While being pregnant is an amazing time in a woman’s life, it is also a time in which people say “no” to you a lot.
There is so much that you can’t have and that you need to avoid.
This doesn’t make it as fun of a 9 months as you would imagine.
There is so much to give up, in fact, that it can be hard to keep track of what you are allowed and what you aren’t.
To help you out with that predicament, we have curated 3 lists of the main things you have to forego during pregnancy. I’m sure there will be things that we have missed so it is always important to check with your doctors/nurses before you make any decisions, but hopefully, this list will get you started.
If there’s anything you know we have missed, feel free to let us know in the comments to help us and other parents out!
Foods:
The main foods you need to avoid during pregnancy will be ones that could include harmful bacterias, germs, the risk of salmonella, or toxicities such as mercury.
A golden rule is to avoid fish and anything not cooked well-done. It’s just about taking as much precaution as you can. It’s also important to wash all your produce while pregnant too as you can’t risk any fertilisers entering your system. Take extra care with this if your food is organic.
Here is our mini list of the main foods to avoid whilst pregnant, hopefully, none of your favourite things are on there:
- Fish
- Raw and soft eggs
- Medium-well meat
- Organ meat
- Anything unpasteurised or unwashed
- Processed foods
Drinks:
The drinks you need to avoid while pregnant are probably the most obvious items that you already know to avoid. I don’t think there’s anyone out there in 2021 that doesn’t know to avoid all alcohol while pregnant, is there?
But, there are a couple more things on there you might not know about, so we have included a list of drinks too.
It’s basically avoiding alcohol and caffeine at all costs. Things like tea you can enjoy in moderation but that will be up to your own discretion, if you are cutting out caffeine completely then tea has to go too. Even green tea!
Here’s the list:
- Coffee
- Fizzy drinks with caffeine
- Tea
- Alcohol
- Energy drinks
Activities:
- Weight lifting
- Baths and hot tubs
- Contact sport
- Cleaning cat litter
- Some cleaning products
- Spray tans and sunbeds
- Xrays
- Saunas
- Painting
- Using home hair dyes
The activities list is probably the longest of all the lists of what to avoid during pregnancy.
Some, again, will be old news to you, like weight lifting and hot tubs, but some might surprise you, like cleaning out cat litter. Cat litter produces harmful bacteria for pregnant women and should be avoided at all costs.
Things like painting and home hair dyes should be avoided because of interaction with toxins that can be breathed in, and the rest should be pretty self-explantory.
Yes, there’s a lot you can’t do and it can feel a little inhibiting but try and focus on all the things you can do instead. Those lists are much much longer, I promise you.
