How strict do you follow the pregnancy forbidden foods?

[Anonymous]

I’m not planning to eat high mercury fish but I love over easy eggs and poached eggs. I don’t for drink caffeine to begin with and don’t drink alcohol due to medical reasons. How strict do I need to follow for foods?

[Anonymous]

Read Expecting Better. Most of the restrictions are based on a terrible risk assessment. Wear gloves when you garden and don't eat expired over-easy eggs from the gas station, you'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

I pulled all of the stats from food recalls caused by listeria concerns for the last few years. If I recall correctly, it was a lot of ice cream and queso fresco.

I couldn't even find lunch/deli meat on the list. For the first pregnancy I followed all the "rules." For the second, you're GD right I ate my deli meat hoagies without remorse.

[Anonymous]

Meh, moderation and common sense.

I avoided raw oysters because they are responsible for more food sickness than almost anything else but didn't care at all about deli meat because the listeria risk is very small and not even exclusively tied to deli meat. Lettuce has had more scares than ham lately.

The only food scare I've had in pregnancy was listeria and due to an eggo waffle recall. Eggo waffles aren't on any list.

I try to not make myself miserable while being responsible.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t drink and cut back on caffeine. I still ate sushi (agree, nothing high in mercury) from restaurants I know had good reputations. I don’t really eat anything else on the list of stuff some advise to avoid. Whatever works for you - within reason - is the best way to go. Sometimes the worry isn’t worth it, even if others say u shouldn’t worry.

[Anonymous]

I had GD and morning sickness followed by heartburn. I envy those who actually got to eat during pregnancy...

[Anonymous]

I ate them all other than alcohol. I drank coffee during both pregnancies and breastfed with coffee. Fantastic sleepers

[Anonymous]

I had everything but alcohol. Kid one and two turned out fine. Kid three turned out to be the devils child. Not sure if the food had anything to do with that...

[Anonymous]

I cut out cold cuts as I never ate them really anyway.

I cut out sushi as we moved to an area where I questioned how fresh the fish was. I still ate frozen smoked salmon.

I drank 1-2 coffees a day, depending on my needs and feeling (I was mostly turned off of coffee other than that one, which was weird for me).

I avoided cantaloupe and romaine lettuce, purposefully.

I had NO appetite for most fresh salads.

I avoided alcohol, but did have a small amount of Champagne in my third tri on special occasions. Again, not on principle as much as I didn’t have a taste for it.

I don't like runny eggs anyway, but didn’t feel uncomfortable on the rare occasions if my eggs weren’t cooked through. In most of these cases, I knew the source of the eggs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read Expecting Better. Most of the restrictions are based on a terrible risk assessment. Wear gloves when you garden and don't eat expired over-easy eggs from the gas station, you'll be fine.

+1

I didn't change my sushi-eating habits or my caffeine intake or my runny egg order. I did cut alcohol though I had a half glass of wine a few times (which was all I could stomach).

[Anonymous]

I kept drinking my tea, eating my runny eggs and enjoying the occasional sub. I did avoid sushi.

[Anonymous]

Just skipped the alcohol. Did coffee, subs, soft cheeses, etc.

Have strapping 17-year-old now.

All those warnings are garbage.

[Anonymous]

Eh, I drank lots of coffee, had cold cuts (Not slimy Subway ones though), and had an occasional glass of wine. I didn’t eat sushi or soft cheese, but both of those were more of a food aversion than avoidance. Definitely didn’t do oysters or mussels.

[Anonymous]

Meh. My OB said besides alcohol and questionable fish it's all pretty much ok. Risk of listeria from unwashed melons and spinach is higher than for deli meat. I still only ate deli meat that was sliced from the giant roasted piece and not prepackaged.
I don't like non fish seafood anyway so it wasn't an issue and I avoided sushi mainly for the looks I would get.

[Anonymous]

I cut out alcohol and raw sushi, and cut back on coffee (to 2 cups a day). Other than that meh. I ate Subway/Jimmy Johns/other cold cuts a bunch. It seemed like every time I heard about a listeria outbreak, it was traced back to soft serve ice cream, or some raw vegetable/fruit. Not lunch meat!