Do Japanese Women Eat Sushi, Do French Women Eat Soft Cheese/Pate

[danniellabella]

I think it's wise to be careful, but by the same token, many of the "rules" weren't around when our mothers and grandmothers were pregnant and most of us turned out just fine! I don't think it's necessary to be anal about the "do's and don't's). I've heard that by eating some of the things that are normally considered "no no's" it can actually help avoid a child getting allergies to things. For example, I saw something the other day that a new study has found that by eating things like nuts during pregnancy and introducing small amounts from the age of 4 months instead of waiting until a child is 5 years old it decreases the risk of allergy. However, I'm not a doctor and I think that every mother and mother to be needs to make informed choices for themselves and their child. What is ok for some is not ok for others.

[Ginger]

my friend who is greek constantly ate fetta when pg. she said she just couldn't avoid it, and for the record, her dd is fine.
what's the runny egg thing? i've been eating runny eggs!

[Kaydee]

Yes, it's wise to be careful - but i find "these days" people are too obsessive about this issue and the actual stress of analysing everything you eat can be more harm than what you put in your mouth.

I avoided soft cheese, raw egg, penuts and a couple of othere things. I live in Germany and i love salami - I only had it on rare occasions throughout my pregnancy as I was aware it was to be avoided.

[mrsmac]

I agree with the too obsessive, when i had DD one they didn't have half of these rules.
As someone pointed out, they do eat those things in France and Japan etc, one of the guys at work tried to stop me eating calamari and octopus when I was pg and as a greek friend said the women in greek villages have been eating it when pg for centuries.

[Phteven]

I broke heaps of the 'rules' when I was pregnant. TBH I didn't even know the sushi one and I ate heaps of sushi. I had the odd serve of soft cheese too.

[MrsFabuloso]

i didn't really go by the 'rules' either. I ate ham, runny eggs, etc...I just avoided the more obvious things, like salad bars. There are too many rules these days!!

[M22]

hmm- been thiking the same thing cause the only thing i've been craving is sushi. i went to japan at 23 weeks and had it there though- trying to avoid it here but it'ssoooooooooo hard

[Kaydee]

I think like in Japan, they make their own Sushi in their homes which is fine to do as long as you use proper hygiene you know? Whereas if you buy it outside your home you have no control over who is preparing the food and what happens to it.
Sushi is soooo risky for bacteria.

RE: Sushi
Fish is said to be avoided because of the Mercury levels, not the bacteria. So it wouldn't matter if it was made at home, in a factory or anywhere else.

[Phteven]

RE: Sushi
Fish is said to be avoided because of the Mercury levels, not the bacteria. So it wouldn't matter if it was made at home, in a factory or anywhere else.

The sushi rice is actually very susceptible to bacteria.

[Shanti]

RE: Sushi
Fish is said to be avoided because of the Mercury levels, not the bacteria. So it wouldn't matter if it was made at home, in a factory or anywhere else.

Actually, the rice is prone to bacteria! so is the seaweed.... yes mercury is in fish but in a very small amount like in one roll? can't see how that would do much harm you'd have to eat quite a few rolls!

Eating fish is so good for pregnant women but again, in moderation. I eat sardines 2 times a week Mmmm yum! Great brain food.

[tutmae]

I make my own sushi at home and generally have avocado and cucumber ones, sometimes with chicken. DH thinks it's ridiculous that there are so many rules for us pg women to follow "just in case". I'm not flout the rules ridiculously, but I'm not super dooper strict either. I think I was craving a ham sandich a few weeks ago andd had one. I think the stress can sometimes be more harmful than letting yourself have a little bit of something "naughty".

[Astrid]

I followed my gut with foods and I found it served me well. One occasion I looked at a whole table of food and just went I can't eat any of that. I was right, everyone else got food poisoning. I was 6 weeks pregnant at the time and very thankful I went with my initial reaction to seeing the food. I still ate what I wanted after that, but always followed my instinct, so sometimes I would have sushi and other times the look of it turned me off.

[MantaRay]

To whoever asked, the thing with runny eggs is salmonella. It can be in any egg that is not totally cooked and the same with chicken. When pg salmonella is harmful to the foetus. It is not a common problem in eggs and it doesn't grow in eggs that are refridgerated. But of course the eggs are stored for a quite a while before you buy them.

I lived in Japan for a year and sushi was usually only eaten on special occassions in the home. And it was really only eaten as often in restaurants as we would here.

[Bathsheba]

ETA: I hadn't read the whole thread when I posted this.... sorry.

I followed my gut with foods and I found it served me well. One occasion I looked at a whole table of food and just went I can't eat any of that. I was right, everyone else got food poisoning. I was 6 weeks pregnant at the time and very thankful I went with my initial reaction to seeing the food. I still ate what I wanted after that, but always followed my instinct, so sometimes I would have sushi and other times the look of it turned me off.

That's how I was as well with all 3 pregnancies. Sometimes there is false security in blindly following rules and not actually being educated. There is a difference. I think we would all agree that you could follow the food-types rules and still contract listeria or salmonella. It's just like Astrid said: you have to THINK about the hygiene and history of foods as a PRIME consideration as to whether it's safe.

I have worked in commercial kitchens and have training as to safe and hygienic food handling practises. This serves me far better than a food group list. Example: I would and have eaten a soft cheese that I have unwrapped from an air tight packet that was within "used by" dates. I would not eat the same cheese if it was unwrapped at an unknown point in time. My logic also works as Fiona put it... French women still eat brie when pregnant etc.

ETA: Ok... I am considering deleting this post because after reading the whole thread it might be a bit inappropriate to share my thoughts at this point of the discussion...

Um, Possibly one reason why I personally decided to take the risk in eating sushi and soft cheese during my pregnancies was because I don't eat red meat (mammals) and I think that perhaps I may have needed the extra protein...

[Lisa]

I don't understand why some people think that eating things of the 'Don't Eat' list is ok?
Sure, you might have a bit of brie, or a piece of cold meat and nothing happen to the baby.... does that also make it ok to have a cigarette? Or to pop an ecstacy tablet? Or to have a shot of alcohol?
Yeah I know they might be seen as extremes but the information is out there for a reason isn't it? You do these things and the chances are something truly terrible could happen to your unborn child. Their not their for you to follow when you choose, they're there to save you the heartbreak of losing a child, through something you could have easily avoided.
I would hate to think that I lost my child over something so little as eating the wrong thing.
Sorry if I have upset or offended anyone, that was not my intention.

[satya]

On my very first midwife visit I was given a list of what to avoid & I avoided it all (already was before I got there). You kind of do that when you've already had 3 unexplained losses - all too early for the medical profession to bother investigating. By the time I went to that visit I'd seen a number of GP's & two OB's & they'd all verbally given me a list of what to avoid.... they all had slightly different list. The midwife's one was the most thorough and informative.

What I learnt from that leaflet is that many people get listeria & don't know they have it. Why is that? Because usually it's like you have a cold or flu - most people seem to think you'd have symptoms like you've got gastro but that only happens sometimes. You'd only know you had it from a specialised BT.

I also learnt it could lay dormant for up to 70 days in your system before it caused issues so that listeria borne food that you ate 2 months ago which you thought was OK cos you didn't get the runs could still be sitting there when you give birth. Likely result for bubs - stillbirth.

Anyways, yes I'm sure they do eat those things in those countries but I reckon they also have higher levels of stillbirth caused by listeria. It would probably be almost impossible to compare statistics but I reckon that's what the result would be. A lot of earlier losses could be caused by it too, but as the great majority of losses don't get investigated we will never know the exact figures.

The danger was only discovered in the 80's. That's why our mothers and grandmothers scoff at those of us who avoid such foods.

I constantly get shocked by women who think the risk of listeria has lessened after the first tri. Wrong. Probably far more dangerous in the third tri cos if you do have listeria in your system when bub is on it's way out (and remember that you may not know you have it) the result could be dire.

It's not easy avoiding the list of risky foods but it can be done. I'm sure it's far easier to deal with avoiding a few foods than it is to deal with a late loss cos of listeria.

[Lisa]

I think it's wise to be careful, but by the same token, many of the "rules" weren't around when our mothers and grandmothers were pregnant and most of us turned out just fine!

This is true to some extent, but there were loads and loads of unexplained stillbirths that would now most likely be attributed to listeria.

I know for me, I just didn't think the risks were worth it. As much as I wanted to eat cold meats, brie cheese and pate, the health of my baby was on my mind constantly so it kinda turned me off those foods because of that.