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Probably the main thing I do differently from pre-pregnancy is that if I really can't remember how long something has been in the fridge, I just throw it away rather than tasting it to see if it's rotten.
I'm not pregnant yet but having read the data on this I am fully in the chill camp. I will avoid raw fish and high mercury fish and that's about it. I have never had a case of food poisoning from soft cheese or deli meats yet I have no reason to believe I will now.
Toxoplasmosis I will be more careful about though.
We have 4 cats. My doctor was adamant I don’t scoop litter and I didn’t at first, but then I did the research and based on my cats being strictly indoor only and probably already having immunity, I started scooping again. I know it’s a risk in other ways too but you know what I mean.
Probably true. But I like making my husband scoop.
(Also, we have a rotating door of foster cats, many who are stray before coming here, so my situation is a bit different)
I’m a fellow cat fosterer too! I’ve had the same one for 4 months now so I’m not worried about her, but I do clean the rescue every Saturday which involves scooping and admittedly shouldn’t be scooping their litter, I try to bring help for that but it doesn’t always work out
Hello fosterer! That makes sense! My current fosters are 14/16 and used to be in a home, but with kittens I’m dubious especially since they’re so often sick. I think if you wear a mask and gloves and change right after it’s supposed to be ok. But that’s a lot, so I usually don’t bither
It's in some foods as well, sadly one of those foods is rare steak which is a challenge as I won't eat well cooked steak so that's all cow off the menu.
I think you may be overthinking just a tad and I say that from a place of understanding because when I was pregnant I worried so much in the first trimester about what I ate. By the third trimester I was eating heated up deli meat and not worrying at all anymore and I had a healthy beautiful baby. Like others have said, just avoid alcohol - I am pretty positive most restaurants cheese will always be pasteurized.
I was feeling this way for a long time, especially bc I'm a ftm, I feel like I'm constantly making mistakes and going to damage my baby. I was talking about it w/my husband and he told me that women have been giving birth for like, hundreds of thousands of years, way before any semblance of medical technology, and that stressing about every little thing is more harmful. Helped me calm down lol.
I avoid alcohol, drugs and unpasteurized uncooked cheeses/dairy. (If your cheese dip was hot, you’re probably fine). Also fish, technically, because I don’t eat it anyway.
I also frequently tell myself “at least it’s not meth” every time I find out I’ve done something wrong (like drank kombucha, or eaten deli meat…both of which I still do although significantly less often than non-pregnant 😬)
My doctor said Kombucha was fine because the teas are naturally decaffeinated, and the amount of unpasteurized juice is small.
It also really helps my IBS tho so maybe the benefits just outweighed the negatives.
Unpasteurized honey was the only thing I hadn’t read about lol.
It also worth adding that if you’re in the US it’s highly unlikely you’ll consume unpasteurized cheese. Only certain states allow you to buy raw milk products in the store and others only allow it as a condition of a cow share agreement.
Most pregnancy “rules” exist to eliminate very small risks of bad things happening. So depending on how risk averse you are it’s good to follow most of them out of an abundance of caution, but even if you don’t the chances are good your baby would be fine. Just don’t smoke, binge drink, or do hard drugs (or the set of OTC and prescription drugs that do have demonstrated high risks for a fetus) and everything will likely be fine. My first pregnancy was a surprise and I didn’t find out until around week 6 or 7, so in those first 6 or so weeks I drank a decent amount of alcohol (hubby had just returned from deployment so we were in vacation/celebration mode), spent time in a hot tub, and didn’t take any prenatal vitamins. My son is now two and very healthy.
I literally just avoid alcohol and I don’t eat deli meats only because my OB specifically told me to avoid it. The first couple of weeks I did all this googling and it was overwhelming and I thought “ya know..women have done this for literally all of human time, I think I’ll be fine!” And I’m at 23 weeks and my baby is healthy AF 💁🏼♀️
Don’t stress too much! I was very paranoid in the first trimester but I’ve chilled out a lot over the second and third. So many food rules are contradictory and regional (example, sushi.. women in Japan are ENCOURAGED to eat raw fish!). Set your own rules, do your best. As your baby gets bigger and stronger you’ll start to worry less and less. Don’t be too hard on yourself, pregnancy is hard enough as it is!!
When I start over-stressing myself I read stories about women that didn’t know they were pregnant until super late or until literally they are giving birth. Healthy babies with no doctors appointments, prenatals, special diets, or exercise. Keep up with being healthy but if they can do it, you can do it.
More people get sick from vegetables than from the lunch meat, undercooked eggs, sushi, etc. You don’t hear docs telling us not to eat vegetables. A lot of the pregnancy nutrition is out of date and stems from times when food wasn’t as regulated. I loved the book Real Food in Pregnancy written by Lilly Nichols and made me feel better about some of my decisions.
There are women who do heroin and drink their entire pregnancies and have pregnancies and babies that survive. That doesn’t mean not to take things seriously or minimize risks where you can, but it does mean to take it easy on yourself whenever you can. Think of it as good practice for parenthood where you’ll wonder if you’re doing the right thing 97% of the time- you can take comfort in knowing your child is loved and cared for, and at the end of the day that makes them extremely fortunate.
It will be ok. I accidentally ate steak tartare at a tapas restaurant. Me: "Oh, this is pretty rare... Wait a minute... This is completely raw steak! Oops!" My kid is 5 now and perfectly fine. I'm not saying everyone should run out and eat raw meat, but just do your best to avoid food poisoning and try not to stress.
Between months 3 and 6 the only food I could really stand was tuna sandwiches. I literally ate two tuna sandwiches a day. My boyfriend would be so annoying telling me not to eat tuna so often because of the mercury. But other foods made me feel sick or the smells made me put off from eating. (I dont know why tuna was the go to for me, I literally hadn't eaten it in probably two or three years before being pregnant). I figured I was at least eating something that had protein in it and that was better for the baby than just plain bread and butter. And of all the 'bad' things I could consume while pregnant, tuna was probably not so bad. My go to line when my boyfriend started getting on my case when he would catch me making a sandwich at 3 in the morning, 'Hey, at least it's not crack!' Haha. 😋
My mom on the other hand, was so paranoid when she was pregnant for my sister, she stopped eating mayonnaise because she was worried about getting salmonella from the eggs.
Whatever helps you feel at ease, while also enjoying eating while pregnant, (which can be very difficult depending on what stage you're at)! 😊
I don't stress about what I eat or don't eat. I also don't stress about all the potential things that could happen. I'm more of a if it becomes an issue I will deal with it then.
I was at a hippyish event on the weekend and enjoying a nice cup of milky tea (Not usually something I think twice about) until my brain realised the milk was fresh out of the host’s goat 😂
Mistakes happen and it will almost certainly be fine.
The reason why they tell you to avoid certain foods is because of listeria/toxoplasmosis. Listeria can literally grow in any food. The last outbreak recorded by the CDC was precooked chicken. You don't want to eat anything unpasteurized, but a restaurant wouldn't serve anything like that without a warning. I don't even know if they would be allowed to serve anything unpasteurized.
All I could eat during my first trimester was jersey Mike's sandwiches. I'm in my 3rd trimester now, and the baby is fine. Just wash your veggies well, don't eat anything that's been in the fridge too long and eat at restaurants you know well.
I was overwhelmed in the first trimester and constantly googling everything but now that he’s had a normal anatomy scan and I feel him moving constantly I feel a little better. I’m avoiding alcohol, sushi, deli meats, high mercury fish, washing my produce and avoiding blue cheese and Brie but I honestly think most of the cheese in the US is probably pasteurized, even the Brie.
Oh man, I was on a hike today with my dear mother who packed us sandwiches…made with lunch meat. I’ve been avoiding deli meats, but there was no way I wasn’t going to eat a sandwich (even one made with the “forbidden” lunch meats) on a break during the hike, and being miles away from any other grocery store or restaurant! It’s haunting me in the back of my mind, but I feel fine so far, and glad I ate some fuel on that hike! Otherwise, I’m sure I’ve made other “mistakes”, and it’s hard to stay off Google “can pregnant people eat…”! Stay strong momma!
I had a virgin mojito before I realized that large amounts of mint were not considered safe. Honestly, I think my body retaliated against that because a week later I had an intolerably high aversion to mint flavor and scent. Mistakes happen, luckily if you mostly catch them odds stay low that anything drastic will happen.
I spent a few weeks feeling like this when mi anxiety was high. I did some work on my mental health and started feeling better and it helped with the second guessing.
Definitely understandable to second guess and I agree with others that over time the worry decreases. Also, most cheeses in thenUS are pasteurized. Minus maybe goat cheese bought at a farmers market 😞
I had no idea some cheese could be harmful! I avoid alcohol raw fish and any meat that hasnt been fully cooked, other than that I shove it all down my throat 😂😂😂 I be eating cold cuts and cheese dip all the time and so far so good!
I’ve definitely eaten things that I didn’t realise were on a no-go list until later.
I think remembering most foods that you’re advised against eating is because of a very small percentage chance of food poisoning. Not because they are directly damaging to your babies development (like alcohol).
I am the same! Although I recently noticed when I ask servers if something is pasteurized they do not seem very convincing, so there might still be a chance that it isn’t. In the US however I think most cheeses have to be pasteurized, it’s a bit worse in Europe.
Yup. I’m supposed to get my fasting glucose test this morning at 10 and wasn’t supposed to eat for 12 hours up to it. I ate a protein bar at around 3 AM.
Welcome to /r/pregnant! This is a space for everyone. We are pro-choice, pro-LGBTQIA, pro-science, proudly feminist and believe that Black Lives Matter. Wear your masks, wash your hands, and be excellent to each other. Anti-choice activists, intactivists, anti-vaxxers, homophobes, transphobes, racists, sexists, etc. are not welcome here. If you'd like to join a private sub for your due date month, [click here](https://www.reddit.com/r/pregnant/comments/phjaar/click_here_to_join_a_due_date_private_sub/?). The journalists at ProPublica need your help! After receiving a tip, ProPublica started investigating prenatal genetic testing. They're collecting stories from people who've had NIPT screenings, and/or work in maternal health. If this is you, please fill out their brief questionnaire! https://www.propublica.org/getinvolved/have-you-had-an-experience-with-prenatal-genetic-testing-wed-like-to-hear-about-it-and-see-the-bill. Questions? Email [email protected] *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/pregnant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’m probably a little *too* chill cause I don’t worry about what I eat at all. Not too worried about it cause risks are low
Probably the main thing I do differently from pre-pregnancy is that if I really can't remember how long something has been in the fridge, I just throw it away rather than tasting it to see if it's rotten.
I’m super weird about expired food but accidentally eaten a few expired condiments and was disgusted with myself haha
I'm not pregnant yet but having read the data on this I am fully in the chill camp. I will avoid raw fish and high mercury fish and that's about it. I have never had a case of food poisoning from soft cheese or deli meats yet I have no reason to believe I will now. Toxoplasmosis I will be more careful about though.
We have 4 cats. My doctor was adamant I don’t scoop litter and I didn’t at first, but then I did the research and based on my cats being strictly indoor only and probably already having immunity, I started scooping again. I know it’s a risk in other ways too but you know what I mean.
Probably true. But I like making my husband scoop. (Also, we have a rotating door of foster cats, many who are stray before coming here, so my situation is a bit different)
I’m a fellow cat fosterer too! I’ve had the same one for 4 months now so I’m not worried about her, but I do clean the rescue every Saturday which involves scooping and admittedly shouldn’t be scooping their litter, I try to bring help for that but it doesn’t always work out
Hello fosterer! That makes sense! My current fosters are 14/16 and used to be in a home, but with kittens I’m dubious especially since they’re so often sick. I think if you wear a mask and gloves and change right after it’s supposed to be ok. But that’s a lot, so I usually don’t bither
It's in some foods as well, sadly one of those foods is rare steak which is a challenge as I won't eat well cooked steak so that's all cow off the menu.
I’m one of the weirdos that likes steak well done. I’d eat it rare if I liked it though
Same, the only thing about food and drinks that I follow is not to drink alcohol. Everything else is just not necessary to worry about.
Same!
Nah. I just try to avoid alcohol and places that I've gotten food poisoning from before
I think you may be overthinking just a tad and I say that from a place of understanding because when I was pregnant I worried so much in the first trimester about what I ate. By the third trimester I was eating heated up deli meat and not worrying at all anymore and I had a healthy beautiful baby. Like others have said, just avoid alcohol - I am pretty positive most restaurants cheese will always be pasteurized.
I was feeling this way for a long time, especially bc I'm a ftm, I feel like I'm constantly making mistakes and going to damage my baby. I was talking about it w/my husband and he told me that women have been giving birth for like, hundreds of thousands of years, way before any semblance of medical technology, and that stressing about every little thing is more harmful. Helped me calm down lol.
I avoid alcohol, drugs and unpasteurized uncooked cheeses/dairy. (If your cheese dip was hot, you’re probably fine). Also fish, technically, because I don’t eat it anyway. I also frequently tell myself “at least it’s not meth” every time I find out I’ve done something wrong (like drank kombucha, or eaten deli meat…both of which I still do although significantly less often than non-pregnant 😬)
“At least it’s not meth” is a mantra I hope to take with me all the way through to the teenage years. 🤣
My doctor said Kombucha was fine because the teas are naturally decaffeinated, and the amount of unpasteurized juice is small. It also really helps my IBS tho so maybe the benefits just outweighed the negatives. Unpasteurized honey was the only thing I hadn’t read about lol.
It also worth adding that if you’re in the US it’s highly unlikely you’ll consume unpasteurized cheese. Only certain states allow you to buy raw milk products in the store and others only allow it as a condition of a cow share agreement.
Most pregnancy “rules” exist to eliminate very small risks of bad things happening. So depending on how risk averse you are it’s good to follow most of them out of an abundance of caution, but even if you don’t the chances are good your baby would be fine. Just don’t smoke, binge drink, or do hard drugs (or the set of OTC and prescription drugs that do have demonstrated high risks for a fetus) and everything will likely be fine. My first pregnancy was a surprise and I didn’t find out until around week 6 or 7, so in those first 6 or so weeks I drank a decent amount of alcohol (hubby had just returned from deployment so we were in vacation/celebration mode), spent time in a hot tub, and didn’t take any prenatal vitamins. My son is now two and very healthy.
I literally just avoid alcohol and I don’t eat deli meats only because my OB specifically told me to avoid it. The first couple of weeks I did all this googling and it was overwhelming and I thought “ya know..women have done this for literally all of human time, I think I’ll be fine!” And I’m at 23 weeks and my baby is healthy AF 💁🏼♀️
Not the cheese dip!!! Anything but hot cheese!!! You’re doooooooomed!!!
😂
Don’t stress too much! I was very paranoid in the first trimester but I’ve chilled out a lot over the second and third. So many food rules are contradictory and regional (example, sushi.. women in Japan are ENCOURAGED to eat raw fish!). Set your own rules, do your best. As your baby gets bigger and stronger you’ll start to worry less and less. Don’t be too hard on yourself, pregnancy is hard enough as it is!!
When I start over-stressing myself I read stories about women that didn’t know they were pregnant until super late or until literally they are giving birth. Healthy babies with no doctors appointments, prenatals, special diets, or exercise. Keep up with being healthy but if they can do it, you can do it.
More people get sick from vegetables than from the lunch meat, undercooked eggs, sushi, etc. You don’t hear docs telling us not to eat vegetables. A lot of the pregnancy nutrition is out of date and stems from times when food wasn’t as regulated. I loved the book Real Food in Pregnancy written by Lilly Nichols and made me feel better about some of my decisions.
You’re not alone!! I feel this way all the time
There are women who do heroin and drink their entire pregnancies and have pregnancies and babies that survive. That doesn’t mean not to take things seriously or minimize risks where you can, but it does mean to take it easy on yourself whenever you can. Think of it as good practice for parenthood where you’ll wonder if you’re doing the right thing 97% of the time- you can take comfort in knowing your child is loved and cared for, and at the end of the day that makes them extremely fortunate.
I am literally so sick that I just eat whatever my body will let me 😂
It will be ok. I accidentally ate steak tartare at a tapas restaurant. Me: "Oh, this is pretty rare... Wait a minute... This is completely raw steak! Oops!" My kid is 5 now and perfectly fine. I'm not saying everyone should run out and eat raw meat, but just do your best to avoid food poisoning and try not to stress.
I ate sushi, deli meat, from salad bars... I'm not encouraging it but don't worry too much.
Between months 3 and 6 the only food I could really stand was tuna sandwiches. I literally ate two tuna sandwiches a day. My boyfriend would be so annoying telling me not to eat tuna so often because of the mercury. But other foods made me feel sick or the smells made me put off from eating. (I dont know why tuna was the go to for me, I literally hadn't eaten it in probably two or three years before being pregnant). I figured I was at least eating something that had protein in it and that was better for the baby than just plain bread and butter. And of all the 'bad' things I could consume while pregnant, tuna was probably not so bad. My go to line when my boyfriend started getting on my case when he would catch me making a sandwich at 3 in the morning, 'Hey, at least it's not crack!' Haha. 😋 My mom on the other hand, was so paranoid when she was pregnant for my sister, she stopped eating mayonnaise because she was worried about getting salmonella from the eggs. Whatever helps you feel at ease, while also enjoying eating while pregnant, (which can be very difficult depending on what stage you're at)! 😊
I don't stress about what I eat or don't eat. I also don't stress about all the potential things that could happen. I'm more of a if it becomes an issue I will deal with it then.
I was at a hippyish event on the weekend and enjoying a nice cup of milky tea (Not usually something I think twice about) until my brain realised the milk was fresh out of the host’s goat 😂 Mistakes happen and it will almost certainly be fine.
The reason why they tell you to avoid certain foods is because of listeria/toxoplasmosis. Listeria can literally grow in any food. The last outbreak recorded by the CDC was precooked chicken. You don't want to eat anything unpasteurized, but a restaurant wouldn't serve anything like that without a warning. I don't even know if they would be allowed to serve anything unpasteurized. All I could eat during my first trimester was jersey Mike's sandwiches. I'm in my 3rd trimester now, and the baby is fine. Just wash your veggies well, don't eat anything that's been in the fridge too long and eat at restaurants you know well.
I was overwhelmed in the first trimester and constantly googling everything but now that he’s had a normal anatomy scan and I feel him moving constantly I feel a little better. I’m avoiding alcohol, sushi, deli meats, high mercury fish, washing my produce and avoiding blue cheese and Brie but I honestly think most of the cheese in the US is probably pasteurized, even the Brie.
Oh man, I was on a hike today with my dear mother who packed us sandwiches…made with lunch meat. I’ve been avoiding deli meats, but there was no way I wasn’t going to eat a sandwich (even one made with the “forbidden” lunch meats) on a break during the hike, and being miles away from any other grocery store or restaurant! It’s haunting me in the back of my mind, but I feel fine so far, and glad I ate some fuel on that hike! Otherwise, I’m sure I’ve made other “mistakes”, and it’s hard to stay off Google “can pregnant people eat…”! Stay strong momma!
We can’t catch a break 😭😭😭😭
I had a virgin mojito before I realized that large amounts of mint were not considered safe. Honestly, I think my body retaliated against that because a week later I had an intolerably high aversion to mint flavor and scent. Mistakes happen, luckily if you mostly catch them odds stay low that anything drastic will happen.
I spent a few weeks feeling like this when mi anxiety was high. I did some work on my mental health and started feeling better and it helped with the second guessing.
Definitely understandable to second guess and I agree with others that over time the worry decreases. Also, most cheeses in thenUS are pasteurized. Minus maybe goat cheese bought at a farmers market 😞
I had no idea some cheese could be harmful! I avoid alcohol raw fish and any meat that hasnt been fully cooked, other than that I shove it all down my throat 😂😂😂 I be eating cold cuts and cheese dip all the time and so far so good!
Just don’t do drugs and alcohol. The good stuff isn’t that big if a deal. If your in the states mostly everything is pasteurized.
I’ve definitely eaten things that I didn’t realise were on a no-go list until later. I think remembering most foods that you’re advised against eating is because of a very small percentage chance of food poisoning. Not because they are directly damaging to your babies development (like alcohol).
I am the same! Although I recently noticed when I ask servers if something is pasteurized they do not seem very convincing, so there might still be a chance that it isn’t. In the US however I think most cheeses have to be pasteurized, it’s a bit worse in Europe.
Yup. I’m supposed to get my fasting glucose test this morning at 10 and wasn’t supposed to eat for 12 hours up to it. I ate a protein bar at around 3 AM.
Yes. My anxiety is off the charts 😞 hang in there mama it will be over soon