What'd you crave/eat whilst pregnant?

[Sarah_]

My grandmother recently talked about the weirs stuff she felt like eating when she was pregnant with her kids, and I think it's hilarious and interesting. What food susbtance did you have to eat all the time, or what'd you eat that was an odd combo? My grandmother talked about a woman she knew who said she just had to eat this dirt in her back yard. ha

[mariana]

My grandmother talked about a woman she knew who said she just had to eat this dirt in her back yard. ha

Hmm, sounds like she had pica. I always heard that was related to iron deficiency, but from what I've just read, it's not necessarily. Interesting!

[BlackCats]

I've never been pregnant myself but my friend's sister used to buy boxes of blackboard chalk and nibble on them whilst she was pregnant with her first child.

[1gentlemaorispirit]

Peas! I craved and ate my way through a bag of frozen peas nearly every day! The other craving was licorice shoe laces and I hate the stuff!

[Islandgirl]

With my oldest I craved oranges. While this sounds a healthy craving I would eat at least 10 oranges every day and drink gallons of juice. Really I had to have the taste of oranges in my mouth the whole time.

When Catherine was born I wouldn't have been suprised to see her come out orange. At least we didn't need to worry about vitamin C deficiency and oranges are very high in calcium too so it could have been a lot worse

I don't really eat oranges that much usually so when I felt that familiar "I must have oranges" feeling come over me it was the first symptom that told me I was pregnant again.

[Poison Ivy]

First time, Bitter Lemon, must have drunk about 3 litres a day...but it HAD to be with lots of ice. If it didn't have ice (that I could sit and munch after I'd drunk the bitter lemon) I wasn't interested.

Also I was wanting to smell wet plaster...I found the open freezers in supermarkets had a similar smell, so when I went shopping I spent a looooong time choosing my frozen veg!

Second time, either Strawberry or Banana Milkshake (Nesquik)...preferrably banana but Strawberry did in a pinch!

[fondducoeur]

Good thread Sarah, this is interesting stuff! I've never been pregnant, but I didn't realize that strong cravings were this common!

When my mom was pregnant with my little sister, she craved mcdonald's like crazy... and aside from being an omni, she is normally very health conscious. Me, being 4 at the time (at not yet veg) , very much enjoyed those 9 months...

[Mag]

Hmm, dirt and chalk!?

Very interesting stuff. I already have strange tastes in food, I can only imagine that I'll crave some outrageous salty/sweet foods!

[Sarah_]

Yes, this is always interesting. My granny said when she was pregnant with her twins she ate Alka Seltzer all day.

[veganf]

With baby #1 - Luna bars, curry, mushroom & pickle pizza, chickpea salad.
#2 - I don't even remember, I was too busy with baby #1 to notice I suppose! Actually, wait, I do remember!! Peanut Butter Zig Zag soy ice cream! And ramen noodles with leafy greens.
#3 - bad morning sickness, but I ate a lot of potato chips, smoked Tofurky & soy cheese sandwiches , and Thai curry.
#4 - severe morning sickness...at one point the only 3 foods I could eat at all were Einstein Bros sundried tomato bagels, Twizzlers, & strawberry WholeSoy yogurt.

[Sarah_]

Mushroom and pickle pizza? Wow, haha.
What are some of the ways you handled your morning sickness? Are there teas or something to drink? PS everything else you've mnetioned sound like fantastic foods to me!

[Bellarose]

I had "pica" and I was iron deficient. I craved ice and sand. I chewed on ice constantly but never went so far as to eat it. In fact, I only craved it once when I saw it on TV, I never felt the urge to actual go into the back yard and eat it. My midwife put me on a nasty iron supplement and all was well. Oddly enough, I never had what I would call a regular food craving.

[cedarblue]

no cravings at all!

[veganf]

What are some of the ways you handled your morning sickness?

With the first two, gingerale, bland and salty foods, Sea Bands (acupressure bracelets). I was fine by 12 weeks.

With the third I used over the counter Diclectin, which is just a combo of half a Unisom (or generic equivalent) sleeping pill and vitamin B6. It took the edge off, but my morning sickness lasted until 26 weeks.

With the fourth I was on lots of drugs, because I couldn't even keep water down. Finally I ended up on liquid Ondansetron (generic Zofran), which is an anti-emetic typically given to chemo patients. It's very expensive, like $80 per day, and our insurance would only cover it for a few months, so I would take half a dose (luckily many here don't have to worry about crap like health insurance woes in the UK and Europe). FYI, the quick-melt tabs are not vegan, which is why I requested the liquid...IV is the only other option, but luckily I was able to avoid the hospital. I took that until 27 weeks and was able to manage after that without anything, only vomitting occasionally.

And I did try just about every other morning sickness "cure" out there...homeopathy, vitamins, herbs, accupuncture (actually made it worse ).

[Verencemos]

I've only been pregnant once and I craved turnip like crazy (even in summer when they weren't in season and looked really sad and not very good at all) and also ginger. I found ginger beer fantastic for morning sickness. The combination of ginger for the nausea and fizz to make me burp just did the trick.
V

[Janet]

I didn't have cravings, but I did dream I was eating a human arm, but then decided to save it until later because it wasn't cooked! The people I worked with at the time were winding me up saying it would be funny if I craved meat, it soon shut them up when I told them about my dream......!!!! lol

[CrunchyMomma]

When I was pregnant I had horrible morning sickness. I found the only things I could keep down (thus craved immensely) were cucumber slices soaked in vinegar and apple juice. I drank gallons of apple juice when I was pregnant. I also found that the odor of bread, anything frying and after shave made me sick, but lavender and peppermint were very soothing. I also had a severe aversion to soup, for some reason. But I attribute that to a mental association. When I first thought I was pregnant I was sitting at the Panera Bread Co. eating veggie stew and remember feeling incredibly nauseated, so from there on out the mere thought of soup sent me running to the toilet.

[Sarah_]

That's a shame! Anything with a broth or a soup in general? What I mean is could you stomach a ramen noodle soup with broth or was it specifically a no no to anything with broth?

[Sarah_]

Honestly, one of the things I'm looking forward to in pregnancy is being able to scarf on food all day long and not feel bad about it at all. I guess that's superficial of me, but there it is.

[Tigerlily]

My mom craved watermelon and tahini with me.

[Sarah_]

ooh, hopefully not together!

[Tigerlily]

I don't think so. But she said there were periods where all she wanted tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, and pita bread. I ended up being a very healthy 9lbs baby.