International Bumpies
Publius
member
Pregnancy diet rules
Publius
member
I saw a post the other day where someone asked if kimchi was safe to eat during pregnancy and someone responded by asking what the other poster thought pregnant women in Korea eat. I know we've talked about varying pregnancy rules, and thought we could do the same with varying diet recommendations from country to country. This could be just as interesting as the other post.
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Re: Pregnancy diet rules
This is from the Malaysian baby center site, but it's pretty much in line with what I was told by my doc:
The cockles found in laksa and char kway teow are supposed to be boiled before they are added to these dishes, but you may want to ask the hawker to leave them out as you can't know how thoroughly they were cooked. Read more about the safety of hawker foods when you're pregnant.Steamboat ingredients that are not cooked through. Make sure the broth is brought to boil every time new ingredients are added, especially shellfish, meats and eggs.Cheeses with a white, mouldy rind, such as brie and camembert, and blue-veined cheeses such as stilton. All these cheeses could contain listeria, a bacteria that could harm your baby.Pate, raw or undercooked meat and eggs. All are possible sources of bacteria that can harm your unborn baby. When cooking meat and eggs, make sure they are cooked properly.Raw seafood, such as oysters or sushi.Shark, swordfish or marlin. These fish contain unsafe levels of naturally occurring mercury. Tuna contains some mercury too, so it's best you don't eat more than four medium-sized cans, or two fresh tuna steaks per week.Don't eat liver and liver products (such as pate or liver sausage) because they may contain large amounts of the retinol form of vitamin A. Too much of this could be harmful to your developing baby.You should stop or cut down on drinking alcohol during pregnancy, too. If you want to drink during your pregnancy, don?t drink more than one or two units of alcohol, once or twice a week, and don't get drunk.It's best not to have more than 200mg of caffeine a day. That?s two mugs of instant coffee or four cups of tea or five cans of cola a day. You could switch to decaffeinated hot drinks and colas, instead.In Belgium it's:
* No alcohol or smoking, duh
* No raw meat or raw veggies (if not cleaned well), due to toxoplasmosis. So yes, doctors recommend to avoid salads in restaurants, if you can't make sure the salad was washed properly.
* No raw fish
* No raw eggs and unpasteurized cheeses, due to listeria
* Careful with the caffeine
People start to see that tuna and other large fish pose a mercury problem, but I haven't heard of any doctors ruling those out.
Also in Belgium. And I'd say here, given the huge international community, the recommendations vary a great deal.
One friend here was told nothing was off limits but everything should be in moderation. The primary English speaking resource (BCT) here says alcohol is OK - a social drink, don't get drunk, etc.
It's also interesting to note that one of the Scandinavian countries just changed it's recommendations to say that sushi is safe (though I do believe in limited quantities). Sorry, I read an article about it but don't remember which one.
Americans and Australians are probably the worst with extensive brochures and booklets of what to avoid.
Me: 36 - slight DOR (AMH: 1.1), decent OAR; DH: 41 - Morphology 4%
NTNP July-Aug 2014, ATTC Sept 2014-Present
October 2014 - CP
July 2015 - Clomid + #1 IUI = BFN
September 2015 - Clomid + #2 IUI = CP
October 2015 - Letrozole (5 follies - yay!) + #3 IUI = BFN
November 2015 - CP
December 2015 - CP
February 2016 - Letrozole + #4 IUI = CP
April 2016 - CP
May/June 2016 - IVF #1 and IUI #5 (Estrace + Follistim + micro-hCG + HGH) = BFN
Struggled to conceive #1 2012-2013
Clomid #1: March 2013 - BFN; Clomid + IUI: May 2013 CXL; BFP on 4/22/13 = Baby Boy #1 1/1/14
No traditional Spanish lunchmeat like chorizo or ham but I think in the last year or two, they are telling people you can eat the ham.
No alcohol, I find that strange because I think in France they say it is ok to have a glass of wine a few times a week.
And they tell you to avoid cats. Not litter boxes. Cats.
I'm in Canada
I've been told it's ok to have a half a glass of wine, avoid deli meat, soft cheeses, and unpasteurized milk/cheese/honey.
That's pretty much exactly what was recommended to me, here in Australia!
Although we were also recommended what fish not to eat because of high mercury, and which fish to limit to once or twice a week
I'm in Canada also.
With DD I was scolded by my OB (in Toronto) when I told her I had a half glass of wine one month. She told me I would probably miscarry. I moved shortly thereafter (to Ottawa). I didn't mention alcohol to the new OB. With DS my OB (Near Toronto) told me no alcohol AT ALL during pregnancy. The alternate OB said a glass a few times a week was fine.
I think they look at experiences their past patients have had, and how the babies have done based on mom's consumption.
I also ate deli meat, soft cheese (although not a lot), seafood, sushi, honey... I didn't limit what I ate and both children are completely fine.
BFP1: DD1 born April 2011 at 34w1d via unplanned c/s due to HELLP, DVT 1 week PP
BFP3: DD2 born Feb 2013 at 38w4d via unplanned RCS due to uterine dehiscence
In Ireland my doctor has told me to avoid the following:
Alcohol (she said there weren't enough studies to prove that it was actually safe)
Cigarettes/drugs
Liver and associated products (eg pate, cod liver oil)
Raw fish
Undercooked meat and eggs (ie no rare steak or soft boiled eggs)
Deep sea fish (like shark, swordfish) and take it easy with Tuna (because of mercury levels)
Soft and blue cheeses
Unpasteurised milk products
And she recommended to take prenatal vitamins for the folic acid and Vitamin D in particular - we don't get enough sun here!!