POLL: Pregnancy Food Aversions

[IvyInFlorida]

Newbie pregnant person here!  Thankfully, my terrible nausea seems to be letting up (I'm almost 11 weeks), but my food aversions are still strong.  I usually am a very healthy eater--big salads, chicken, fish, greek yogurt, etc.  But since about 6 weeks, I've had strong aversions to meat, veggies, yogurt, garlic, and tons of other stuff that I usually eat.  Basically the only things that don't sound utterly gross to me are peanut butter toast, cheese toast, cold fruit, and Gatorade.  Even water is gross is me.  Please weigh in about when your pregnancy aversions went away, if you experienced them!

[barnwife]

It depends on the pregnancy. With one of mine, I developed severe dysgeusia. Basically everything changed how it tasted to me. So pizza no loner tasted like what I thought of as pizza. The changes weren't always bad, just different/startling. And, due to that, some foods that I liked before, I no longer did or vice versa. For example, I never, ever liked sauerkraut before that pregnancy, but for the first time in my life I thought it was excellent.

The good news is that most of those changes went away after that pregnancy. But I do still like sauerkraut and I still can't stand raisins (which I'd always liked before. Now they are almost sweeter than pure sugar to me).

I'd say on average the changes go away by mid-pregnancy for me. Also, if plain water is a turn off, add lemon juice or a little fruit juice. FWIW, I am halfway through this pregnancy. I survived 1st tri this time on cold fruit (must have been in the fridge), string cheese, and Ritz crackers. 

My mom had an aversion to clam chowder during one of her pregnancies. It took her over 30 years to be able to try it again!

[sassenach]

They almost always subsided shortly after birth except pesto with one kid, which took me about a year to get back to. 

[BusyMom5]

This last time I had so many!  They lasted the whole pregnancy,  too.  For water, drop in a peppermint and let it dissolve.  Last time that was dairy, beef, salad and uncooked veggies like broccoli.  After delivering I could ear a bit of beef and salad again, but the baby had dairy issues so I stayed DF for the next year+ while nursing.  Even now, shes almost 3, and I do eat dairy but not a lot.  I can drink a small amount of milk or a scoop or two of ice cream.  If I eat too much, I feel sick.  Thankfully my other pregnancies weren't this bad!  Most of my food aversions went away within as month of delivery with all my other kids.

[purpleowl]

I said after delivery, though they did ease up some after 20ish weeks each time. 

However, I still recall how Chick-fil-A hash browns suddenly tasted like penicillin during one of my pregnancies (I think the second one), and I still cannot eat them. That's the only aversion I had that stuck around. I used to like those things and sometimes miss them, but the memory of that taste... *shudder*

[BarbecueMom]

I had an aversion to homemade hamburger buns during my first pregnancy.  Not all homemade breads, just hamburger buns.  I’m still gagging just thinking about it, and that child is almost 12 now.  But I have no idea when the milder aversions went away.  I was pretty bad at tracking and remembering those kinds of details.

[Selkie]

With my two boys, I had only a little nausea and no food aversions. With dd, it was a different story - I was sick through the whole pregnancy and couldn't stomach many of my favorite foods. The one I especially remember was these little veggie spring rolls that I loved, but all of a sudden, just the thought of them turned my stomach. So weird! It took months after she was born before I could even look at them again.

[Calm37]

I've just started eating ground turkey again and my youngest is 21.

[gardenmom5]

I didn't vote, five pregnancies - it varied as to when they went away.

the saddest was an aversion to chocolate.  dh and I went out for ice cream sundaes, and I had an immediate aversion to it.  just - get it away.  I hadn't even taken a pregnancy test.

[Paige]

I became averse to some things because I vomited them up too much. Some of it still makes me gag- even from my DS(18)!

I don't think I ever had any significant aversions that caused me to quit eating something in the first place. 

[hjffkj]

usually by 15 weeks

[HS Mom in NC]

Different for each kid, including the adopted one (youngest) because I relactated using the hormonal mimic pregnancy approach.

[sweet2ndchance]

Different for each kid. I still can't eat powdered sugar donuts. I've been averse to those since oldest ds's pregnancy. He turned 22 yesterday....

[MEmama]

I think the only aversion I had was to eggplant. 18 years later the thought of it still makes me gag. 

[Bootsie]

For first pregnancy I could not even stand the smell of potatoes.  I was at my sisters' house once when she was cutting potatoes and I had to run out of the house gagging the smell was so bad.  It lasted the entire pregnancy.   DD is now grown and will not let anyone bring potatoes into her apartment--she doesn't even like to smell them.

I ate potatoes just fine during the second pregnancy.  Potatoes are one of DS's favorite foods.

[Arcadia]

I am a picky eater so luckily my already limited choices didn’t get smaller. I did crave more fish and meat, specifically salmon and red meat. Think the red meat craving was due to my anemia being worse during pregnancies. I always had a hard time drinking water so that wasn’t a pregnancy aversion. I drank coconut water, ate watermelon instead. 

I did have an aversion to the smell of oil when cooking so would sit far from the kitchen area when eating at restaurants or food courts. I could eat fried food, just not the smell of food being fried.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Arcadia
Typo

[QueenCat]

I couldn't be around raw chicken throughout my pregnancies. With #2, it was how I guessed I was pregnant.... 

[LBK]

10 hours ago, IvyInFlorida said:

Newbie pregnant person here!  Thankfully, my terrible nausea seems to be letting up (I'm almost 11 weeks), but my food aversions are still strong.  I usually am a very healthy eater--big salads, chicken, fish, greek yogurt, etc.  But since about 6 weeks, I've had strong aversions to meat, veggies, yogurt, garlic, and tons of other stuff that I usually eat.  Basically the only things that don't sound utterly gross to me are peanut butter toast, cheese toast, cold fruit, and Gatorade.  Even water is gross is me.  Please weigh in about when your pregnancy aversions went away, if you experienced them!

For me, that's just the first trimester experience.  This current pregnancy, my fourth, I had the "worst" (for me, definitely not compared to many others' descriptions) and earliest nausea/food aversions thus far. I also always had this awful taste in my mouth no matter how recently I had brushed my teeth... Had to keep mints and hard candy (whatever kind that didn't gross me out that day!) especially when driving to take my mind off of it... My poor teeth. I'm about 20 wks now and no trace of that issue or nausea luckily.

For the water aversion, have you tried ice cold water with a good squeeze of lemon juice? I've never been picky about water temp or asked for lemon with water at restaurants and such but for some reason that's my favorite drink right now and often took the edge off nausea in the first trimester.

Don't torture yourself looking at the poll results and assuming you're in for months of eating nothing but what you listed! It's totally normal to not be able to eat your healthiest diet during the first trimester. If you're already noticing improvement I'm pretty sure you'll be doing fine given another couple weeks. 

[Melissa in Australia]

I not only had food aversions but developed food cravings. 

4 pregnancies I craved crackers. I never eat them any other time. DH once joked he knew when I was pregnant when he opened the pantry and there were boxes and boxes of crackers. 

One pregnancy I craved lollies 

[Forget-Me-Not]

Congrats!
 

With my first pregnancy I developed a severe aversion to eggs. I couldn’t even choke down baked goods if I knew they contained eggs.  I drove my husband crazy reading labels, lol. By my third trimester I could do baked goods again, but I couldn’t eat straight eggs cooked any method until after my pregnancy, and even 17 yrs later I still haven’t quite ever felt the same about them again. 
 

I don’t remember other aversions. I know I had them, but none as severe as that. OTOH I desperately craved fruit with all 4.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Forget-Me-Not

[HSmomof2]

Coffee aversion (couldn’t even stand the smell of it, and I normally love coffee) went away by about 20 weeks. Water had to be ice cold. Teriyaki aversion lasted throughout pregnancy. Eggs, I still don’t eat 16 years later. 

[Shoeless]

No aversions, but I developed a craving for chicken noodle soup while pregnant.  I HATE chicken noodle soup. Couldn't get enough of it while pregnant, though. 🤷‍♂️

I also ate tons of baked chicken fingers made from a recipe on a box of Bisquick. They were amazing while pregnant. I made them once after I'd had kiddo and said to DH "These are awful! Why didn't you tell me?!".  Never made them again! 

 

[IvyInFlorida]

2 hours ago, MissLemon said:

No aversions, but I developed a craving for chicken noodle soup while pregnant.  I HATE chicken noodle soup. Couldn't get enough of it while pregnant, though. 🤷‍♂️

I also ate tons of baked chicken fingers made from a recipe on a box of Bisquick. They were amazing while pregnant. I made them once after I'd had kiddo and said to DH "These are awful! Why didn't you tell me?!".  Never made them again! 

 

 

This reminds me of my current predicament--cooking.  It's so hard to cook for the family when you can't taste the stuff to check if the seasoning is right!  I keep asking my husband to tell me f something is off, but I have a strong feeling that he'd just suck it up instead.  lol

[UnionJack]

18 hours ago, Calm37 said:

I've just started eating ground turkey again and my youngest is 21.

This is so funny -- ground turkey was also a huge aversion of mine during my first pregnancy (oldest is 14) and it has lasted!  I still cringe at the thought of it 🙂 

[Ausmumof3]

Ugh I wrong and now I can’t undo it.  I thought the question was when did they begin.  So you have one vote too many on the first trimester.  But I can’t work out how to undo it.