Being pregnant requires a woman to be more selective in the kinds of food that she eats.  Additionally, there also other things which she should avoid doing.  You should not forget that the baby’s defense system is not yet fully developed and will be quite vulnerable to infection which you could pass on while still in your womb.  The woman’s immune system is not also at its best when pregnant so all the more that extra care should be taken to keep herself physically and emotionally healthy.

Pets

If you own a pet, you should see to it that you wash your hands every time you touch them because pets could pass on harmful bacteria from their feces.  You can get infected with this as you touch you mouth and other body parts which you could consequently pass on to the fetus.

Cats particularly could easily become the culprit because of the oxoplasmosis present in their feces.  If the cat has a litter tray, cleaning it should be done by somebody else because you can get easily infected by the bacteria.  If nobody can do it for you, then you should always use rubber gloves and face mask to prevent getting the bacteria inhaled through the nose and mouth.  Same thing if you are doing the garden where there could be feces on the soil.  Wear gloves and wash your hands thoroughly after each job.

A parasite can cause toxoplasmosis.  A healthy adult will not manifest any symptom and so will the baby.  If you already had this infection before, you will develop immunity to it and will never become sick of it for life.


Cheese

Although not all kinds of cheeses might have the bacteria, they are some types which could be harboring the bacteria and will certainly be bad for the mother,

Both pasteurized and unpasteurized soft cheeses should not be eaten which generally has a surface mould or rinds like Brie, Camembert and Danish Blue.  Cheeses that are manufactured with wax like Gouda, Post Salut, blue cheeses like Stilton, Gorgonzola and Roquefort should also be avoided.  In the safer category, we have the hard cheeses such as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Red Leicester.  Soft cheeses that are made of pasteurized milk such as mozzarella, cottage cheese, ricotta, processed cheese and cheese spreads are also safe.   However, if you are not so sure, just forget about cheese for the meantime.

Eggs

A kind of bacteria, the salmonella generally thrive in eggs.  To avoid getting these bacteria, avoid eating raw or partly raw eggs such as mayonnaise mad from home, sweet delicacies like meringues, cheesecakes, sorbets or mousses.  Mayonnaise that you buy from the store can be much safer provided that you are sure that pasteurized eggs have been used in its production.  Checking the label could save you from a lot of trouble.

Milk

For milk, products that have not passed pasteurization should never be used.  Check the label for pasteurized products to be sure that this is the product for you.

Meat

Animal or fowl meat should never be eaten raw or slightly cooked.  Processed foods are not very healthy as they are preserved with nitrite.  So forget about those cold cuts as well and just stick to freshly cooked food.  Meats should be cooked until the juice running put of the meat when pricked is clear and no longer red or pink which means there is still raw blood inside.  After touching raw meat, wash your hands very well prior to handling other types of food such as vegetables and fruits.  Liver has Vitamin A which comes in the form of retinol.  This can be harmful when ingested by pregnant women as it could increase her retinol level more than the required daily requirement which can be very harmful to the baby.  Thus, all products containing liver should be avoided like liver pâté and liver sausage.