There are some foods you should avoid
during pregnancy because they could harm your baby. A lot of it is common
sense, but it's worth having a
look through this list so you know exactly what's on and off the menu.
Dairy products
·
Avoid soft cheeses with a white-mould
rind such as brie, camembert and goat's cheese, or soft cheese with blue mould
such as Roquefort, Danish blue, Gorgonzola. This is because of the risk of
infection from listeria, which can cause miscarriage and stillbirth.
·
Hard cheeses are fine as they do not
provide the right soft environment for listeria to grow. Other types of cheeses
should be fine but check that they are made with pasteurised milk. Goat and
sheep cheeses are often unpasteurised.
·
Don't drink unpasteurised milk.
Eggs
·
Don't eat raw or undercooked eggs -
no runny yolks on your pizza and avoid scoffing raw cake mixture. Homemade
mayonnaise often contains raw egg, so avoid that too. Raw eggs have the risk of
giving you food poisoning from salmonella.
Meat
·
All meat needs to be cooked
thoroughly. Avoid taking your steak - or any other type of meat - rare as it is
uncertain whether it could carry a risk of toxoplasmosis infection, which could
cause miscarriage or stillbirth.
·
Be really careful when cooking meat
and wash your hands thoroughly after touching raw meat.
·
Avoid liver, liver pâté and liver
sausage - it is really high in vitamin A and this can damage your baby.
·
Pâté in general should be
avoided because it can contain listeria (even vegetable pâté).
·
Avoid cured meats like salami and
Parma ham, again because of a higher risk of listeriosis and toxoplasmosis.
Fish and shellfish
·
Marlin, swordfish and shark are out
because of high levels of mercury, which might affect your baby's developing
nervous system.
·
Stick to white fish and keep oily
fish intake (mackerel, salmon, tuna, sardines) to 2–3 portions a week.
·
Stay away from oyster bars unless you
like your oysters cooked. All shellfish should be thoroughly cooked to avoid
food poisoning.
·
Be careful with sushi and only eat it
if the fish has been previously frozen. This can be difficult to know for
certain, so opt for vegetarian or cooked sushi instead.
Soil
Unless you have a
bad case of pica, it's doubtful you are going to be eating handfuls of earth,
but make sure you wash fruit and veg thoroughly as soil can contain harmful
bacteria.
Caffeine
You don't need to
avoid caffeine completely. You can still have 200mg a day, which amounts to
about one Americano and a small bar of chocolate.
Too
much caffeine can cause your baby to have a low birth weight and may cause
miscarriage. Remember the hidden caffeine in fizzy drinks - it's not just tea
or coffee you need to have in moderation.
Alcohol
Current guidance is
to should avoid alcohol altogether during pregnancy, particularly in the first
three months, but if you must drink to limit yourself to only one or two units
once or twice a week.
Advice
on drinking during pregnancy is one of those areas that seems to keep changing
and experts don't seem to be able to agree on what level is safe - hence the
advice to avoid alcohol completely.
But
there's no doubt that drinking during pregnancy is potentially dangerous
because alcohol crosses the placenta but your baby's developing liver can't
process it as fast as your liver can.
Too
much alcohol increases your risk of miscarriage and your baby's chance of
having a low birthweight. It can also lead to foetal alcohol spectrum disorder,
which causes serious health problems for your baby, such as heart defects and
behavioural disorders.
