Prawns and nuts.. can I just eat them anyway?

[TotallyAndUtterlyPaninied]

I mean are they really so bad? None of us have any nut allergies and I LOVE muesli with nuts in. And I love the odd prawn sandwich from our local bakery- they're scrummy.

Also, is feta on the naughty-list?

[nothingbyhalves]

I found the best source of advice on food was on the food standards agency website. But don't beat yourself up! I went for dinner recently with a friend who is 36 weeks (i'm 13) who lectured me all the time about cheese cake and ice cream! Just listen to your body and common sence.

[bubblesincambridge]

I've been eating nuts big style, specially the unsalted ones with dried fruit from M&S. They are good for you! I think prawns are fine too so long as they are cooked.

Cheese is OK so long as its pasteurised so check the packet.

I really think most of this so called advice about what food to avoid is a load of rubbish. I think I have had everything now that is on the embargoed list, before reading somewhere that I shouldn't have eaten it. No one in the 60s had all of these restrictions given to them.

Now they say things like "don't eat because there is no evidence it is safe" even when they have no evidence that it is unsafe. Well, of course there isn't any evidence that something is safe, research on such things isn't allowed on pregnant women so there will never be any evidence that it is safe. All this advice does is make us all completely paranoid! I've even read in several sources to avoid fruit juice - well I've never heard of anyone getting listeria from fruit juice before!

Just be sensible, as you would normally and remember to take usual precautions to avoid food poisoning of any form. And consider where it comes from too. I've never heard any advice saying not to eat kebabs for instance, but kebab vans are pretty notorious.

One word of warning though, I managed to give myself toxoplasmosis last year from some rare cooked lamb. Luckily that was before I was pregnant though.

[Firsttimer7259]

I just read somewhere official (sorry really cant remember ut if it wasnt FSA or something similar I think I would have ignored it)that you shouldnt eat 'mould ripened cheeses' even if made from pastuerised milk. That rules out the brie I was so pleased about discovering.

Aaaargh

[katster37]

Thanks wherethewildthingswere (love the name, btw!) and JemL - that's exactly what the MW said. I still do change our cat's litter, although I am religious about wearing rubber gloves. He doesn't go out either, hence doesn't eat rodents/trample around in soil etc.

[trellism]

The avoiding nuts thing is ridiculous. I've been advised both to eat and avoid peanuts by GPs and midwives. The truth is that nobody really knows what sets off allergies - it's why there's so much woo nonsense surrounding them.

It's all stupid really, since I am allergic to peanuts. I was in A&E after having had some in a curry, about 2 days before I found out I was pregnant.

[JemL]

The type of food poisoning that gives you sickness and diarrhea is not normally a risk to the baby - only by secondhand, in that it can make the mother very ill, dehydrated, etc. They types of food poisoning that do affect the baby are the ones which give you the flu-like symptoms - listeria and toxoplasmosis mainly. You are far more likely to get toxo from undercooked meat than from cat litter, which is what everyone seems to associate it with.

I found the advice given by my midwife very simple, and it is there to ignore or follow as you choose. But I've noticed they are more blase abou telling you about foods, etc, second time around!

[WhereTheWildThingsWere]

No not hositalized, diagnosed with a poo sample, but just took to my bed for a week or so, have never been so ill, eugh.

Food poisioning will have not normally affect the baby, talk to you mw if you are worried though.

[katster37]

wherethewildthingswere do you mind me asking what happened when you had salmonella? Were you hospitalised? I just ask, as I am recovering from food poisoning from CANNED TUNA on a pizza (of all things) served at a v 'nice' ITalian restaurant. Am terrified of the effect it could have had on the LO.
Also, aren't uncooked prawns blue? So surely you wouldn't eat them unless they are cooked anyway?

[WhereTheWildThingsWere]

Agree mostly, bar the runny eggs, I was very gung-ho in my second pg and had runny fried eggs and ended up with salmonella, so a little caution is a good thing imo, it's not for long.

[GeorgieBeans]

I hate this idea that certain foods are 'allowed' or 'banned'. We don't live in a dictatorship! We can eat and drink what we want - it's how stringently we choose to interpret the myriad of guidelines that determines our pregnancy diet. I always come back to the fact that our mothers were not subject to such militantism, and we're all still here (and probably with fewer allergies than today's generation). The only things I've given up are unpasteurised blue and soft cheeses and pate. I've had loads of fish, runny eggs, slightly pink meat, nuts aplenty, and a few glasses of wine a week. The first 20 weeks have been a breeze!

[brightonbleach]

feta's FINE thats meant to read, i really can't spell this morning

[brightonbleach]

feta's fien, i've been told only avoid ripened softcheeses and ones such as stilton with mold in. also, the prawns thing - its actually meant to be'avoid shell-on shellfish' my mw told me, but it gets misread as'no shellfish' which isn't right - its shell-still-on items especially where you havent cooked them yourself, like a king prawn or crab in a resterant where you'd have to peel the shell off - and its only becuase they worry about food posoining if there is some dirt not washed away under the shell. therefore, normal well cooked little prawns or frozen are fine

[Southwestwhippet]

Wow, fantastic information about the feta... I've been longing for it when I've seen on salads and stuff. I thought it was on the 'banned' list Also very excited about this rumout about pasturized brie

I've been eating prawns and other seafood but only if it is in a hot dish and not too often. I've been avoiding peanuts because my OH has really bad hayfever and my brother suffers from SERIOUS excema and is asthmatic. Food intollerence are fairly common on both sides of the family so figured I wouldn't risk it.

Right, I'm off out to check out the cheese counter at my local supermarket

[Neon]

I've been sat at my desk eating almonds for weeks. People coming up to me saying "YOU CAN'T EAT NUTS!!!" . I have however stayed away from salted peanuts as I normally just liked them with a cool refreshing pint of larger . No - they do seem more synthetic for a developing baby. Lots of vitamin E in almonds..

Had a craving for barely boiled eggs in 1st tri and now for mild cheddar and Orangina :D

[Beanigan]

Hiy
I thought I'd just let you know what about my DS.... Unfortunately he has a peanut allergy. I ate peanut butter throughout the pregnancy although I wouldn't say I ate jars of the stuff. I don't know why he has a peanut allergy as there are no allergies in my family whatsoever and initially I did blame it on myself.....

But I will say this.. I now don't believe that me eating peanuts in my pregnancy caused this and I'm certainly not going to beat myself up over this and feel guilty about it for the rest of my life. He also has an allergy to Melon (which I didn't touch in the pregnancy) and has a bit of ezcema so is atopic anyway. I believe that peanut allergies and severe allergies in general must be related to lifestyle in the Western world - keeping our environment too clean and thus affecting our immune systems. The best advice I heard is to not expose your child to peanuts before the age of 4 yrs old and it would then be extremely unlikely for them to then have an peanut allergy. (Opposing Japanese culture who wean their babies on peanut butter!)

I am pregnant again with baby number 2 and due to the severity of my DS's allergy I am avoiding peanuts this time (just in case...). If baby number 2 is eventually tested positive, we'll know that it's not down to eating peanuts in pregnancy but is genetic somehow.

So...I'd probably say to you, eat peanut butter but just avoid giving it to your little one for a few years!

[Firsttimer7259]

With cheese I think its really about whether it as been pasteurised or not - although I dont know if thats also the case with blue cheeses. The idea is that unpastureised cheeses could harbour harmful bacteria.

But you will notice most fetas in the supermarket seem to be made with pasteurised milk. I am also noticing in the deli that there are UK made bries made from pastuerised milk. This I ate. They aslo had a pastuerised Gorgonzola which looked delish but I will have to look up the fine print in the FSA guiidelines on this to see i there is another sort of problem wiuth the bateria used to make blue cheese. I do miss blue cheese.

ON nuts the FSA guidelines have been changed and they are allowed. I have no nut allergies nor does anyone in my family so I didnt pay much attention to the details of this and have just been eating nuts.

With shellfish there are two probs. One is the source and the likelihood of toxins in things like mussels if they come from dirty beaches etc. This means limit how much you have of them the smae as you would with fish that tends to have mercury in it. The other problem is it not being cooked properly where the fear is listeria and othe bacteria. I am eating shellfish occasionally (by whcih I mean prawns or crayfish I dont entirely trust mussels) either when I make it myself or when I get it from pret a manger whcih I rate as having nice fresh sandwiches. But again I havent had much of this.

[YanknCock]

You know what else is good? Melted peanut butter on chocolate ice cream. It's a sort of decent substitute for the PB and choc ice cream you can get in the U.S.

For some reason English DH got a craving for it two nights ago (you'd think he was the preggo one). He couldn't even finish his bowl, but now I'm the one wanting it over and over again!

[HerHonesty]

nuts are fine. prawns are fine as long as well cooked.

[TotallyAndUtterlyPaninied]

Thank you, all good news. And now I can think of nothing but crunchy peanut butter...

[phdlife]

the nut thing is bonkers anyway - I rang Analphylaxis UK about it and they said it's the person, not the allergen, that's the problem. That is, even if there's nut allergy in the family, your dc can be allergic to strawberries, dairy, whatever. So they didn't advise avoiding them during pg.

hth

[YanknCock]

I wouldn't have survived the first 20 weeks of pregnancy without peanut butter. I was totally off meat and it was my only source of protein!

[crumpette]

I am 19/20 weeks and currently eat prawn pasta at my desk. This morning I had peanut butter on toast (crunchy of course)

There has been evidence to suggest that exposure to nuts actually cures/reduces the chance of allergy (controlled study of course)

Basically, they're fine as long as you have no history of problems in your family. Go munch!

[MrsBadger]

the only rock-hard evidence-based info re peanuts linked allergies in children linked them to putting peanut oil-based creams on tiny eczemay babies

I didn't go out of my way to either eat them or avoid them.

[rosie15977]

Didn't think i could have feta, sooo glad i can ,i love it, really fancying too.

[CandiCands]

I got a leaflet from my MW that said any feta bought in the UK was absolutely fine to eat. Prawns are good to eat if they are cooked properly and are from a good source. Most nuts are fine, like pinenuts etc, but there is a grey area about peanuts...some choose to ignore some don't...my motto is "whenin doubt, do without!" Look on the food standards agency website for the info.