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

For me it was just simple ones:

Decaf tea, sparkling juices (I didn't like the alcohol free wine though), cooked deli meats instead of cold.

Giving up alcohol was easy, as I don't drink much anyway. I usually enjoy coffee but during both pregnancies I found the smell of freshly brewed coffee absolutely revolting, it made me gag when my husband was making his morning cup of coffee. With tea, I had one proper cup of tea in the morning, but the rest of the day was drinking lots of decaf and fruit/herbal teas. I did fancy a bit of brie but didn't eat it. And found out only after I had my 2nd baby, that I shouldn't have been eating prosciutto, but clearly it has done no harm. I don't think there was any hardship to either cut down or remove altogether. During my 1st pregnancy when we lived in the States I had a real pica for awful Dunkin Donuts. Thankfully it ended once my baby was born.

I was so, so sick that I gave up virtually everything! Not ideal by any means, but it certainly ensured that I wasn't craving booze, or soft cheese, or indeed anything much! Pretty much the only things I wanted were French bread, swede, rice pudding and orange ice lollies - and they were all safe enough!

I haven't really noticed a major difference - I was decaf before anyway, but haven't been able to drink coffee more than once - smell, blurgh.

There are alternatives for other foods you're not meant to eat, although I don't think I've had to think too hard about what I'm replacing etc.

I did have a medium rare burger by mistake quite early on, and I've had a couple of tiny glasses of wine/champagne too, but so far the baby is fine. I was aiming not to be too precious about things, but I understand that some people might find that a flippant comment.

I tried decaff tea but it tasted a bit cardboardy and strangely eggy. I went back to normal tea.

To be honest I didn't really avoid anything other than beautiful runny cheese and alcohol. I had rare beef, cured meats and things like that. I evaluated the risks and considered what other European countries recommend. I did avoid liver and pate, I had other sorts of offal instead like heart and kidneys.

Towards the end of my pregnancy I had the odd glass of wine. I used a cup measure to make sure I had no more than 125ml - it is surprising how small this seems when you're used to massive pub/home measures!

I tried to keep to the guidelines for the first three moments, which I see as the vital time when everything is forming. As it happened, it wasn't too difficult as horrific morning sickness meant I had trouble keeping anything that wasn't bland down!

From the second trimester onward, I haven't been too strict. If I wanted some wine, I had a small half-glass. If I want some of the restricted cheese, I've had a small amount fresh from the packet or cooked it up with something. For something with raw or partially cooked eggs, I made sure to get lion stamped eggs and use them while fresh as possible. I don't drink tea or coffee, so no issues there!

I missed soft-poached eggs the most but replaced them with scrambled eggs with chopped bacon in them.

I have given up alcohol completely, easier not to have any, I find. Last time I switched to decaf tea, but this time round I just limit myself to 2 cups of normal tea a day. I am drinking more fruit juices, tonic water with lime, and can I recommend raspberry juice with a twist of ginger. I still eat prawns, I just make sure they are really well cooked-I have given up parma ham and the like, but never ate it much anyway. Hate soft cheeses anyway. Never ate runny eggs much anyway.

I'm vegetarian, so avoiding certain meats, pates etc was not an issue. Also, I hate runny eggs so no issues there.

I swapped coffee for roiboos tea (was not quite the same, tbh), and stilton for goats cheese or halloumi.
I also like diet coke, but I had such tremendous wind if I had any fizzy drinks, that Diet coke held no appeal for me whilst pregnant.

I ate pretty much everything but made sure all was well cooked. Guidelines change all the time.

I actually lived on PG Tips Decaff after a friend made me a cup of it at her house, I was hooked! Still drinking it now I'm breastfeeding.

In recipes that called for unpasteurised cheese I just substituted with mature cheddar, turned out fine every time!

Loads of things! I also had gestational diabetes so I really had to watch what I ate.....

I had decaffeineated tea (thanks to PG Tips), although I couldn't cope with decaff coffee.... I drank lots of lime juice cordial (it was last summer and very hot), ate lots of fruit cooler lollies....and my DH took to making me home-made ice-cream!! I substituted a lot of sugar for spoonable sweetener, even in the ice-cream.....this helped me stay away from things like chocolate!

I are so many oranges I began to wonder if I had a lack of vitamin C.....

I struggled with not having potatoes (high in GI), but I substituted things such as swede and sweet potato..... I also discovered that Galettes (French Buckwheat Pancakes) had a low GI, so I made the most of that! If I never see another oatcake it will be too soon though!

I craved pate and soft cheese, as when I had been pregnant with my first daughter 15 years ago in France, they weren't forbidden!!!

I missed pate terribly, and cheese on toast wasn't the same. Also runny egg was off limits, and as we keep chickens was a constant torment. I tried to replace egg with bacon in sandwiches and salads, but the added fat was unappealing and I never really found a replacement. Wine was easily changed for juice, and the extra cranberry helped in other ways! Tuna was also off limits, and seafood was swapped for ham. I ate a Lot of ham and boring cheese (cheddar, Red Leicester ) even sausages and chicken were cooked to obliteration and became unappealing. Crunchy bread helped with morning sickness and I ate a lot of biscuits, which probably led to the weight gain! Decaf tea was an easy win, and I've stayed on decaf ever since as the initial come down from caffeine was substantial and I don't ever want to do that again!

I sailed through the first 5 months, but once my lump started to grow I was more and more ill. resulting in the most bland diet ever! I resorted to crystallised ginger as an alternative to everything including chocolate. Infact the only thing I didn't go off, was a cup of tea. I went decaf at this point and haven't looked back, PG tips is one of my favourite decaf teas as it has a good strong flavour without the caffeine!

I had a real thing for sparkling water both times I was pregnant. And ginger ale. I'm surprised I wasn't feeling completely bloated all the time! I totally went off tea and coffee first time round, but did try pg tips decaffeinated with my second pregnancy - it's ok, but not nearly as good as the real thing! To be fair I think that's true of all decaffeinated tea/coffee though.

I switched to PG decaf and have never gone back. I couldn't stand the taste of caffeinated tea whilst pregnant. As for the foods that you can't eat, I just didn't have them. I didn't really make any clever swaps I was just grumpy instead (and because I had HG I threw everything up anyway). I did enjoy a nice chunk of super-squidshy Brie with warm, fresh bread after giving birth. Sometimes you just have to be patient!

I have to say I didn't replace many foods whilst I was pregnant I just did without or continued to have them. I was very careful about raw eggs particularly when out at restaurants and in unknown sources, so I just checked and cut them out, the same with cheese. I am not really a fan of most of the unpasterised cheeses anyway and stuck to nice things like smoked applewood cheddar instead.
I didn't change to decaf tea either I just cut down my intake and limited it to a couple a day. I have tried your decaf along with several others and in most cases I would go without tea as its so far from the real thing - sorry. The only decaf tea that I find tastes good is marks and spencers own brand.
I accidently ate shellfish on a few occasions forgetting that your not supposed to eat it, but on the whole with the morning sickness I found that I didn't miss these things at all.

I stuck pretty well to the rules during my first pregnancy but did have a few moments of rebellion when I was fed up and really wanted a slice of Brie. In my second pregnancy I was thrilled to discover that Stilton was off the banned list and I was a lot more relaxed. The only things that I absolutely avoided were liver and raw eggs.

I tried several brands of decaf tea, but didn't like any of them as much as the caf stuff!

I spent a disproportionate amount of time planning my post pregnancy banned foods feast - the thought of all the yummy things I was going to eat on my first night home from hospital helped to make having to give it all up a bit easier (and it was as good as I anticipated when I did get to eat it :) )

I generally ate what I wanted in moderation. If I ate out I still occasionally had pate, prawns and rare steak. I also still drank tea with caffeine but cut down to one or two cups a day. Moderation is the key I believe

I have to say I have always been a big PG Tips decaf drinker! I am very sensitive to caffeine so literally cannot have tea after 3pm. PG tips have been my saviour and they do taste the same as normal tea.
Now that I am pregnant I drink more infusions but still will have my cup of decaf tea at the weekend.
In terms of other food to avoid, I find this really hard actually. I tend to cook whatever I can't have as is (such as unpasteurised cheeses) and then look at having food in moderation as they say. That or I replace everything with chocolate :-)

peppermint tea is my favourite hot drink anyway, so not particularly a problem for me

Instead of beer I had grapefruit and bitter lemon. Yum! I didnt go caffeine free but I have to now. Don't miss it with tea (but would really like decaf tea leaves please!!!). I do miss it with coffee. Decaf coffee is nothing like the real thing.

I was very lucky that most of the things that you can't have when you're pregnant I don't like anyway lol I think the only substitute I had to make was from alcohol to non-alcoholic drinks

I did enjoy a nice sweetcorn sandwich or too though :P

I didn't need to find substitutes because I went off so many foods! During my first pregnancy it was a struggle to take anything more than tree ripened mango from M&S (couldn't be from Waitrose, oh no, just M&S!) and Appletiser (which is weird because I really don't like it when I'm not pregnant). My second pregnancy I had to try and avois chocolate because it was the only thing I wanted.