Things to Avoid Eating

[bloominmamas]

I just remembered (after eating a glorious turkey sandwich) that deli meats might contain Listeria which can cause issues. What else are we supposed to avoid other than the obvious (alcohol, drugs...)? What about cheeses? Are all cheeses safe to eat?

[mom3b1?]

There are lots of things that various sources recommend eliminating or limiting during pregnancy. I think moderation is the best course.

Liseria is very serious stuff. If you heat up that turkey meat enough you can't get liseria from it. Unfortunately liseria is extremely deadly to unborn babies, as in it's exceedingly rare for an unborn baby to survive if their mother is infected with it. Avoiding raw meats and animal products, and not allowing foods that you don't plan to cook to come into contact with them (lettuce on top of a package of ground beef, for instance), you should be pretty safe.

Watch out for the restaurants you eat at too. If they are sloppy with their food handling, you can get liseria, and other food poisoning that way. Most food poisoning can be treated and you and baby will be fine, it's just the liseria that is so dangerous.

I lost a baby that way about 5 years ago, so forgive the soap-box.

Kiley

[bloominmamas]

I lost a baby that way about 5 years ago, so forgive the soap-box.

Kiley

You don't sound soap-box-ish...Thanks for the input.

[noordinaryspider]

Thanks, Kiley. I'm mostly vegan so I haven't ben that worried about Listeria, but I didn't realize quite how deadly it is and I sometimes do have to handle meat as part of my job.

The catbox is an issue yet again, as it has been for ALL of my pregnancies. I've always had cats and this is a fairly elderly cat that doesn't go outside, so I know that there isn't much chance that she will pick up toximoplasmosis and more than likely I've already developed immunities to it, but I still feel guilty every time I change the litter box.

I had a friend promise to come over every week and clean up after my cat for me when I was pregnant as a single mama before, but they didn't follow through. Then when I was married during my next two pregnancies, I STILL had to change the litter box because exy wouldn't do it.

I'm not sure whether wearing gloves and/or a dust mask when I do it helps or not, but it does make me feel a tad less guilty.

[frontierpsych]

I'm vegetarian also, so not too worried about listeria, but I do know a few women who have lost babies to it, so if you eat meat, please be careful! Apart from the obvious, there is a lot of debate about what to eat and what not to eat. Some say no caffeine, some say nothing unpasteurized, etc. I just try to stick with healthy foods that I feel comfortable eating. I definitely wouldn't have tons of coffee each day, but most people agree a little caffeine is okay.

[texaspeach]

hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you are veg and eat the pre-washed bagged veggies (like salad, broccoli) they can harbor listeria too so you may be at risk - I'm taking microbiology right now and it was brought up in class. it's very very rare, but something to be aware of.

[kaylee18]

The catbox is an issue yet again, as it has been for ALL of my pregnancies. I've always had cats and this is a fairly elderly cat that doesn't go outside, so I know that there isn't much chance that she will pick up toximoplasmosis and more than likely I've already developed immunities to it, but I still feel guilty every time I change the litter box.

I had a friend promise to come over every week and clean up after my cat for me when I was pregnant as a single mama before, but they didn't follow through. Then when I was married during my next two pregnancies, I STILL had to change the litter box because exy wouldn't do it.

I'm not sure whether wearing gloves and/or a dust mask when I do it helps or not, but it does make me feel a tad less guilty.

The only way to get toxoplasmosis is to swallow it. Breathing it and rubbing it into cuts will not infect you. The only way to get toxo from a cat is from poop that has spent more than 48 hours outside the cat (time needed to sporulate and become infectious), and the cat can't shed toxo in stool unless the cat has been recently infected. I do take precautions not to swallow cat poop (mostly by using a scoop :D and washing my hands after - I don't bother with gloves), to clean the box every day so the poop would not be infectious anyway, and to eat using a utensil rather than my hands to eat food when practical. Dirt can also carry toxo, since the sporulated cysts can remain infectious in moist soil for years. So I would be at least as careful about soil as I would be about litterboxes.

There was a recent study that did not find owning cats or cleaning litterboxes to be a risk factor at all in getting toxo. The risk identified in that study was entirely from raw meat (raw meat is the established cause of over half of prenatal toxo infections). There is also a blood titer you can get to see whether you are already immune or have recently been infected (I get these periodically hoping I'll pick it up before we TTC again [then wait at least 3 months before TTC] so that I'll be over it, immune, and won't have to worry about it at all, but it's been negative so far). A lifetime of cleaning litterboxes and three years fostering over 300 cats and kittens of outdoor origin (with 100% of litterbox duties) and I still haven't caught it. :p

You might also like to know that there is a toxoplasmosis test that can be run on newborns to screen for congenital infection. It's not routine, nor is it on the expanded PKU panels, so it has to be requested specially. When treatment is started immediately for babies with congenital toxo, their prognoses are far better than if diagnosis is delayed until symptoms manifest.

[loraxc]

Just for the record, the cheese issue is very confusing and has been overblown. Yes, you should avoid eating unpasteurized soft cheeses...but guess what? It's illegal to sell unpasteurized soft cheeses in the US. So unless you are in another country or are getting contraband cheese, you don't have to worry about accidentally eating unpasteurized soft cheese. (Some hard cheeses, such as real Parmesan, are made of unpasteurized cheese, but there is no documented risk.)

Now, in the opinion of a professional cheesemonger I spoke to, pasteurized soft cheeses MAY be somewhat riskier to eat than other cheeses, but only slightly.

[eilonwy]

NOS-- The fact of the matter is, if you've had cats for that long, you've probably already had toxoplasmosis and dismissed it as an itsavirus. You're very unlikely to be newly exposed at this point. VERY unlikely. Likewise with people who've been gardening consistantly for years and years. If you were going to get it, you'd have gotten it already.

Listeria is different-- most of us haven't been exposed to that. Wash your hands, your veggies, cook your meats and you'll probably be fine.

As to other things to avoid eating: anything which tastes bad or which your mouth or nose finds abhorrent should be avoided. Follow your cravings, not what a book says you ought to have. This is easy when your body is telling you to avoid sweets and caffeine (as mine is now) but it's more difficult when you feel as though you'd sell your soul for a side of bacon and half a gallon of tang (my most common pregnancy cravings-- I DON'T like bacon except when I'm pregnant :o). I believe that my body knows what it needs, and better than my brain does. When I got pregnant with my BooBah I had just begun a vegetarian diet. I was happily moving along as a fairly strict vegetarian when I woke up with a MASSIVE craving for COW. I wanted steaks, burgers (i loathe burgers normally), stews... anything with beef or lamb.

I fought this craving diligently for weeks before I finally caved around 15 weeks. Now, to the point: my daughter was born with dysplastic kidneys-- her kidneys did not form properly, and as a result she has imparied kidney function. She's mostly fine these days, she just needs more water and salt than the average child and she has to pee a lot, but when she was younger and we were still learning the extent of the problem, things were miserable and scary for a while. I wracked my brain-- what had I done wrong? Was it pumping gas, was it living in such a polluted area? What could I have done differently? One day I was reading about kidneys and I learned that in order for them to form properly, the mother needs a great deal of vitamin B-12. Now, while I was on this vegetarian diet I was taking a B-complex supplement, but we all know that supplements aren't as easy to process as natural sources. The revalation hit me like a ton of bricks-- I craved meat because my baby needed it, and I'd denied that craving because I thought it was just me being whiny. :guilty :gloomy:

I've never denied a pregnancy craving since, nor any craving, really. Even before I knew I was pregnant with this one, I had a craving for bacon (should have been a clue, no? :lol) which I indulged, and I felt better (even though the idea of bacon is still inherently yucky to me :lol). I crave vitamin C and iron, and along with supplements I tend to eat foods which are rich in those things (citrus fruits and liver). I can taste caffeine, and since it tastes nasty I've been avoiding it. These things happen. OBEY YOUR BODY-- it knows what it needs, and what it doesn't. Because honestly, if I followed every list of what you should or shouldn't eat during pregnancy, I'd be hungry and miserable. :lol

[bloominmamas]

I am finding that if I just eat what I am craving I don't feel as sick but when I don't eat what I am craving whether it's not available or I don't know what it is I feel sick. Example: I just had a craving for a huge wedge salad with bacon (which I bought ready made, making said bacon makes me feel sick), blue cheese, walnuts and vinagrette, I feel so much better! :lol Now if only I could feel less tired.:wink

[eilonwy]

Iron. Take some when you wake up or just before you go to bed. Either way, you'll feel like you actually *slept* that night. :lol

[noordinaryspider]

If you can afford it, try Floradix for iron. It is a liquid that is much easier on your stomach than the pills.

I took it with all my previous pregnancies but haven't started yet with this one (yet) as I don't feel anemic (yet) since I don't have any morning sickness (yet).

Do be VERY careful not to overdo the iron, as too much can be as bad or worse than too little, and treat your supplements as you would a prescription drug if you have young children around the house; iron poisoning is one of the leading causes of death among little guys, since the pills are easily mistaken for candy.

[eilonwy]

:D I like Florivital. Difficult (though not impossible) to overdose on it. It's the yeast-free version of Floradix. Good stuff, good stuff. ;)

[ksera05]

eilonwy - dang, did you have to mention Tang? Now I want to call DH and tell him to bring me some when he comes home from work :bag:

:laugh:

[eilonwy]

eilonwy - dang, did you have to mention Tang? Now I want to call DH and tell him to bring me some when he comes home from work :bag:

:laugh:

:spitdrink :laugh: I'm so on the way to the grocery store for some. I never buy the stuff except when I'm pregnant. It's like drinking crushed vitamin C tablets. :D :lol

[ksera05]

:spitdrink :laugh: I'm so on the way to the grocery store for some. I never buy the stuff except when I'm pregnant. It's like drinking crushed vitamin C tablets. :D :lol
I ended up calling him and asking him to buy me some (we need laundry detergent too, it's not a completely wasted trip...haha) He was like "you really are pregnant". :laugh:

[loraxc]

Mmmm...Tang! Sounds good...and I hate that stuff, too! WTH? :lol