18 weeks pregnant and ate some mold :-(

[TBJP]

Hi

I am 18 weeks pregnant. Today I went to eat some cheese (it was soya cheese as I am allergic to dairy, if that makes any difference) and noticed it had some spots of mold on it. I ate the same cheese yesterday, it was herb-flavoured so has green bits in it anyway, and yesterday I didn't notice. Now I am in a panic.
I called the midwife team today and she said it's a bit late now (to do anything?), but that if I started to feel sick, to call again. This was a few hours ago. I am just panicking now though, not sure if I feel sick or just paranoid. She said to just drink some water and wash it all out of my system.
I think if I DO feel a bit sickly, it's just because I've just drunk so much water!

Can anyone set my mind at ease, or should I call the m/w again and go for some sort of check-up? What check-up would they do anyway???

Helllllp (please).

i don't know, sorry.

i ate some mouldy bread at 20ish weeks and didn't give it a second thought, apart from urrrgh.

i think real listeria is actually very rare so unless you are shitting very watery poo and vomiting i wouldn't worry too much.

I doubt it'd do any harm tbh.
If it was bad enough to make you sik, you'd be chucking up, not a bit queasy.

Ok, thank you both for replying.

Haven't had watery poo or anything, no vomiting, just worried sick. Think I might feel happier if I WAS poohing/vomiting, as I'd feel the badness was being eliminated.

Nah, mold itself is not bad for you (although it depends what kind, but not poisonous iyswim) and it doesn't have anything to do with listeria- listeria can be present in mold as it can be in many other things, but that's to do with the product being contaminated plus it thrives in the fridge temps.

So just because your cheese got a bit moldy doesn't mean there was anything horrible bacteria-wise in it.

Ok?

Now relax.

Thanks, winnybella.

Phew phew phew.

Though I don't quite understand - so it COULD have had listeria in it? How does it get contaminated and thus dangerous? And it was in the fridge!!!
Sorry, think I missed that biology lesson. Bit confused.

Right, sorry, I need to retract here. Did some googling and some molds can cause food poisoning, apparently. Some contain toxins that can be harmful if eaten often.

But please don't panic- it is extremly unlikely anything will happen to you from a bit of mouldy cheese and even in that case it wouldn't harm the baby. The toxins ( if the said mould contains them) could possibly harm the foetus but that's if you ate it on regular basis.

So a one-off munching on a bit of mold will in worse case give you upset stomach etc. Not pleasant, but seeing as you're pregnant, you could then go to A&E and they would take care of you.

I'm betting you'll be fine, though. I ate some mouldy cheese a few times (not camembert etc, just gouda that went mouldy and I didn't realise til after I have eaten) and never had any ill effects.

Theoretically harmful bacteria can grow with mold, but actually the mold bacteria (ie not salmonella etc) might slow their growth.

Also most mold is easily dealt with by your stomach acids etc.

If you feel like you had food poisoning then go to the doctor, but it seems v.unlikely.

Thank you. I did Google before I posted, but felt a bit overwhelmed, and hoped I could get some reassurance here.

I feel fine physically, it's just my head that is worrying.

Thank you again.

I ate some mouldy bread when PG - I called the mw who said it would do no harm to the baby, at worst I might get a bit of a runny tummy.

I eat mouldy food all the time (probably). Just trust my gut acid to deal with it

It's been hours now, if you're fine now, I doubt you'll get sick.

I understand you're worrying, but most of the food poisonings come from lettuce, veggies etc, and not from raw shellfish for example, as most people think. So you wouldn't panic after eating some sald in a restaurant, even though statistically you would be more likely to get ill from that, but you (generic you) panic if you have a bit of smoked salmon, pate or mussels or, as in your case, a bit of mold.

Don't worry.

I was just worried I'd done some damage to my child. Still worried this morning, tbh. :-/

And I know about not eating salad at restaurants and don't eat it unless I have washed it thoroughly myself!

You have permission to stop worrying now. You have all kinds of stuff going through your body that you don't even know about, we all do, and your body does a fantastic job of dealing with it.

Enjoy your day!

Not eating salads? As Cadelaide said we are naturally eating pathogens all the time but your body deals with it, otherwise how would we fight off infection with no exposure to such things? There's such a thing as being too clean. Honestly don't worry.

You didn't damage your child.

And the whole salad thing- just by rinsing it with cold water you will not get rid of all the bacteria anyway, so there's no need to be obsessive.

You had a bit of moldy cheese.

I presume you're not feeling ill today?

You'll be fine.

Thank you, lovely ladies!
Ok, I'll calm down!!!

And yeah, I am feeling fine today (apart from my paranoid head!).

Thank you.