Following Nil's post on alcohol drinking during pregnancy, I was wondering if there were things (food, beverage) you specially and consciously avoid when pregnant.

If you read some pregancy books, you basically have to change all your diet: fish can contain traces of dangerous metals (mercure, etc.), tea and coffee are harmful to the baby, raw veg can give you toxoplasmosis, sweet food diabetes, etc.

Personnally, I avoid raw meat, alcohol, and cheese made with unpasteurised milk. Coffee makes me want to throw up, but I drink black tea. And I have cravings for sushi, so I decided to take the risk and eat it.

Well, when I was pregnant with my first child in the UK, I was given a list of foods to avoid....certain fish, salami, pate, unpasteurised cheeses, raw meat, undercooked egg etc etc. I felt a little overwhelmed by the whole list as I am not a particularly fussy eater, but there were a number of my favourite foods on the DON'T TOUCH list!

I have to say that I did eat a little salami, a little of the cheese, I had a steak medium rather than medium rare if I really fancied one and my daughter was born perfectly healthily.

I had my second child here 11 weeks ago and when I went for my initial doctors appointment, the doctor just said, "carry on as usual with your food and exercise, you don't need to do anything differently". How refreshing!

In my opinion, if you are sensible with what you eat and drink when you are pregnant, then you and baby will be just fine. However, if you would rather stay on the cautious side, then cut all of the risky foods and alcohol.....it is only 9 months!

Good luck!

Apparently it's been found that simple painkillers like paracetamol are really not so good for baby:

Article

I found it through a rant on another forum from a fellow in Denmark; he was ranting because Henrik Leffers, the team leader of the study, has been fired from his job and shunned in his professional community following his posting of the results. I'll try to get a hold of that article (though it's only in Danish it seems).

I never received any list of what I should avoid but just followed common sense and my body clearly told me what it didn't like (Couldn't stomach coffee but got a taste for tea which I usually don't drink). Both my kids are fine.

going to a gig and dancing up front at 34 weeks pregnant, as this may result in high BP and baby being born at 36 weeks

Am I reading this right?

For my first pregnancy in the US, I didn't have any list. I just got a bloodwork confirming that I'm immunised to toxoplasmosis, but I don't eat raw meat anyway. I enjoyed my first steak tartare right after birth I'm just careful with raw eggs because of the salmonellas and sushis.

This pregnancy, here in Switzerland, idem even if my OBGyn okayed for steak tartare. I will just enjoy my steak tartare in 3 months

That's quite scary... In Switzerland (and probably elsewhere as well), aspirin is forbidden to pregnant women, but paracetamol is considered to be the safest painkiller... Actually, a midwife told me that the only 'safe' drug we can use during pregnancy is paracetamol!

I agree with the other posters, avoid raw meats, otherwise I ate what I like and carried on drinking coffee throughout -- in fact, they gave me coffee in the hospital when I had to stay a few days before the birth.

You'll find your body tells you what it wants ... and that this may be different from what you normally eat. I craved ice cream, among other things, and I don't normally eat it!

I've stopped eating my beloved jamon serrano and all other deli meats.
and I try to make sure the cheese I eat is pasteurized, but even then I am not too concerned about.
Just make sure my eggs and chicken are well cooked, with meat, I like it medium and not like jerky but I personally don’t think there are big risks in that, though I wouldn’t eat it raw or even nearly raw.
Hmm….coffee I still LOVE and have a nice latte every morning to get some calcium and my morning kick, but I am still well below the recommended 200mg of caffeine per day. Might try the tea though, see how I like that for the afternoon perhaps. Have noticed I have to be really careful of caffeine after around 3 or 4 pm otherwise I can’t sleep and stare at the ceiling all night.
I’ve had to start avoiding green peppers, particularly cooked ones, as they bring on major nausea, as do sweet potatoes and a few other choice foods.
But I have been really wanting (not necessarily craving though) spicy foods, so luckily we have loads of pickled jalapenos and hot sauces from México, I add those to everything I eat.

I agree, very scary. hopefully more studies will be done. I try not to take paracetamol either but sometimes it can't be helped, though I started going for weekly massages and chiro so hopefully those will help with the pains as the pregnancy proceeds.

however, plenty of women have taken paracetamol during their pregnancies and I dont see any major problems from it. who knows though. would like to know more about the study.

Nicky? You had your baby???

I eat raw veggies but clean them very carefully. I drink coffee (one with cafeine in the morning and the rest are cafeine-free) You can eat all kind of meat and medium if you want as long as if the meat was frozen before. You should avoid some fish and savage meat. I do most of what you do too!

For the rest, commun sense should do it.

Well it MAY not have contributed to the high BP but I am sure it didn't help

not yet Nil, but soon very soon

It took you so long before to answer.... I was already going nuts!

So its ok to drink coffee? Do you drink it regularly Nil?

And please don't make the stupid mistake I made just after my baby boy was born: it was very hot, and I drank a nice cool bottle of coke one afternoon...

Only when my poor baby spent the whole night crying furiously with his eyes wide open did I connect it with the coffeine in the coke... Coffeine goes straight into the milk when you breastfeed ...

I read somewhere at some point that peanuts should be avoided/eaten. Here some conflicting advice for you...

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/par...-allergy_N.htm

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnanc...peanutsexpert/

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_it_safe...while_pregnant

http://www.marchofdimes.com/Pregnanc...on_peanut.html

I drink coffee and have done since beginning. My doc said in moderation is fine and as I rarely drink more than one or 2 max a day then why not. I drink tea more when I was at work so i did switch to decaf tea - I also limited cola etc... but still have it now and then

I bet women living in big coffee drinking countries don't give up coffee

I don't have any particular examples, however, this should be quite interesting, as the dos and don'ts of pregnancy are often culturally based rather than scientifically based (some exceptions of course), and also based on medical advice that varies based on the latest line of thought.

Some examples:

• Soft cheeses - big "no-no" in many places, but a certain "oui" in France
• Raw eggs
• Medication - asthma* - during 3 pregnancies, the medical advice in CH changed from "avoid at all costs", to "only if an emergency", to use "as needed as it is better to ensure good oxygenation for the baby"
• Uncooked foods, e.g. fish, cured meats

*In France and the UK, the advice differed on this too - it is always noticeable when you go on holiday.

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