S/o, what strange thing did you crave while pregnant?

[saraha]

With my oldest, watermelon and cheese. I ate a ridiculous amount of watermelon and blocks of cheddar cheese.

#2- bacon

#3- chocolate milkshakes with banana mixed in from UDF

#4- with this one I had a lot of food aversions 

#5- a cold cut combo from subway with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and olives

#6- cantelope, I once asked a UDF worker if she could make me a cantelope milkshake! She said no ☹️
 

with one angel I craved Burger King cheese burgers, then I would smash it before eating it. I ate a lot of those

with my other I craved salads with tons of shredded cheese and ranch dressing

[sweet2ndchance]

When I was pregnant with my first, I craved the milk from a bowl of Fruit Loops. I didn't want to eat the cereal, I just wanted the milk after the cereal soaked in it lol. I just saw a little while back that they actually sell Fruit Loops flavored milk now. lol!

With all my kids, I craved Poptarts at one point or another. I can't stand Poptarts normally. When I crave Poptarts, it's time to take a pregnancy test and it is very very rarely negative at that point lol.

When I was pregnant with my 4th, we lived overseas and I craved McDonald's ice cream cones. We had McDonald's but they did not serve soft serve ice cream cones. If you asked for ice cream, you got the little ice cream cups like you can buy at the grocery store. 

[TechWife]

I actually went through the stereotypical pickle craving  phase around 8 weeks. It lasted about a week, IIRC. Claussen pickles specifically. And cold. If it was out of the fridge too long I didn’t want it. I don’t remember any other cravings. P

[Arcadia]

Nothing strange though. I was craving seafood (sashimi, seafood curry, shrimps, oysters, takoyaki) and pork (bulgogi, barbecued) which isn’t surprising since I was anemic for both pregnancies. I did want fried ice cream (https://tasty.co/recipe/tempura-fried-ice-cream) more than I usually do. 

[Shoeless]

Fresh fruit, chicken noodle soup, and turkey sandwiches from Jimmy Johns. I still like fruit and turkey sandwiches, but I HATE chicken noodle soup. Once I had the baby, the craving for chicken noodle soup was gone and I haven't' had that kind of soup since. 

[Junie]

With ds, I had no specific cravings; but with all of the girls I craved steak, seafood, and cranberry sauce.

[Clarita]

Not super strange but I wanted ALL THE FRIES.

[Murphy101]

I didn’t have many strange cravings. Maybe bc I had hypermesis. I don’t remember many cravings now that it’s been awhile.

taco salad minus the lettuce with #1 (he still won’t eat lettuce)

strawberry milkshakes with #5 (she ordered a strawberry latte the other day and I got the warm fuzzies remembering that)

but the weirdest to ME bc it was awful was with #7 I desperately craved McDonalds cheeseburgers and beer.  I really hate both of those.  Like I never drink carbonated beverages bc my body revolts against the bubbles and think nearly all beer tastes like what I imagine pee must tastes like.   And I have always thought those burgers taste horrible and wouldn’t finish one even as a kid.  Somewhere there’s a picture of a nauseated me crying while eating a McD cheeseburger bc it was the only thing I wouldn’t puke bc baby craved it but absolutely hating the taste of the thing personally.  Skipped the beer.  LOL  Dh would both feel horrible for me and amused bc he’d bring one home from work and thought I was just adorable and pitiful at the same time, so he took a picture with a Polaroid camera. I was so ticked off about it.

oh! Goat milk with baby #9. Did you know Whole Paycheck will give you a bulk discount on it? Bc that’s how we learned that.  I must have drank 3-4 gallons of it a week while pregnant with her.   Never drank it before or since. Granted she also was my biggest baby at 10lb.  We joke that she crawled out of the womb and now she’s my beautiful Amazon girl.

 

[Resilient]

I ate at least 8 oranges every day.  Closer to 10 most days.

[alysee]

Every pregnancy I craved Fruit and despised eggs. Each one other than that has been different.

My first I craved cereal. Any cereal would do.

My second I craved sour candy and ice.

My third pregnancy I craved burgers, ice and spinach dip. Surprise surprise I became anemic.

My 4th pregnancy I craved mayonnaise. I would dip raw vegetables, pickles, french fries or even a burger into it. 

My 5th pregnancy I craved cold crisp apples and Pizza. 

 

 

[MEmama]

Baby carrots. Bags and bags of baby carrots. I couldn't eat enough.

When DS was starting to eat real food he especially loved puréed carrots and sweet potato. He ate so many orange foods his skin had an orange tint from all the beta carotene. Lol. I always wondered if there was any connection.

[Carrie12345]

I was just telling dd on her recent 21st b-day about how I ate so much canned pineapple that I was burning my mouth.

[Melissa in Australia]

Crackers.  just plane salted crackers. DH always said he could tell when I was pregnant by opening up the pantry door and seeing rows of cracker boxes. I don't eat them any other time

[Eos]

Ha, I came here to spin off this same post. 

1 chocolate milkshakes

2 sand

3 spicy foods

4 nothing specific

More about the sand with #2 - I really truly craved it.  I would roll down my window and drive on the shoulder of the road to hear it crunch.  Dh was worried I was wanting to eat gravel from the driveway and so gently suggested I go to the beach and eat clean sand instead, lol.  I finally bought boxes of grape-nuts and ate those, which was close enough.

[Kidlit]

@Eos on the sand thing--I have crunched ice so much at various stages of pregnancy and life in general that my husband researched it and discovered---a sign of anemia!  I wonder if your craving means the same thing since grape nuts--very crunchy--sated it.  (This May be common knowledge, but I was amazed to learn my extreme craving was driven by a deficit!)

I don't remember tons of cravings besides the above, just things I could tolerate.  With my first I ate Cheezits and drank apple juice or Dr Pepper because it was what I could hold down. I was a school librarian at the time, and my principal would say that he could tell if it was going to be a good or bad day based on what I was carrying in my hand (a drink or nothing) when I walked through the door.  My library aide said my baby was going to be born "starched stiff" because I ate so many carbs in the form of Cheezits. 🤣
 

It was the aversions for me. 🤢

 

[Tenaj]

I specifically remember that with pregnancy #2 it was sweet tarts or anything with that sweet and sour taste.

Others that repeated during other pregnancies were Arby's roast beef sandwiches and McDonald's fish sandwiches.  I think those were because I was so sick that anything I cooked (and had to smell while cooking) I couldn't eat so fastfood protein was what I survived on.

Popcorn with parmesan cheese was another staple for a few kids.  Popcorn and a Coke.  

 

[JustEm]

4 out of my 7 pregnancies I knew I was pregnant while grocery shopping and I picked up SpaghettiOs. They weren't anything I ever ate and the thought of them makes me a little sick while not pregnant, but early in my pregnancies I would see a can and basically salivate. 

Another thing I craved was McDonald's cheeseburgers, something I do not eat but my body begged for it in pregnancy.   

The only other odd food thing for me was watermelon.  I've hated watermelon my entire life.  The smell of it used to make me nauseous and the taste/texture made me gag.  But while pregnant I LOVED it.  Devoured it if I saw it. But once I was no longer pregnant I'd go back to hating everything about it.  Since my last pregnancy 3 years ago, I haven't lost my love for watermelon and truly don't understand what I ever hated about it.

[Brittany1116]

With my first, I had an aversion to meat and craved apples and cinnamon rolls. 

With my second, I ate my weight in pears. I also craved peanut butter sandwiches and cold cereal, which I hadn't eaten for years prior to that pregnancy. 

[mom2scouts]

I don't remember all my cravings, but with my last it was Taco Bell chalupas and with another it was mashed potatoes. I also started drinking coffee during one of my pregnancies because I suddenly loved the smell of it.

[purpleowl]

We joked that kid 1 should have been named Nectarine because I ate so many of them.

With kids 2 and 3, I mainly had aversions. I drank a lot of Chick-fil-A lemonade with both of those, because it helped the nausea.

With kid 2 at one point I was eating Chick-fil-A hash browns and they tasted like penicillin. To this day (over 11 years later) I cannot eat those because that taste memory is so strong! 

[Katy]

I didn’t have cravings but I had pretty bad morning sickness and I found the smell of raw meat revolting. Especially chicken. 

I used to love those tropical flavors of sugar free popsicles when I was pregnant. I thought the red ones tasted exactly like a Hurricane (minus the alcohol). But I don’t like them when I’m not pregnant. They’re bland and kind of gross. 

[ScoutTN]

1. Homemade mac n cheese. I made big casseroles of it and had it for lunch almost every day.

2. Anything sour. Mostly limeade and really strong vinaigrette dressing. And occasionally the traditional dill pickle! 

[Ali in OR]

I don't know if these still exist, but little Jeno's pepperoni pizzas from the grocery store. Picture the cheapest little pizza on a cardboard crust.

Youngest was formed on Jack-in-the-Box tacos.

I remember when the meat craving kicked in around the time I could start feeling the baby.

I remember when our church did a baked potato bar after church one day and the smell made me leave ready to puke. I never ate baked potatoes anyway but I still can't handle the smell.

[alisoncooks]

Didn’t really have cravings, but I was so sick and went through phases of what was palatable. I ate nothing but green apples for a while. Then fries bologna sandwiches. Once I’d find something I could keep down, I’d cling to it for a while. 

[Jaybee]

It was kind of weird. During pregnancy, I had fewer cravings than when not--it seems my hormones were so wonky that pregnancy evened them out a bit, and it was easier for me to eat healthily. I could not abide coffee or hot tea. Toothpaste aversions made it hard to brush my teeth without gagging. HOWEVER,  one night during my first pregnancy, I wanted tater tots (something I never bought or even thought about). It was the only thing I could think about. I guess I completely forgot that you could buy them in the freezer section, and we couldn't think of a fast food restaurant near us that sold them. It was a bitter disappointment. And one night during my second pregnancy, I wanted a steak sandwich so badly I could taste it. But I wanted one like Sonic used to have: it was a chicken-fried steak sandwich (breaded and fried beef patty, mayo, lettuce, tomato). So good! We were in a different region of the US, where I guess that unhealthy goodness was not a thing. The only thing dh could find was a "steak" sandwich--basically steak on toasted bread. I ate it, because he had gone to so much effort, but it wasn't satisfying at all. I don't think I had any cravings with my other pregnancies. I did usually treat myself to a milkshake after my monthly check-ups.

[prairiewindmomma]

I craved vacations alone on the beach? I just wanted to hear oceans breaking on the shore and feel a cool breeze on my face.

I threw up, a lot. I literally threw up through my entire last pregnancy, including the immediate hour after delivery. Food did not sound good.

[DawnM]

I craved Chinese food, you know the nasty greesy fast food type Chinese food.

And I could not tollerate any tomato sauce at all.   No Italian and not much Mexican (salsa and anything tomato based)

I also could not handle the smell of fish at all.   I walked into more than one restaurant and couldn't stay because I smelled fish, even though it wasn't a specified seafood restaurant and no one else seemed to be able to smell it.

[Kidlit]

During my first pregnancy, I made my husband move a console table from our living room into the garage because the smell of the finish on it made me so nauseous. 

[barnwife]

I never craved anything, but I did have dysgeusia during one pregnancy. I'd vaguely realized my taste was off, but hadn't thought to much about it. Then one day as I was cooking, I absentmindedly licked a measuring spoon I had just used. In my mind, I was thinking I had just used it for honey, but I hadn't actually gotten to that point yet. I had just used it to measure soy sauce. 

And let me tell you, that tiny amount of soy sauce was one of the most amazing things I've ever eaten. It took a lot of willpower not to drink the rest of the container.  I think about how phenomenal it was not infrequently. And how I'll never experience that again.

Boy, that was a weird 8 months. 

[Terabith]

Banana pudding with my oldest.  Nothing in particular with second.  

[kbutton]

Eggs with my first. Not so much a craving as when I would see, smell, or think about an egg, I would need eggs. I ate them daily, and I still do, but prior to that, I was pretty take it or leave it about eggs. I also had some short-lived aversions, and it seems like coffee was on that list.

With my second I was hungry all.the.time. I had a hard time finding enough healthy food to eat without wanting to scream at eating yet another veggie, fruit, etc. DH once made me the biggest hamburger I had ever seen on a particularly hungry day, and I almost wept with relief that I felt satiated for a while. I visited my parents, and my mom was sure I gained ten pounds while at her house with all the food I ate, but when I went to the doctor, I had LOST two pounds. The whole pregnancy, I lost or maintained weight until preeclampsia kicked in at 26 weeks, and I gained water weight. My big vice during that pregnancy was Little Debby Peanut Butter Bars. When I got tired of eating well, I would pull those out. 

[rebcoola]

I never really had cravings. I was another who was nauseous and things stank.  2 out of 3 pregnancies I figured it out because I walked in someplace and the smell made me almost vomit and walk back out.

The closest thing was with my first pregnancy when I was about 4 months a friend made battered chicken wings and I could not stop eating them!!

[wisdomandtreasures]

First, I saw an ad for Burger King chicken "fries" and HAD. TO. HAVE. THEM. Then it was Costco's food court hot dogs. This came after 3.5 years as a vegetarian. 😉

Second, nachos. Not good nachos with guacamole, pico de Gallo, beans, and cilantro on top. Nope. Cheapo Taco Bell nachos with fluorescent orange sauce.

Third, we were at a thrift shop and the owner's husband walked in with KFC fried chicken for her. I don't like KFC. But I suddenly had to have fried chicken. When my husband went to get it, I said "Can you pick up a pregnancy test on your way?" Sure enough, baby 3 was on the way! Hahaha! 

Fourth, pickles and yogurt. I had never liked tangy stuff like that and detested pickles until then. 

Fifth, pickles again (Bubbies brand--they are SUPER TANGY and crunchy and salty! I love them!). They helped a lot with my heartburn.

Sixth, pizza. Homemade, from the best place in town, or from the WinCo deli--didn't matter! I just wanted pizza!  😉span widget

[Jenny in Florida]

Nothing "strange" in the stereotypical ice-cream-and-pickles way. However, I did really crave certain things with each kiddo, and interestingly each of them gravitated towards those foods as kids and still do even as adults.

With my daughter, it was all Indian food all the time. Like I worked in lower Manhattan at the time and used to go to one of a couple of Indian restaurants for lunch more than a couple of times a week. And we lived across the street from two Indian restaurants who recognized our phone number when we call in an order. My daughter now lives in Brooklyn, and one of the criteria they rely on when renting an apartment is whether they are within the delivery zone for King of Tandoor.

With my son, I craved (and I guess this was a little weird, given that I had been vegetarian/vegan for about a decade at that point) meatball sandwiches. Fortunately, I discovered that the pizza place down the street from us made a sandwich with sauteed bell peppers and onions, plus (and I know it sounds odd, but it hit the spot at the time) french fries smothered in marinara and plopped into a toasted sub roll. I ate more of them than I care to admit during that pregnancy. And, again, to this day my son's go-to meal is pasta with marinara served with garlic bread and a side of french fries. 

Oh, that pregnancy was also when I started making/drinking fruit smoothies spiked with protein powder. I simply lost interest in food during that one -- other than those sandwiches -- and needed some way to get some kind of nutrition into my body. The smoothies worked. And -- wouldn't you know it? -- my daughter won't have anything to do with them, but my son drank on nearly every morning of his life until he went to college. 

With both pregnancies, I found I had trouble eating at all if I had to cook the food or even smell it while it was cooking. 

Edited June 2, 2023 by Jenny in Florida

[Jaybee]

Looks like many of us wanted salty foods.

A funny thing with my first pregnancy. I didn't drink anything with caffeine in it--except maybe chocolate milkshakes--partly for health, partly because I was completely turned off by the smell/taste of coffee and hot tea. However, when I was about 7 months pregnant, we went with some friends to a Mexican restaurant, and I ordered iced tea because it sounded like the perfect thing that night. And it was! I drank several glasses. After having no caffeine for months, it hit me with great potency. When we went to bed that night, my poor dh was trying to go to sleep, and I was jabbering 90mph about any and everything. I could look at myself objectively and think, "What in the world is wrong with me, and why am I bouncing off the walls like a lunatic??", but I couldn't seem to stop. Thankfully, eventually my battery ran down.

[Kela]

I don't remember craving anything with my 1st, except maybe sweets.

With my 2nd I craved honeycrisp apples. Had to have them, even though i normally hate apples. Funny thing, that child nearly lives off of apples. She is known to walk around with one in each hand, eating them off my moms apple tree. The other thing was McDonald's chicken nuggets and honey to dip them in. 

For some reason, I threw up every day through the whole pregnancy with my 2nd. I was still sick to my stomach and threw up often for about two years after I had her.

[Carol in Cal.]

I don't remember craving anything specific, but I remember becoming fiercely hungry, needing to eat RIGHT THEN, quite a bit.

I developed an aversion to Mexican and Guatemalan food, and that took a while to clear.

And although coffee looked and smelled and tasted good to me, I realized accidentally that it was giving me low grade nausea all day (from just one cup in the morning), and once I cut that out my nausea went away, which was great.

[Bambam]

With my second, I wanted jalapeno cornbread.  I would go to Jason's Deli for their salad bar and load up on their jalapeno cornbread. Sadly Jason's doesn't carry that any more. 

With both, the smell of coffee was extra awful. I had trouble going down that aisle in the grocery store.  I don't like the smell any time, but it was way worse when I was pregnant.  

[fraidycat]

With my first I craved salads and water. With my second, water made me feel gross, and I don't specifically remember any cravings for food, but I loooooooved the smell of Pine Sol, so cleaned with it constantly.

[Condessa]

With my last baby I craved the hawaiian macaroni salad from Mo Bettas with teriyaki sauce poured over it.  That was probably the weirdest.

But mostly I wanted orange juice with every pregnancy.  

[Reefgazer]

Pepperocini - in sandwiches or right outta the jar.  I was banging down an entire jar per day when I was pregnant with my son!

Edited June 10, 2023 by Reefgazer

[gardenmom5]

Not that many cravings. . . 
grapefruit.  Peeled and sectioned with zero pith or the membrane between sections.  It could take an hour to prep it, then some kid would come in and want it . .  
Orange floats.

 

with 1ds, I developed an aversion (as in, get it away from me before the smell makes me ill) to . . . chocolate.     It was very sad.  dh and I went out for chocolate sundaes back when Dilettante had a store.  They put it on the table in front of me and it was "get that thing the bleep away from me".   Did I mention I didn't even know I was pregnant?