Week 6: NoNoNos and Capers

Week 6:

In the months that follow, I'm sure that I will come to find more information, advice, and ideas than I have access to now.  Six weeks in though?  I am already a bit overwhelmed by what I should and should not do, eat, take, drink, and engage in.  Mostly, it is difficult to weed through fact vs. fiction, legitimate science vs. hogwash.  For example:

The zygote has high demands for things it finds delicious, like folic acid to close its neural tubes (which it is doing as we speak).  Fact.
Eating peanut butter during pregnancy increases the risk of nut allergens later.  Hogwash.
 

CNP, 2014

And you have to learn to navigate what you read and hear:

Don't eat sushi, ever!  I have spent time in Japan, and I can tell you that pregnant Japanese women eat sushi (they do avoid tomatoes and eggplants, interestingly enough).  Most pregnant women in the states avoid sushi because they are fearful of food poisoning, although tuna and oysters rank as number 5 and 6 for outbreaks, and the two causative culprits (Ciguatera and Scombrotoxins) do not cross the placenta.  Ciguatera is caused by a dinoflagelate, and will make you really ill; scombroid poisoning is caused by the fish not being properly refriegerated.  More common than ANY sushi poisoning?  Beef, chicken, eggs, and salad greens (French women are advised to not eat fresh salads...) top the list for contamination.  If you are not eating sushi because of poisoning, you should probably logically avoid ground beef, chicken, eggs, and leafy greens first... ...then say no to your ahi.

(The real cause for "sushi" avoidance, which is legitimate, is poisoning from raw shellfish, and levels of mercury in some fish.  You should probably avoid raw shellfish unless you live by the source--even Anthony Bourdain does, and he is not pregnant and eats just about anything.  As for mercury, large predator fish such as shark, tuna, and swordfish do contain higher levels of mercury... and lots of mercury does not do nice things to your bambino's developing brain.  But in moderation?  Not so bad.)

Don't drink.  Alcohol causes developmental disorders.  I don't think doctors in the US will ever condone drinking alcohol in any amount due to the litigious nature of our country and the fact that drinking large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy is irresponsible and bad for your bambino.  And I can't say that any amount is necessarily good for you, just that the water is murky.  I can share with you the results of a 2012 study with 1,628 Danish mothers.  Mothers who consumed 1-8 drinks a week had children who at five years old that showed no neurological or developmental issues--these children tested at the same levels as those from abstaining moms.  Then there is the 2014 study, again with Danish mothers, over 100,000 of them, that shows long-term behavioral trends.  Women in this study who reported some alcohol consumption during pregnancy (up to the equivalent of a bottle of wine a month--no, not on one night) had children who at seven years old scored higher on developmental and behavioral assessments than children of women who never drank during pregnancy.    See what I mean?  Complicated data.  And most women just throw up their hands and say "why take any risk," without understanding the difference between not dyeing their hair (bogus) and abstaining from any alcohol (complicated).

As for my zygote this week?  Depending on what you read, it is the size of a lentil, or a sweet pea, or (pictured here) a pickled flower bud--a caper:

CNP, 2014

ADORable?  Well, not yet.  I have always thought that babies are beautiful, but not really adorable anyway (like little old men with squished faces).  Let's see how my opinion changes in about 34 weeks.

Until next week,
Cat