I'm just curious

Discussion in 'Women's Forum' started by feministhippy, Jul 20, 2004.

  1. feministhippy

    feministhippy Member

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    I hear people talking about the fact that when they are pregnant, the doctor gives them certain diets and stuff. So I was wondering if it was healthy for the baby if the pregnant woman was vegetarian or vegan. Will doctors give you different diets for those cases, or will you just eat meat for those 9 months and go off it afterwords or what?
     
  2. Sera Michele

    Sera Michele Senior Member

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    My aunt is a vegetatian, and was throughout the pregnancy. She is quite a health nut. Unfourtunatly her baby was born with kidney problems and liver peoblems, and have had multiple surgeries for both. Also, her facial muscles were not fully devoloped, and she had a major speech impediment the first part of her life.


    I know my aunt was doing what she thought was healthy...but I think a vegetatian diet needs to be discussed in detail with your doctor if you are pregnant.
     
  3. feministhippy

    feministhippy Member

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    Yeah, but was that related to the way she ate?

    I'm not pregnant (thank g-d), I was just curius.
     
  4. FireQueen

    FireQueen Member

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    wow i am so sorry for your friend! hopefully that was not all caused by not eating meat!
    but i would assume and from what i know is you have to adjust your diet during pregnancy to include the necessary foods for your baby. i am a vegatarian and i look at it as my choice and if i was/when i become pregnant i will eat what the baby needs and go back to living my choice after that.
    and not that this is any kind of medical info, but i remember in friends when phoebe was preggars she had to eat meat b/c everything else made her nausous~ she said "the babies want me to eat meat" lol! :)
     
  5. HappyHaHaGirl

    HappyHaHaGirl *HipForums Princess*

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    I've heard a lot of stories about babies whose mothers were on a veggie diet throughout pregnancy being born underdeveloped. I even heard about one being born with her organs on the outside....eeesh. I'm not a doctor or anything, though, so I can't be certain. I started eating meat when I was about 4 1/2 months pregnant.... not because those stories scared me, really.... that might have been part of it.... but I couldn't sleep or do anything because all I wanted were some fucking barbequed ribs! It drove me nuts for weeks.... finally, I just went for it. I figured that, if I was craving it as terribly as I was, I must need it. :) I went back after he was born, though. I hated imposing my beliefs on the poor guy.... hehe... :)
     
  6. backtothelab

    backtothelab Senior Member

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    I pretty much understood that if your body craves a certain type of food, theres something in it that your body needs. Or in this case, your baby's body. It's weird, I was gonna post a thread about this today but I forgot. Glad somebody did though.
     
  7. vinceneilsgirl

    vinceneilsgirl Member

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    The vegetarian diet (including vegan), if followed correctly is perfectly healthy for every age and stage of life including pregnancy. Click on the link in my sig to learn more. :)
     
  8. Faerie Jane

    Faerie Jane Member

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    I have followed a vegan diet before, during, and after my pregnancy. My son was completely healthy. His wife is a vegatarian and just delivered a very healthy baby.

    If you follow the diet properly you can get all the vitamins and nutriments you and your baby need.
     
  9. Maggie Sugar

    Maggie Sugar Senior Member

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    I was a vegetarian (ovo lacto) at the beginning of my first pregnancy. (Didn't know I was dairy allergic, blech!) This was in 1985 and my doctor said as long as I ate a balanced diet, got enough protein and iron and was feeling good, it was fine. I told him I was having a lot of cravings, and he said as long as it wasn't "clay or laundry starch" go ahead and eat it. Well, at about 3 months I had an unbeleivable craving for meat. I hadn't eaten or craved meat in years, and here I was NEEDING a Whopper! I ate one, and suddenly had many of my fatigue and nausea problems go away. I don't think every womyn needs meat while pregnant, but I obviously did.

    I have plenty of friends and clients who are veg and vegan, never crave meat and have perfect pregnancies and perfect babies. One caveat, mamas who are Vegan NEED to supplement with B12. You just can't get enough usable B12 with vegan foods (including sea veggies, which have an unusable form of the vitamin) serious vitamin deficiencies will result in the baby, if no B12 is taken during pregnancy and breastfeeding, as the body cannot store it, and many vegan mamas are already a little B12 deficient. Also you need a LOT more during pregnancy than you do as a nonpregnant or nursing adult.
     
  10. mynameiskc

    mynameiskc way to go noogs!

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    when i was pregnant i could barely touch meat. and i'm a hunter. i was mad for ice cold milk, though. my daughter was fine. i suppose your baby will let you know. however, i know quite a few vegans who delivered just fine. however, they were doctors, nurses and dieticians. they were extremely driven to ingest enough protein. one of them delivered two exquisite, healthy-happy-sassy twins. the risk lies in whether or not you're truly engaged and aware of your diet and determined to pursue proper nutrition. it takes quite a lot of effort and energy in our society. there's plenty of women in the world where meat is not as prevalent who have delivered healthy babies for ages.
     
  11. squawkers7

    squawkers7 radical rebel

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    Before my 9 yr old son was born I was eating a vegetarian diet. My son weighed

    8 pounds 8 ounces and was healthy. He was one of my smallest babies and is still rather skinny for his age.

    Dr's usually tell you that you need more calcium & protein during pregnancy,
    but you can get that from other foods besides meat. It may be easier if you
    like dairy foods but not impossible without it. When that son started eating, he was the first kid in the house to eat tofu.
     

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