Eating shellfish

[colette]

The peanut discussion has reminded me-is it safe to eat shellfish ? I love prawns and really miss eating them ,I can't find any reference to not eating them in the two pregnancy books I've got but I remember hearing you should avoid them (I think it's to do with food poisoning risk) Does anyone know if this is the case ? Also how about feta cheese? Is it a soft cheese therefore a nono?
It does seem as if banned foods become more desirable!

Oh Bron, Bologna - lucky you!. That's interesting about parma ham as it really is the one thing I struggle too do without. Is that really right that if its under 2 years it's ok?. That would make supermarket stuff here fine.

DON'T believe that anything you buy in a supermarket is fine to eat. I managed to get food poisoning on Thurs and by 4am on Friday morning was bringing up bile and blood and suffering terrible diahhrea so ended up in Queen Charlotte's. At lunchtime on Thursday (Feb 20th) I made myself a sandwich from fresh bread, new pack of butter and a new, unopened pack of Sainsbury's 'Taste the Difference' Smoked Salmon that had a best before date of 27 Feb. Well, all I can say is that I definitely did taste the difference and I won't be going back for more. The only other thing I'd eaten that day was weetabix for breakfast, so the doc firmly pointed the finger at the smoked salmon. I thought I might get ticked off for eating cured fish but neither of the doctors or the midwife commented when I said I'd eaten the ss.

It was all fine - they gave me a huge anti-emetic injection to stop the vomiting and kept me on a monitor for a few hours as apparently bad tummy upsets and especially diahhrea can set off labour, which wouldn't be ideal at 34wks. The baby was going mad, obviously being pushed to one side by a stomach and bowel in spasm.

I was desperate to get out as I had already lost a night of sleep and was exhausted but sleep was impossible b/c I had a room on the delivery ward and every hour or so there'd be horrific, drawn out screams of agony from some poor woman in the last stages of labour followed after what seemed like a very long time by newborn howling. Not really what I wanted to hear...was practically booking in for the c-section there and then!

Anyway, am feeling much better now but still can't eat a thing. The message is don't believe that something is fine just because it's from a supermarket. This was the worst food poisoning incident I've ever had (typical of me to get it at 34wks pregnant) but the last bad episode, about 10yrs ago, was from an M&S tuna and pasta salad...

DON'T believe that anything you buy in a supermarket is fine to eat. I managed to get food poisoning on Thurs and by 4am on Friday morning was bringing up bile and blood and suffering terrible diahhrea so ended up in Queen Charlotte's. At lunchtime on Thursday (Feb 20th) I made myself a sandwich from fresh bread, new pack of butter and a new, unopened pack of Sainsbury's 'Taste the Difference' Smoked Salmon that had a best before date of 27 Feb. Well, all I can say is that I definitely did taste the difference and I won't be going back for more. The only other thing I'd eaten that day was weetabix for breakfast, so the doc firmly pointed the finger at the smoked salmon. I thought I might get ticked off for eating cured fish but neither of the doctors or the midwife commented when I said I'd eaten the ss.

It was all fine - they gave me a huge anti-emetic injection to stop the vomiting and kept me on a monitor for a few hours as apparently bad tummy upsets and especially diahhrea can set off labour, which wouldn't be ideal at 34wks. The baby was going mad, obviously being pushed to one side by a stomach and bowel in spasm.

I was desperate to get out as I had already lost a night of sleep and was exhausted but sleep was impossible b/c I had a room on the delivery ward and every hour or so there'd be horrific, drawn out screams of agony from some poor woman in the last stages of labour followed after what seemed like a very long time by newborn howling. Not really what I wanted to hear...was practically booking in for the c-section there and then!

Anyway, am feeling much better now but still can't eat a thing. The message is don't believe that something is fine just because it's from a supermarket. This was the worst food poisoning incident I've ever had (typical of me to get it at 34wks pregnant) but the last bad episode, about 10yrs ago, was from an M&S tuna and pasta salad...

There are fairly clear guidelines about what to eat on the Food Standards Agency website. They don't seem to make it into print in an easily available format though!

Cold meats and smoked salmon aren't on the list of No-no's in the UK although they may be in other countries.

The FSA also says that hard cheeses, even those made from unpasteurised milk, are ok as the risk of listeria (I think that's the right one) is extremely small.

Many women all over the world carry on eating things they like in pregnancy and others deny themselves everything. These are only guidelines after all.

Raw meat makes sense to me, but I have had a craving for Sushi like nothing else ever!!!

Tomorrow is payday and I was gonna treat myself to a small Pret box. I'm assuming in Japan pregnant women eat sushi. Do all think its ok?
I'm am desperate to eat anything that isn't toast as that's all I can face with the sickness.

Pie, having lived in Asia I too am mad about Sushi and usually eat it two - three days a week. In Japan, pregnant women do apparently eat sushi although not in Summer. I am fortunate in being very close to a fantastic sushi place which does a great vegetarian range. I have a friend who ate sushi right throughout 2 pregnancies as she had no idea she wasn't supposed to. I'm not sure that I would risk it although I would say that people rarely get ill from sushi because the standards of food hygiene are so high.