Has anyone else noticed how crazy it is the amount of things you're not allowed to eat and drink during pregnancy?
No soft cheese, no mouldy cheese, no peanuts, no rare meat, no pineapple (whats that all about?), no alcohol, no ibuprofen...I know there is a slight risk involved in these things but they obviously never did our mums any harm. My mum didn't know she was expecting me until 24 weeks and in that time she had fallen off a horse, broken her arm and had X-rays, been on max painkillers for ages with the broken arm etc and I was born healthy 8lb 5.
At my early scan the nurse told me a lot of the things they tell you is total crap for example no heavy lifting. When I had my pg confirmed the nurse said that I could drink anything and it would have no effect as long as I didn't get drunk. But my practise nurse said I couldn't drink at all and gave me daggers when I said I'd had half a glass of beer! Everyone tells you different things I don't know what to believe.

Then again I haven't got medical experience! What does everyone think and have you eaten/drank anythin naughty lol? I've had a few glasses of wine but stuck to the 1 unit a week limit! Tbh I don't believe that all these things are true but at the same time I guess I don't want to risk it.

Hi Tiger

This is my first post. I would not describe myself as maternal at all and we were so shocked I was pregnant!

I burst into tears when I found out what you should/should not do - I had no idea. I am between two-three months pregnant and like your mum I have been on strong pain killers/eaten rotten mouldy cheeses/nuts etc.
It's an absolute shocker what is and is not allowed!

I suppose it's best to follow the various medical advice given - my dr just mentioned smoking/drinking/pate/mouldy cheeses and some seafood and that was it. I came on this site and read about peanuts and everything else I was :\? and then promptly burst into tears.

Oh well. I am sure after the birth I will be back to eating nuts with mouldy stinky cheese and a big glass of wine!

hi, its killing me not eating nuts!!! i love peanuts, peanut butter yummy!!! ive told my oh that he has to bring me a bag of salt n vinegar roasted peanuts to the hospital once ive given birth ha ha, im dying for them!! the reason iom avoiding them is oh suffers from asthma, hayfever, and more recnetly his 1 year old nephew has been told he is allergic to peanuts, and gluten and dairy products!! so im gona dream about them the next 9 weeks!!!

I really do think a lot of this avoiding stuff is overkill but I'm doing it anyway. I really really really want a bag of peanut m&m's.. but I'm being good adn avoiding peanuts as I have some food intolerances and hubby has asthma. I do think though that its better to expose kids to things than not as its more likely to give them problems... in fact.. I wonder if my lactose intolerance developed from the 4 years or so that my mum was dairy free and fed us soya stuff cause she was told she had a dairy allergy (she didn't!)

I'm also missing my sunday morning breakfast of fried egg butty with runny yolk. Hubby makes it still but cooks the egg solid which isn't as good.. he's been told that as soon as baby is here then hes making me a runny egg butty!!!

As for the drinking - I think its best not to in the early stages.. but the odd drink later on I'm sure can't do any harm. I've got a big bottle of bacardi breezer int he cupboard and I keep meaning to have a drink but I keep forgetting!! Haven't had a drink since March - so if I did have one drink I'd probably fall over drunk!!!

i've been eating pineapple as it helps settle my nausea, i'm fancying peanut butter but seeing as i have severe chronic asthma, am a sufferer of hayfever and exema and have a few food allergies i guess i should be careful! worst part of finding out i was pregnant was a week before someone brought me a huge bottle of pernod back from france. gutted. i don't drink much but i love the occasional pernod black and lemonade. i only make it mild so bottle lasts me ages.

i've been eating pineapple as it helps settle my nausea, i'm fancying peanut butter but seeing as i have severe chronic asthma, am a sufferer of hayfever and exema and have a few food allergies i guess i should be careful! worst part of finding out i was pregnant was a week before someone brought me a huge bottle of pernod back from france. gutted. i don't drink much but i love the occasional pernod black and lemonade. i only make it mild so bottle lasts me ages.

Hi Tigerlily,

Why cant you eat pineapple? ive never heard of that and had a massive bowl of it just yesterday?!?!

Leighx
(20w4d)

I have the odd glass of wine. Also the peanut thing is only if you or a close family member have a history of allergies so any of you craving it check you may be ok. Sadly I'm an allergy queen so steered well away, craving reeces cups all the time!

Leigh - Pineapple is fine to eat throughout the only reason they mention this is because some studies show it can help bring on labour however you'd need to eat about 4-5 whole pineapples! i've eaten it throughout and have had no problems and i'm now 27+3 days

x x

Hi girls, i'm glad Tiger has posted this. I was freaking out the other week as i was off work sick and had nowt better to do than sit and use my laptop and i happened to come across a website about things you should/shouldnt eat. It contained all the usual advice etc. but then it said about avoiding poultry that you cant heat up again e.g. cold turkey / chicken sandwiches and chicken drumsticks. OMG i have eaten loads of cold turkey and chicken sarnies and if this advice is true how on earth will i manage without my cold turkey and stuffing sarnies at Christmas!!! Lol.

It also said to be careful with minced meat such sausagemeat / burgers which is slightly pink. I obviously wouldnt eat a burger which isnt cooked properly but does this apply to sausage rolls coz ive eaten loads of them too??

I'm not stressing now though coz i wouldnt eat anything otherwise.

My mum and dad keep taking the mick out of me coz i keep listing all the things i can and cant eat and I;m sure they think i'm making it all up!!! They keep teasing me and saying 'are you sure you can eat that ginger biscuit?'. Cheeky buggers. :lol:

But there does seem to be a lot of conflicting advice out there. No wonder people get confused!

Ange

xx

xx

I was also surprised at the things that are not allowed in pregnancy. I told my MW at my booking appointment that I had a couple of half lager shandy's and she nearly hit the roof but I still have the odd beer now and again, not any more than 2 units per week though. In the summer I got tucked into a Mr Whippy ice cream which I now know is not allowed. Before I found out i was pg i was taking strong painkillers for headaches. Iv also eaten goats cheese which is banned too.

Before I knew I was pregnant I smoked and got drunk on two occasions, and ate a few things that are 'not allowed' lol. My baby was born fine and healthy. I think most of the things they say we can't have is just because there is a tiny risk if you eat or do one of the things something bad can happen, but most the time, it won't xx

When they gave the new alcohol guidelines I went to my Dr as I found it so confusing that if you were pregnant at the start of the year then 1 - 2 glasses were ok, but if you got pregnant April/May or later then nothing is ok. He told me that Drs get so frustrated with these 'guidelines' as they cause women to worry unneccesarily. He said that if I drank one glass every so often the baby will not be affected but just to be careful with pub measures and the alcohol content in red wine. I couldn't drink at all during the 1st trimester because of HG anyway and now I rarely fancy one - but I don't beat myself up over a small glass. It amazes me how different periods of time equate different guidelines.

hello..I like nicola read about the 1-2 units were ok. Just before my pg was confirmed i had a couple of glases of wine. When my mw asked me she was like no...you shouldnt be drinking any wine at all. She said although there are rare case of it affecting your baby, if it does it can be catastrophic (however spelt!). I ahven't touched any since but i will be treating myself to some mulled wine at christmas!
Pineapple I had never heard of.n I am avoiding the usual pate, cheese etc Ensuring my meat and eggs are cooked well. only reason i am aoviding peanuts is because husband told me too. At first i thought it was because of the allergy however he informed me they put something on them to make them have a longer exp date, which isn't good for pregnant mothers. As a result I am avoiding them.
Denise...why is mr whippy ice cream not allowed? i haven't had any but was interested to hear why. xxx

Hi all,
I have only just found out (on Sunday) that I am pregnant - we think I am only 4 weeks, so still early days...I've been preparing myself by taking folic acid and omega 3 tablets for the last 3 months - Can anyone tell me what foods I should be avoiding (besides the obvious, raw meat..) I only have my GP appoint next week, but as you can imagine, I want to make sure I eat correctly!
thanks!

Mr whippy ice cream is to be avoided apparently because of the risk of listeria. Also something to do with risks if the machines aren't cleaned properly, although I'm not sure whether thats what causes listeria or not!!

hi mrsgf - congrats on your pregnancy! If you go to the pregnancy section on this website there's a fairly concise list of what to avoid eating under the 'healthy eating' section.

On the alcohol front there was further confusion today with a new report that says if you very occasionally had four or five glasses of wine in the one evening it wouldn't do any harm!!!! someone else recently said one small glass a day is ok too. i think ultimately the Government doesn't want to risk giving the wrong advice to pregnant women hence the no alcohol at all guidelines from them. I've had the odd glass of wine (although sadly, it's made me feel really rough afterwords). However, I'll not be admitting it to my midwife ;\)

Not 100% sure about this not eating cold turkey business. I'm sure one of the baby mags had an article out this month about xmas food and it didn't mention that. i would have thought as long as you were careful about cooking food that had already been cooked and then reheating it would be ok (i.e. the reheating the turkey curry made with the leftover turkey) . has anyone else seen anything?

On the peanut front, i'm not going to be avoiding them. i do have hayfever but no other allergies. i'm more concerned that peanut allergies have rocketed since pregnant women were advised to avoid them.

i've also heard about staying away from mr whippy but i cant remember why!!

anyway, that's my tuppence worth on food. oh and apparantly you shouldn't overdose on vitamin c.

It's a wonder the human race has survived so long...

Well that website i looked at wont be stopping me having my turkey sarnies at christmas as i know the turkey will have been cooked properly to begin with. I know some guidelines say be careful with cold meats in delis etc. so perhaps thats what it was mainly referring to.

I'm also looking forward to a glass of bubbly at Christmas (my first alcoholic drink since found out i was preggers).

Ange

19 wks tomorrow

xx

Vitamin A is bad - I know that. Thats why taking pregnancy vitamins and omega supplements is good whereas normal vitamins and omega supplements should be checked for vitamin A. i just chose to pay more for the pregnacare stuff rather than risk cheaper normal vitamins.

I know that avoiding some seafood and not having too much tuna is to do with mercury levels that could be bad for baby

Well i have just 6days until my due date, and the majority of "naughty" things.... i have been doing throughout my pregnancy. like a lot of you i've had odd glasses of wine/lager but have never gotten drunk. i have eaten snickers bars and peanut MnM's, pineapples been my only craving so i've had tonnes, i've ate tuna mayonaise, red meat.... creme brulee...! and please don't think i'm selfish for doing so, i just believe all the "rules" are OTT and just turn us all into panic stricken worriers!

what do you think people ate millions of years ago.... fish, meat from animals they could catch. and we're not extinct! our great grandmothers etc didn't have any of this information and probably didn't change their diet much and theres generally nothing wrong with us apart from a bit of hayfever etc!

if i believed it was going to harm my baby i wouldn't have it. i just don't believe it. perhaps if i was to have ten tins of tuna in one sitting or eat a whole block of mouldy cheese it would! but unless you have peanut allergies or severe allergies to something in your immediate family, please dont freak out about it and deny yourself treats every now and again! X