Christmas is fast approaching. The shopping list for New Year’s Eve dinner is starting to grow. Unfortunately, not all of these traditional dishes are always welcome during pregnancy. What can a pregnant woman eat? What if a mother is breastfeeding? Pregnancy and Christmas foods, here is the list of foods allowed for the whole family, for a safe Christmas meal!
Pregnancy and Christmas foods
Your pregnancy won’t completely prevent you from enjoying yourself at Christmas. But as throughout your pregnancy, certain foods are contraindicated and precautions are necessary to avoid any risk of infection!
An entrance to studying well
The flagship starters of end-of-year holiday meals present significant bacteriological risks for pregnant women.
Regarding foie gras, because of the bacterial ( listeriosis ) and parasitic ( toxoplasmosis ) risk, do not eat it half-cooked, artisanal, or homemade. If you insist, you can opt only for canned sterilized cooked foie gras.
As for seafood, all raw shellfish (such as oysters) as well as surimi, tarama, and shelled crustaceans sold cooked are contraindicated.
Smoked fish (salmon, trout), as well as raw fish (sushi, ceviche, etc.), will not be part of your Christmas starters.
Cold cuts, because of the risk of infection that can have serious consequences for your child, must be removed from your meals.
A dish with choice
Fish
Certain fish are to be favored during pregnancy, such as cod, trout, cod, whiting, pollack, or dogfish.
Others, richer in mercury, should be avoided, such as swordfish, sea bass, eel, tuna, and sea bream. Prefer fish from the beginning and middle of the food chain.
Meat
Here, once again, cooking will be your ally. To ensure that it is well cooked, the flesh should not be pink, but rather beige. Well-cooked, goose and turkey can therefore be part of the traditional dishes served for Christmas. Stuffing, on the other hand, which is non-vegetarian, should be avoided because less cooked or liver-based, it carries a higher risk of contamination. Avoid smoked, marinated meats (game) because of toxoplasmosis, unless the game is really well cooked.
Accompaniments
Carefully washed raw vegetables or well-cooked vegetables can accompany meat and fish for a balanced meal and a source of vitamins.
Vitamin B9, which plays an essential role in the development of the baby’s nervous system, can be found, for example, in spinach, Brussels sprouts, broccoli,, or lettuce.
Iron, to prevent anemia, is present in beans, chickpeas, lentils, and mushrooms.
Rich in vitamin C, do not hesitate to sprinkle your dishes with parsley or coriander, carefully washed beforehand.
Cheeses
Cheeses made from raw milk, with a soft paste and a bloomy rind (with a white fluffy appearance), or with a washed rind (Munster, Pont-l’évêque) should be removed from the list because of the risk of Listeria. As well as industrial grated cheeses.
You can, however, eat:
- Pasteurized cheeses (check on the cheese label that it is made with pasteurized milk)
- Hard cheeses such as Beaufort or Comté, taking care to remove the rind
A gourmet dessert, but without raw eggs
For dessert, care should be taken to avoid two foods to protect against salmonellosis: raw eggs and unpasteurized milk .
The traditional logs are made with foam, so raw eggs will therefore not be for you this year. Then prefer pies, cakes or fruit cakes.
A fruit salad made up of oranges, kiwis, guavas, and blackcurrants, rich in vitamin C and mangoes, raspberries, and bananas, rich in vitamin B9, will finish balancing this hearty meal. Take care to wash your fruit thoroughly.
Creative drinks!
Alcohol during pregnancy is completely prohibited . Toxic for your child, alcohol constitutes a risk for his neurological development, whatever the dose of alcohol ingested.
So add to your list:
- Sparkling water (the one with baking soda can help fight stomach acid)
- Fruit juices with no added sugar
- Vegetable juices such as tomato juice , with no added sugars
- Non-alcoholic beer or wine
The main precautions
Simple gestures are to be adopted as a reflex in order to guard against toxoplasmosis such as:
- Thoroughly wash vegetables and cooking utensils.
- Wash your hands well.
- Regularly disinfect your fridge and keep it at a temperature between 3 and 4°.
- Separate raw and cooked foods in the fridge.
- Carefully cook any leftovers and do not eat them after more than three days in the fridge.
I breastfeed my child
For Christmas dinner, a breastfeeding woman will not have many restrictions. However, it is important to keep in mind that:
- Alcohol continues to be part of the prohibited elements during breastfeeding because it passes into the milk;
- Elements with caffeine should be consumed in moderation (1 to 2 cups of coffee per day) because they constitute a source of transient hyperexcitability for the newborn.
In order to vary the drinks, consider adding sparkling water to your list, to which you can add a citrus zest or mint leaf, or even herbal teas.
During pregnancy, industrial fruit juices and sodas, rich in sugars, should be consumed in small quantities and sporadically.