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Pregnancy

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

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Original poster

are there any long term effects of a poor diet........

18 replies

olivo · 15/02/2009 08:21

during the first three months of pg? My diet has been pretty bad, thanks to the nausea and sickness. i have been getting 2 of my 5 a day if i'm lucky, and other than bread, marmite, plain roast chicken and far too many crisps, i havent eaten that much. I'm now just over 12 wks.

I am now really worried i may have done some long term damage to my poor baby. I have managed to keep down a pregnacare or sanatogen supplement as well as an omega one ach night, by taking them last thing at night.

can anyone offer me any reassurance that i can undo any damage now that i am feeling a bit better?

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Qally · 15/02/2009 08:33

I asked my midwife this for the same reasons - and all I managed was a tiny folic acid tablet, sorbets, and mash! She said that the baby is a parasite, and takes what it needs, and it makes no difference.

ScummyMummy · 15/02/2009 08:38

Your baby will be fine, olivo. Babies are parasites (!) and will get what they need even if their mums are eating practically nothing and they have to drain all available nutrients out of them. And actually your diet sounds pretty darn good for a 1st trimester to me! Practically everyone eats less than ideally during that bit. I was on just lucozade sips for a good week or so! Nothing wrong with chicken, bread and marmite at all and a few crisps are good for your mental health. I think this 2nd trimester is the time for getting all healthy and then it all goes pear shaped again towards the end when your innards are all squished by baby and there's no room for food. `Again, the baby will be fine- it's you who will suffer. That healthy gorgeous baby will go "Mwah ha ha ha!" inside you while it uses all the good stuff you have available. Enjoy this brief period of respite!

belgo · 15/02/2009 08:39

Two pieces of fruit or veg a day, along with bread, marmite and chicken, isn't a bad diet at all. Try not to worry, the baby will take the best of the nutrients and leave whatever is left for you.

Original poster

olivo · 15/02/2009 08:49

thanks everyone. I remember being so good with dd, forcing smoothies down, chomping through apples, 3 or 4 portions of veg at night, but i just cant do it this time.

will try and make a concerted effort while i'm feeling a bit better.

( quite embarrassed to admit to my chicken habit - have been a veggie for years, but really really fancied it!

OP posts:

lizziemun · 15/02/2009 08:55

As others have said the baby will take what it needs.

In this and my last pg i have had no appite (sp) at all.

I only eating because it a meal time rather then because of hunger. So iam actually eating less then i would eat normally.

mrsgboring · 15/02/2009 08:55

Oh my diet is disgusting all the way through; it makes me feel so guilty. I think the studies I read said that uncontrolled and prolonged weight loss throughout pregnancy causes problems but that first trimester it was absolutely fine.

Doctors gaily used to say to me "Oh you don't really need to eat at all during the first trimester" which was all fine and reassuring about the baby but it doesn't do anything to address how bloody awful it is for the mother.

Original poster

olivo · 15/02/2009 09:48

love your honesty mrsboring!

I have to say, i thought dd might come out waving a chunky kitkat in one hand and a bag of s and v squares in the other....

OP posts:

TigerFeet · 15/02/2009 09:51

You're managing 2 f&v portions a day more than I often do (and I'm on the 10/10 veg eating thread )

All I can keep down is toast. I just keep swallowing down those vitamin pills and hoping for the best.

It's had an adverse reaction on my digestion though - won't bore you with TMI but my body is clearly missing having fibre regularly inserted into it.

Original poster

olivo · 15/02/2009 09:53

ah yes tiger, i am suffering at that end too. a nice sachet of fybogel when i can keep one down.....

OP posts:

FrannyandZooey · 15/02/2009 09:54

yes it'll be fine
keep plugging away at it though and improve your diet as soon as it becomes possible (if this does happen)
the baby will be fine but obviously YOU will have more energy if you can eat fruit etc

1st trimester i lived on eggs and potatoes, more or less - and I am also on the 10/10 veg eating thread

FrannyandZooey · 15/02/2009 09:55

if you go to health food shop and buy ispaghula / psyllium husk it is cheaper and nicer than fybogel, and no artificial sweeteners

FrannyandZooey · 15/02/2009 09:55

(same thing contained in fybogel without the additives)

TigerFeet · 15/02/2009 09:57

Why didn't I think of that? Numbskull.

FrannyandZooey · 15/02/2009 09:58

i didn't know you could get it, until i googled a while back

TigerFeet · 15/02/2009 10:01

I never even considered fybogel or lactulose or anything like that... sometimes I am impossibly dense

bebejones · 15/02/2009 10:03

For about 12 weeks (until I was 18 weeks) the only things I kept down were haribo & lucozade! I took folic acid as well, lost a stone & a half & my LO is fine!! My doc said it's not what you eat it's calorie intake & fluids when you are so sick, like others have said the baby will get what it needs from you. Old wives tales say you lose a tooth for every baby, prob due to them stripping your bones/teeth of calcium! Needless to say I made up for the weight loss once I could stomach food again!!!

Nekabu · 15/02/2009 10:12

I think as long as you aren't shovelling your face with junk food (which you weren't) or on a strict diet to try to keep weight down (which you weren't) then you should be fine! The reports I've seen indicate junk food is really bad as it does give the baby a predisposition to like it (obviously we're talking a fair bit, not the odd burger) and strict under eating is bad as it gives the baby a predisposition towards obesity as it'll come out trying to eat everything in sight and store up fat for the famine as (as far as it's growing body could tell in the womb) it had been born into a time of hunger.

Now you're feeling better try to up the fruit & veggies and healthy eating for yourself too as that should help you but the baby will have been helping itself to whatever it wanted through the 12 weeks you were sick anyway!

saramoon · 15/02/2009 11:02

The first 14 weeks of being pregnant with my 1st dd I was living in the Middle East and was eating practically nothing as i was feeling so sick. Lived on ice lollies and crisps really and lost quite a lot of weight. Was on a drip a couple of times and was working full time too - they don't have the sympathy there that we do here about morning sickness and they refused to ever give me more than a day off. I digress. Doctors all told me this eating was normal and to not worry too much and that i would regain my appetite soon. They were right as after the first 3 months ish I started eating loads and put on 3 stone

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