As a pregnant woman, you need to take special care with your diet, since eating certain foods may harm you or your baby. Avoiding these foods makes adverse pregnancy outcomes less likely. Although the chance of some of these foods causing health problems is not high, these problems can cause a lot of harm when they do occur. Talk to your doctor if you have questions about safe foods or drinks.
Food Poisoning
Food poisoning during pregnancy can affect you severely and in some cases can affect your baby as well, so you should avoid the foods most likely to cause listeria, salmonella, toxoplasmosis and other food-borne illnesses. These foods include unwashed vegetables, unpasteurized cheese and juice, unpasteurized milk, raw eggs, meat that isn't fully cooked, deli meats that aren't heated to steaming, raw fish and seafood, pate, smoked seafood, raw cookie or cake batter, raw sprouts and store-bought salads.
Birth Defects
Alcohol can cause fetal alcohol syndrome or fetal alcohol effect. Because no amount is definitely safe, avoid all alcohol. Avoid fish that are high in mercury, including king mackerel, swordfish, shark and tilefish. Limit the amount of liver you consume, since eating too much can cause your vitamin A levels to increase too much, increasing the risk of birth defects for your baby. Fish caught by family and friends in local rivers and streams may be contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls from industrial pollution, so avoid these as well.
Early Labor or Miscarriage
Limit the amount of caffeine you consume during pregnancy, since high levels of caffeine may cause miscarriages. Also avoid herbal teas, since some herbs can bring on early labor or miscarriage. Even teas made specifically for pregnant women may contain herbs that are not safe, since many herbs haven't been well studied for use during pregnancy.
Considerations
Make sure all your meat and fish is thoroughly cooked. Choose fish that are low in mercury, including catfish, cod, pollock, shrimp and salmon, to get the benefit of the omega-3 fats contained in fish. Heat any deli or processed meats to steaming, and choose canned versions of smoked meats or pates if you don't want to avoid these foods entirely.
