Food Cravings While Pregnant

[SorceressPol]

I was discussing food on another forum, and a couple mothers brought up the fact that their children had the same likes and dislikes that they had when they were pregnant. One of the woman had an aversion to one of her favorite foods while pregnant, and that child has always hated that food. The food cravings that they had ended up being some of the foods they had never eaten or liked, but it's the child's favorite food. So what exactly causes food cravings when pregnant?

[YT2095]

I`m not entirely certain either, but anecdotal evidence (1`st hand) suggested to me an Aversion to certain foods in this instance.

in my wife`s case she suffered with chronic Acid attacks, and so Any food that made this worse she went off, and anything that helped Stop the acid she went onto, not all of it was Conscious choice either.

so it Appeared to be a craving when in fact it was a strong aversion.

 

I don`t know if that helps any?

[SorceressPol]

Yes it did, thanks. In some cases I'm hearing that the food they were craving had the nutrients that they needed, but for others, they had an aversion to foods that they needed to eat, which made them sick. I have acid reflux so I completely understand what your wife was going through. I don't eat certain nutritious foods because they have a high acid content, so maybe they had an aversion to some healthy foods because of something similar, or the foods affected other parts of their bodies.

[YT2095]

the other odd part about it was that just before she gave birth (about 2 weeks prior) she started wanting to eat these things again, even though it gave her acid, now 11 weeks later she`s back to "normal" again, no acid no nothing

but before she couldn`t even stand the Smell of some of these foods (my guess would be association).

another strange part is that when I cook now, and serve up our child (11 weeks old) won`t keep her eyes off our plates and starts crying, I`ve given her a "taste" (not the actual food) and she`s all happy again

[[Tycho?]]

Apparently some women get the urge to eat dirt while pregnant, which means they have an iron deficiency.

 

I just heard this somewhere, not sure of accuracy.

[senexa]

About twenty-five years ago, Annamarie Colbin wrote an excellent book, Food And Healing: How What You Eat Determines Your Health, Your Well-Being And The Quality Of Your Life [ballantine Books (Trd Pap) 1996].

 

She reviewed the interactions between eating and cravings, i.e., eat a lot of red meat and you will crave chocolate. The book is out of print, but here's a good alternative:

 

http://www.naturopathyworks.com/pages/cravings.html

 

On a purely anecdotal level, my kids actually do each really like the things I craved during each of their pregnancies (watermelon for one, saltines with butter for another, and Kraft macocheese with a side of canned peaches for the third.)

[ecoli]

My mother told me that when she was pregnant, she had cravings for MacDonald's Milkshakes. I can't imagine what nutritional value she needed from those things. lol.

[coquina]

I don't remember cravings, but I do remember aversions. My sense of smell was so acute that driving by a hamburger stand and smelling meat frying made me retch.

[aiza]

I was discussing food on another forum, and a couple mothers brought up the fact that their children had the same likes and dislikes that they had when they were pregnant. One of the woman had an aversion to one of her favorite foods while pregnant, and that child has always hated that food. The food cravings that they had ended up being some of the foods they had never eaten or liked, but it's the child's favorite food. So what exactly causes food cravings when pregnant?

 

Hmmm... Not yet at that subject, but my class right now is in the same topic about pregnant women having to need nutritions and minerals.

That "Liking-food-that-i dont-like" for pregnant women are actual signs that a person is pregnant, maybe its hormonal?? Or mood change, maybe something like when a woman get their menstraul cycle (irritation and mood swings) they transform to totaly diffrent person. (Guys with girlfriends know that.)