I'm craving lunch meat

[ssmjlm]

Are there any safe brands? Or how bad is it if I have a sandwich but heat it up?

[pugz]

I ate lunch meat during pregnancy, just not Subway or any place where it set out. Cantalope and lettuce/bagged salad are more likely to give you listeria than lunch meat

[jinnifah]

If you nuke it 'till it steams you're fine. In fact, you're probably fine anyway, but doesn't hurt to be careful in the off chance your package of meat has Listeria
I definitely started eating deli meats (and pretty well everything else on the "don't" list) by 2nd tri when I was over my m/c paranoia

[ssmjlm]

Good to know! I'm sure this will be a 2x thing and then I'll be over it. I'm not a huge fan of sandwiches normally.

[fortmyersbride]

Eh, like pp have mentioned, there are lots of ways to get listeria. I did not stop eating cold lunchmeat b/c of it. But i really didn't give up any foods while pregnant, so perhaps I am not a good role model

[kangaroo11]

I asked for fresh cut meat at the supermarket when I got a sandwich there. Easy enough.

[Brie]

You're fine. The risk of listeria is low. If you're paranoid, heat it, but I wouldn't worry about it. Deli turkey was about the only protein I could stomach in first tri, oddly enough.

[catbus]

I also haven't avoided lunch meats at all during my pregnancy. But maybe I'm not the example you want, because I honestly can't think of any foods I've cut out just because I'm pregnant. My approach has been to be cognizant of the place at which I'm eating or from which I'm buying, but... that's not really different from my normal non-pregnant approach.
Fresh raw oysters from a nice seafood restaurant? Yum. Raw oysters from some hole-in-the-wall fish and chips place? Pass.

Edit: Basically, ditto FortMyersBride.
And the thought of deli turkey microwaved to steaming really turns my stomach. That honestly would have made me vomit during first trimester.

[livinitup]

Heat it.

[pugz]

when I discussed it with my OB who is very chill about most things, he said the stuff you buy packaged at the farm (like hillshire farms) or fresh cut is fine (so I continued to get sandwiches at mr. goodcents where they cut it fresh) but places where it sits out like subway/restaurants are not as safe. He said he had seen babies die from listeria before

but seriously cantalope was just recalled for listeria last week i think. produce is way more dangerous.

[egishere]

I never heated. Ate at least 2 sandwiches a week and my kids came out okay and are cute!

[dr.girlfriend]

Just nuke it. Listeria is rare, but god, you don't want to be that 1 in 50,000 or whatever who made your baby deaf or blind or mentally retarded because of lunchmeat. At least that's how I always thought about it.

[oukapu]

Eat it.

[Deleted]

My doc was pretty adamant about heating lunchmeat...though she was pretty laid-back about almost everything else. She also suggested getting a name brand like Boar's Head or brands from Whole Foods.

I always just make paninis on the stovetop or grilled ham/cheese. I have already selected my hoagie of choice for after I deliver. After, of course, I get a spicy tuna roll!

[brit1017]

I still ate lunchmeat throughout both pregnancies. I just got it from places that I used frequently and that I know have high turnover in their product, so the chance of getting meat that had been sitting was pretty much nil and got Boar's Head meat (which I always eat and trust).

[ssmjlm]

I appreciate everyone weighing in. I haven't had my first appt yet, not until the 13th, so I'll just heat up my sandwhich for now.

Thankfully this is seriously like a 1x a year craving I have. Then after a couple days I'm over it and back to my normal salads for lunch.

[dr.girlfriend]

Aug 27, 2012 21:14:57 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

Aug 27, 2012 20:28:31 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Just nuke it. Listeria is rare, but god, you don't want to be that 1 in 50,000 or whatever who made your baby deaf or blind or mentally retarded because of lunchmeat. At least that's how I always thought about it.

Would you know that's why it happened? Cause these things just happen sometimes - how accurate is science at determining what the cause was years later?

It's not usually years later. Although symptoms can be mild or flu-like, you can get very sick at the time, and then the baby is born with severe disabilities, or stillborn in about 20% of cases. Sometimes babies test positive at birth for listeriosis, or demonstrate granulomatous infantiseptica which is pretty characteristic of listeriosis but rare otherwise.

Trust me, if you lose a pregancy or have a disabled child, you don't just shrug and go, "Oh well, shit happens." You scrutinize every minute of your pregnancy, wondering if it could have been avoided. Even if there's nothing you did, you'll find something to wonder about, so you might as well follow all the guidelines so at least you have to go nit-picking.

[marissa]

Aug 28, 2012 9:27:58 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Aug 27, 2012 21:14:57 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

Would you know that's why it happened? Cause these things just happen sometimes - how accurate is science at determining what the cause was years later?

It's not usually years later. Although symptoms can be mild or flu-like, you can get very sick at the time, and then the baby is born with severe disabilities, or stillborn in about 20% of cases. Sometimes babies test positive at birth for listeriosis, or demonstrate granulomatous infantiseptica which is pretty characteristic of listeriosis but rare otherwise.

Trust me, if you lose a pregancy or have a disabled child, you don't just shrug and go, "Oh well, shit happens." You scrutinize every minute of your pregnancy, wondering if it could have been avoided. Even if there's nothing you did, you'll find something to wonder about, so you might as well follow all the guidelines so at least you have to go nit-picking.

I have 3 special needs kids and I can tell you that I don't scrutinize every minute of my pregnancies. Shit happens! I'm not going to go over every shitty detail of my puking for 7 months and getting nutrition through an iv, etc and see what I did that could have prevented their autism, etc. Not going to happen. Moms have enough to feel badly about. This isn't one of them.

[LauraMoser]

I really think that most things in moderation are okay. Lunch meat is one of those. I almost lived off of Subway while I was PG with DD1.

Eat some, just don't go overboard. You will be fine. Otherwise that craving will just drive you nuts!

[catbus]

Aug 28, 2012 11:25:38 GMT -5 LauraMoser said:

I really think that most things in moderation are okay. Lunch meat is one of those. I almost lived off of Subway while I was PG with DD1.

Eat some, just don't go overboard. You will be fine. Otherwise that craving will just drive you nuts!

But listeria is not something that can be prevented by moderation. I do agree with you overall--I've had small servings of alcohol in moderation since second trimester (like 3-4 oz. wine pours once monthly or so). And as I said above, I haven't cut out lunch meat or raw seafood, but it's important to realize that listeriosis can come from just one slice of lunch meat (or spinach leaf, cantaloupe slice, etc.); moderation will not prevent it.

[LauraMoser]

Aug 28, 2012 11:37:00 GMT -5 catbus said:

Aug 28, 2012 11:25:38 GMT -5 LauraMoser said:

I really think that most things in moderation are okay. Lunch meat is one of those. I almost lived off of Subway while I was PG with DD1.

Eat some, just don't go overboard. You will be fine. Otherwise that craving will just drive you nuts!

But listeria is not something that can be prevented by moderation. I do agree with you overall--I've had small servings of alcohol in moderation since second trimester (like 3-4 oz. wine pours once monthly or so). And as I said above, I haven't cut out lunch meat or raw seafood, but it's important to realize that listeriosis can come from just one slice of lunch meat (or spinach leaf, cantaloupe slice, etc.); moderation will not prevent it.

I get your point. Its just the way I view things I guess. I mean, if someone really wanted to avoid all risk of listeriosis, wouldn't that also include cutting out raw produce and the like? You can do your best to avoid anything, but unless you put yourself in a bubble with completely sterilized food and everything, there's no way to avoid all risks associated with food and food borne illnesses in pregnancy. So I guess it just comes down to if you feel like taking the risk and eating something that holds a little more risk that other foods.

I can say from my experience, my pregnancy cravings are so much stronger than normal PMS cravings. Like, 100x stronger. If I were to not satisfy those cravings sometimes, I would go nuts. I do avoid alcohol and raw sushi though, as those seem like more of a risk to me. And the decision regarding alcohol comes from watching my cousin lose her baby at 5-6 months. She drank alcohol during that pregnancy, and while I don't know for sure that the alcohol caused her loss, I'm not willing to take that risk.

But that probably makes me a hypocrite, lol.

[aspentosh]

I ate lunch meat sandwiches multiple times per week throughout the pregnancy. If you heat it up you're definitely fine.