was so odd as normally I loved it. Once I gave birth i was back to eating it. I remember getting a coffee out and they put chocolate powder on the top and just seeing it make me want to be sick!

As others said, eat in well ventilated areas. I'm in the same boat. I really hate food now. I weigh less now than I did pre pregnancy. The aversions are getting better now that I'm approaching 12 weeks.

I had exactly the same, but I went off nearly all food.

I was hungry like usual, and could make a 'plain' meal like chicken + boiled veg, but as soon as I had a few mouthfuls it may as well have been a bowl of slugs!

I couldn't go into the supermarket, walk past the pet shop, or go into confined spaces where people were eating. Even walking past the hotel Chocolat shop made me gag!

I found I could eat McDonalds fries, lucozade sport and strawberry flavour fizzy laces. That was it for my first trimester. It was only about week 16 onwards that I felt I could try eating normally again! Just hang in there and eat what you can.

This!
I’ve had a handful of leftover Xmas chics in my work bag all week.
But nope. Not happening 🤢 I could eat sweet food all day usually!

I had this too. Eggs were the worst 🤢

Ideally get someone to prepare your food for you! If that isn't feasible then I seemed to be ok with cheese sandwiches and margarita pizza.

Branston Pickle. Couldn't abide the smell. Pot Noodles and Mug Shots also made me feel ill. Lunchtime in the staffroom was so bad because the noodles and pasta I had to stop going in.
I used to love fajitas but I can't stand the texture of the filling now even though I make them.

First pregnancy my food aversions lasted pretty much the entire 9 months. I was particularly bad with meat smells and couldn't even be in the same room.

They haven't been as bad in this pregnancy but first trimester I couldn't stomach much at all because of morning sickness. I lived on crackers and salt and vinegar crisps for about 3 months