Foods to avoid during pregnancy - how did you cope - share your tips with PG tips Decaf and you could win £250 NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

We all know that there's lots of advice out there about what food and drink (and ingredients in food and drink) to avoid during pregnancy.

For the Mumsnet guide to this please click here.

The team at PG tips Decaf say "With PG tips decaf, you can still enjoy the splendid luxury and taste of a nice cuppa, without having to think about the caffeine as it contains less than 10mg per cup - available in packs of 40, 80 or 160."

PG tips Decaff would love to know how, when you are pregnant, you managed to find substitutes for the foods and ingredients you were avoiding.

For example: did you use a strong pasteurised cheese in place of Stilton on a salad, did you try sparkling fruity water in place of wine etc?

Decaff tea and coffee is perhaps an easy one: do share what you did - they'd also love to know if you tried their tea what you thought!

Please share your tips and stories relating to the food changes made to your diet when you were pregnant on this thread - everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £250 voucher for the store of their choice.

thanks and good luck

MNHQ

I ate a lot of bland porridge, avocadoes and drank soda water and angusturas bitters or lime juice cordial (instead of wine). Oh and lemonade when I had really bad morning sickness!

I only drink coffee really (sorry PG Tips) but gave that up for months, particularly with DC2 (with whom I had terrible morning sickness). It's such a long time ago now though that I can't remember what I drank instead!

I was very lucky, because the only item on the forbidden during pregnancy list that I particularly cared for was caffeinated drinks, and I went off tea and coffee before I even knew I was pregnant.

It's hard when you're pregnant, as every other day there seems to be something else you're told to stay away from!
If I was going out for a meal, I'd substitute my usual glass of wine for a non alcoholic drink such as a yummy mocktail, or a non alcoholic pear cider. It made you feel as though you weren't missing out as you had such a nice drink in its place.
Instead of soft cheeses, I used to 'raid' my local health shop's deli fridge as there was always some nice vegan cheeses in there.
As for tea I somehow managed to get my consumption down to one cup of tea a day in the morning (I need that to function, sorry ) and have fruit teas such as mango or apple (not raspberry, you're not to have that until very late pregnancy, peeps!)

It was a long time ago and not much forbidden then... I just drank normal tea! I did crave oranges and drank milk which I would never normally want to do so maybe a case of listen to what your body wants.

I made no changes except to try and eat a bit cleaner. Moderation is key and I honestly DON'T wonder how the French and Japanese manage to have babies at all!

I had pate, stilton, peanuts, wine, caffeine tea (decaff of many brands has more chemicals). Heck, I even went skiing.

I looked at some evidence for some foods, concluded there was very little for those suggested to avoid, and loads of evidence to avoid stuff that wasn't recommended to avoid. Quite frankly gave up and enjoyed what I fancied IN MODERATION.

I didnt find it that difficult, im not a big stinky cheese eater, not bothered about fish. the only thing that was a bit hard was not having runny eggs, think baby was only a couple of days old when I had such a lovely runny egg butty!

Like RaRa, I made no changes to my diet except to drink less alcohol. (I didn't ski but I did ride three or four times a week!).

There's no way I could have gotten through the day without caffeine in my tea!

I do drink decaff occasionally now. Being a tea addict I tend to switch to decaff late in the evening just so I'm not up all night. I've tried PG decaff and don't dislike it although I do prefer a stronger taste.

I went off coffee which is very odd for me. Switched to decaf tea and later on when I was less queasy back to decaf coffee.

My sister loves PG decaf tea. So much so that she asks me to buy it in before she comes to stay, plus then brings her own in case I forget. I usually have a lot of it after she's been up.

It was pate that I really missed. The nearest thing I found as a replacement was potted beef. It's something I remembered from childhood, but didn't know still existed! A potted beef sandwich with tomato and cucumber is just lovely!

Non alcoholic lager with fresh lime sorted out my pub drinking requirements.

I didn't particularly crave food on the unadvised list apart from tuna pâté once.

I just really wanted plain food. White carbs & butter ideally..!

I have decaf tea & coffee anyway so I didn't have to try hard there. It's only now after a few months of sleepless nights that I have a bit of caffeine!

Decaf PG was my favourite. I switched over to decaf as soon as I knew. I drank a lot of ginger ale when out as well as sparkling water and also developed a taste for 0% beer! and non alcoholic pear cider! Since having my baby I haven't really fancied alcohol anymore and am still finishing the gigantic box of decaf tea... Normal tea tastes weird now

It wasn't really a problem giving anything up as the only things i could stomach in both pregnancies were cereal, fruit juice, crisps, chips, cheddar cheese and yoghurt...might explain why i put over 4 stone on!

I had gallons of PG decaf tea. In fact I've stuck to it now my newborn is here (17 days old) and have a normal cup mid afternoon meaning I real feel the caffeine boost when I need it.

I did substitute drinks out for non alcoholic pear cider as someone else here did. Other things I had to avoid I just made sure I couldn't see and really want, so hubby couldn't have soft cheeses either!

The only thing I missed were dunky eggs with soldiers. I never did find a substitute, but made up for it when the baby arrived!

We swapped to decaf tea permanently after I had the baby because we realised we looked it just as much! Same with Becks Blue, the alcohol free one.

I completely gave up alcohol which I didn't find too bad because I'd cut down before I got pregnant. I also tried really hard to give up anything containing coffee which I found extremely difficult. For the first 2 weeks after stopping drinking coffee and diet coke I had almost constant headaches. After a couple of weeks the headaches eased but I spent the whole of my pregnancies craving diet coke!

I am drinking a lot of tonic water, and imagining the gin ;-)

tried another brand of decaff tea, didn't really enjoy it. I have my tea like brown paint - thick and strong and only a dot of milk

in earlier pg switched a bit to hot chocolate, but now normal tea and coffee again. couldn't cope without a brew!

the list of forbidden foods doesn't phase me much as I don't eat any of them anyway; mouldy cheese...swordfish...shellfish - err, no.
Jaffa cakes...quavers...doughnuts...yes.

I didn't manage to reduce my caffeine intake at all with DD1. With DD2 I went completely caffeine free pre-conception & haven't had any since (she's only 8 months though, so hopefully still plenty of life left to fall off the wagon)

I mostly ate what I wanted, which wasn't much really. I accidentally ate an undercooked venison burger in a dimly lit restaurant whilst pregnant, but by the time I noticed there wasn't much left, so I finished it off. Probably not a great idea, but it was delicious. I generally only eat meat when I'm pregnant for some reason.

I hadn't realised you weren't meant to eat shellfish. I ate loads

I don't like cheese or pâté, so that was easy.

I was already decaf before I ever fell pregnant, so that was a non-issue for me. Barely drank alcohol, so reducing my intake was not a big deal, either. Not bothered about shellfish. Did not

Love, love, love soft cheeses, smoked meats, smoked fish, rare meat, pate, liver, soft eggs, etc, so cutting them out was harder. Much harder. But I just did it. No strategies.

The only tough part was cutting out ice cream and chocolate in the last 6w, when blood sugar started to climb and I had to keep it under control by eating low-GI. That was when I developed my love of dark chocolate: I would allow myself a quarter of a square of Lindt 70% every day, which I would either nibble veeeeeeeeery slowly, or just allow to melt in my mouth without chewing it. Savouring the intense flavour. Mmmmmmm.

Did not avoid peanuts.

When I found out I was pregnant, I hormonal,y burst into tears on the phone to my mum, asking if I could still drink tea . She said of course you can, you daft haporth! Sorry PG, I wouldn't touch decaf with a barge pole.

As for coping - I shrieked requests at DH while I lay pinned to the bed with nausea. McDonald's was eaten and a lot of other shite

I really struggled giving up marlin. I usually eat it several times a week so it was a real wrench.

I made my own decaf by pouring out the first cup of tea and brewing a second cup with the same bag. I reckon it cut the caffeine content down to about 10%.

I only avoided pate really. I'm not a big fan of shellfish so that didn't matter. I ate loads of peanuts but the advice in the US wasn't the same. I also had the odd shandy and drank normal tea.

I went off coffee and Marmite during pregnancy and developed a love for olives.

:)