Christmas is a very busy time for many of our mums to be.
The calender is filled with end of year Christmas parties, school & kinder concerts, late night takeaway dinners and endless shopping trips for that one last gift. Not to mention the Big day it’s self and the endless amounts of left overs.
Often this can mean exposure to many foods not handled the way you would carefully handle your for at home.
We ask all of our mums to take extra care over the next few weeks by following a few simple tips when it comes to ‘festive season eating’.
This will help ensure both you and your baby have a happy & healthy holiday season.
So What Is All The Fuss About?
Listeria is a bacterium that can contaminate food and cause infection. In pregnant women this infection can be passed onto your baby.
It is not a common problem and the risk can simply be minimized by good food handling practices.
We have put together a few 3 simple tips to protect yourself against Listeria:
> Ensure good hand hygiene & clean surfaces & utensils when preparing food.
> Thoroughly wash raw vegetables
> Avoid foods such as :
- Pate'
- Cold cooked chicken & sliced deli meats
- Coleslaws & salads (unless you are sure they have been freshly prepared)
- unpasteurised dairy products
- Soft cheeses (eg. Brie, Camembert, ricotta, feta & blue cheese)
- Soft serve ice-cream
- Uncooked or smoked seafood & pre cooked prawns
It's not just plain bread and water for lunch:
Ok I know what you thinking.....but it’s not all doom and gloom,
When it comes to joining in the festive feast freshly cooked seafood is safe to consume.
What’s more, you are not completely banned from the left overs, Listeria is killed by cooking food to boiling point, so when reheating food make sure it is piping hot.
Prevention is always best! So where possible follow these little tips and if it doesn’t quite seem right don’t eat it.
What are the symptoms to look out for?
In pregnant women, Listeriosis may have no symptoms all, or the symptoms may be very general and include flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, muscle aches, nausea and sometime diarrhoea.
These symptoms can take s few days or even up to 6 weeks to appear.
The same general rules applies when it come to pregnancy;
if something doesn’t feel right contact your specialist or maternity services and get checked.
Merry Christmas & Stay Safe