Ate Parma ham last night without thinking...

[WreckOfTheHesperus]

...is this a very, very bad thing whilst pregnant?

[merrycompo]

isn't it already cooked?

[neenz]

It's only dangerous if it gives you food poisining, which it hasn't already so finger crossed. I have never known anyone get food poisoning from parma ham afaik

[lucy101]

If it makes you feel better I ate quite a lot of it at the beginning of my pregnancy (5 to 8 weeks) before I knew the 'rules'...

I had a test for toxiplasmosis at 13 weeks and it was fine so I felt happier. It is pretty rare in this country (I was eating it in France where it is much more common), you may already have immunity to it, and even if you did have it (very very unlikely) the chances of passing it onto a baby aren't that high (I checked loads of stats out etc.) so you really should try not to worry.

[maybebaby23]

I ate it at a christmas works do when 6 months preg with DD1, i had no idea and hadn't even tried it before that! I only found out you should avoid it about 3 weeks ago! All was well, you'll be ok

[Bramshott]

What's wrong with parma ham?!

[PincoPallino]

I am one of those Italians!

[JustAnotherManicMummy]

I craved Parma hat. So I ate it. DS is fine

[WreckOfTheHesperus]

Thanks folks, that makes me feel a bit better, although am stil worrying so might try to get this toxoplasmosis test done.

If it turns out that you have immunity does it mean that you can eat your meat a bit pink, or is that rule to do with food poisoning rather than toxoplasmosis?

[LouLouH]

Oh don't worry! If we all stopped eating and doing things and inhaling products (deodorant, cleaning products) we'd have f**k all to do with ourselves! Past geneartions did what they were not supposed to, hell, my nan even had an xray because she was carrying twins and it was the only way they could check in those days, and my aunts are both fine!

[VanillaIce]

I ate it a lot in my first trimester - we had a week in Italy and I must have had the parma ham and melon starter as a main course every lunch-time! It was the only thing I fancied.

Have also had a bit of brie at a party, just couldn't resist. And then I had a smidgen of pate too...

I survived.

[Rindercella]

I really wouldn't worry too much, as has been pointed out on here, French and Italian (and I am sure Spanish) women do it all the time while pregnant. A friend of mine recently confessed to eating steak tartare (complete with a raw egg) during both of her pregnancies! Not something I would do personally, but her two children were fine.

[WreckOfTheHesperus]

No, Petrus Poo, having a test so that I know whether or not I need to be worried about this keind of thing - if I have immunity then I can stop worrying

[bigpreggybelly]

Don't worry, we've all eaten things by mistake that we shouldn't. Savour the flavour, since you won't do it again for a while!

[WreckOfTheHesperus]

Thanks bigpreggybelly - I'm a bit of a stickler for the rules on things like this, as I do have a tendency to worry more than I ought to.

Was very, very good at obeying all rules with DD - can't believe I've strayed from the path so early this time

[MarshaBrady]

Geez I didn't even know parma ham was a bad one..

am surprised.

[NormaSknockers]

Blimey - I ate quite a bit of Parma when PG, we always have it in the house (DH's grandad is Italian so we eat a lot of Italian food) it's like 1 of our 5 day to us

Try not to worry OP - we've all eaten something when PG & thought 'Oh bugger' when we realised we probably shouldn't have done - you'll be fine

[JustAnotherManicMummy]

A lot of these foods you can't eat seem to be for some very dubious reasons. The NHS page is quite good at showing the risks and reasons why some foods are considered off the menu when pg here

I can distinctly remember being newly pg and standing in a book shop trying to choose one sensible book on pregnancy. One had an inch thick section of all the foods their recommended you avoid and another was like the NHS list.

I bought the latter

[JustAnotherManicMummy]

sorry, try this link

[WreckOfTheHesperus]

thanks for the link JustAnother - very useful

[FlyingReindeer]

My pet hate misconception of Mumsnet - Pregant French women do not eat parma ham or smoked/cured meats if they have no toxoplasmosis immunity. Very few pregnant women eat soft cheeses here either. Shellfish are fine anyway aren't they, if cooked and reliable?

But yes, we've all slipped up, so don't worry too much. If you lived in France you could have the test to reassure you, but you'll just have to assume that you and your baby are probably going to be fine because the chances are you will.