Pregnancy Cravings.

I had not so much cravings as pica during my first pregnancy, and had to chew on a lump of coal or piece of brick.

A friend used to hide bags of carrots behind the cushions, so that she could constantly gnaw on one. She also was obsessed with sucking a wet flannel!

Apple juice, which, 39 years ago , came in large cans. I gave myself heartburn I drank so much. Three years later and living in New York, pregnant again, I drank gallons of diet coke. So much so I peed brown. So my doctor said no more.

Mishap, I craved Bounty bars too with my second pregnancy. I remember dragging my mum all round town in the snow to find one.
The first time round it was coleslaw, plain crisps and chappatis. Oh and oranges.

It was crisp green apples for me. I would panic if I didn't have access to them. I think nature was telling me to improve my diet.

I went off coffee. That's all. Otherwise I just carried on as normal. The cravings came afterwards when I was breastfeeding: custard creams with DD1, no cravings with DD2, crisps (for the salt, I presume) with DD3. I didn't start drinking coffee again until well into menopause and I now live perfectly happily without custard creams or crisps.

Pickled onions for the first one. I haven't touched one since then! Copious amounts of milk for all 3. I blame my overweight on drinking it to excess 33 years ago .....

I never had cravings with any of my five, but my sister-in-law kept wanting to suck on a piece of coal!

I craved piccalilli which I hadn't eaten before and certainly not since. I hated the smell of oranges and had a real fit when I was in labour and the midwife came into the room with a bottle of nhs orange juice and suggested I might drink some! Can't remember what I said but it certainly wasn't polite.

Cleaning products for me especially Ajax and shoe polish - we had a very shiny scoured sink and shiny shoes when I was pregnant. Couldn't stand the smell of vinegar or anything mint and I still loathe them both make me nauseous.

During my first pregnancy, I craved oranges and fresh milk, neither of which I have ever been particularly fond of. We were living in Singapore at the time and, strangely, fresh milk was not readily available to us. I remember we mostly used evaporated, which is horrible in tea and coffee. The Navy came to my rescue in the form of my next door neighbour who used to bring me gallon containers of fresh milk from his ship whenever he could. I can't remember having any cravings with baby two.

For me it was - no cravings with baby one.

Any sort of chocolate with baby two. I ate so much that I had to have a glucose tolerance test.

With baby three it was oranges, oranges and more oranges and I don't usually like them.

The smell of or taste of coffee made me feel ill with all 3 pregnancies and I had a particular aversion to the smell of cake shops and a cleaning liquid I was using at the time called Handy Andy.

A craving for oranges seems to be quite usual for pregnant mums - must be the vitamin C.

I craved oranges and baked beans with DD1 nothing with DS and had no sickness with either. DD2 meant constant sickness for most of the pregnancy and I found loads of smells awful especially meat cooking and washing up liquid. As soon as I squeezed it into the bowl I had to run to throw up. The bonus of that was husband T the time went out and came back with my first dishwasher because HE wasn't going to wash up was he?!

I don't think I craved anything to eat while pregnant although I did eat a lot of bananas in the last couple of weeks because I found them easy to digest while a 9 lb 7 oz baby booted my stomach into my diaphragm. Indeed, my mother suggested that I was expecting a monkey rather than a human baby. I did have the opposite though: I couldn't touch alcohol or coffee and almost vomited if I encountered the smell of cigarettes right from the start in spite of the fact that I was told by the GP surgery that I wasn't pregnant three times.

I had evening sickness too. The smell of frying onions made me nauseous and giddy. The only craving I had was for fresh peaches. That was my first pregnancy - no dislikes or cravings with the second one.

When I was pregnant with my daughter I craved huge Jaffa oranges had to eat 3 every night. My daughter loves oranges, so do I but can't eat them anymore because of my ulcerative colitis

Gosh Fili that same website again. You do love it

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Each time I was pregnant I craved Jacobs cream crackers with strong cheddar cheese and tomato ketchup spread on the cheese... I've never liked ketchup before or after..

PS. While pregnant with DD I was out with my mother, and all I wanted was a fresh pear. There were none available in the fruit shop or on the market. Mum said she would open a tin when we got home, I nearly bit her head off I was so desperate, canned pears just would not do.

First time I was addicted to Heinz tomato soup and would sometimes get up in the middle of the night to heat some. I hate it now.

Second time it was chip shop vinegar. I was too embarrassed to ask if I could buy some so used to ask for chips with lots of vinegar and then lick the vinegar off the chips.

When pregnant with DD I couldn't stand the smell of vinegrette dressing. I craved sweets and cake!! (Sugar and spice)?
When I was expecting DS I couldn't drink coffee but tea was okay. I would happily have eaten all the raw vegetables I prepared for our meals, and I craved prawn curry, it is still one of my favourites.

DD1 I couldn't eat green veg for a while. They all tasted very metallic.
DD2 Nothing particular.
DD3 Ate navel oranges all the time.

I obviously stopped drinking when expecting DS 34 years ago and I haven't drunk since. Just couldn't tolerate taste after he was born.

Last time round, I wanted peanut butter. As I hated the stuff before that it came as a huge shock to everyone who knew me. I had a real coffee habit, so many of us lost that along with tea, which is a good thing. The first time round I wanted to drink orange juice all day long.

I remember a friend was addicted to full coke. She drank litres of the stuff every day. She was told repeatedly not to drink it, and then she lost the baby. Several older women would no longer speak to her, but I understood the craving that they had obviously forgotten. She never really showed, and now I know (which I didn't then) that too much caffeine reduces the size of your baby. So our bodies are telling us to lay off.