Seafood and Being Pregnant

J.

Only eat salmon if it's wild - don't eat farm raised. There's all kinds of nasty stuff in farm raised fish. Fish like Swordfish, Tuna, etc. tend to keep in the toxins, so they're not good for you especially when you're pregnant. I think shellfish is kind of the same too. You're safest fish is wild fish that have scales - haddock, tilapia, cod, trout and things like that. Here's a website where you can buy wild salmon and other fish. You can get on their email list and they send you specials: http://www.great-alaska-seafood.com
I've ordered their salmon in the past and it's so good. Best wishes with the new baby.

Jen

Best to stay low on the food chain- every time a fish ingests other fish, they concentrate more mercury and heavy metals in their own bodies. Sardines and herring are great, and the occasional wild salmon dish. You don't even have to eat fish that often to reap benefits, studies have shown benefits even eating once every other week...

I ate sushi throughout my whole pregnancy, at LEAST once a week(usually 2-4 pieces each time)!!My OB told me to just make sure it was the right temp (bad sushi is bad even if you're not preg..lol..). I love seafood, and had asked my OB, and she had given me a list, but I checked online for you, and you can look here http://www.healthcastle.com/pregnancy-fish.shtml
and it'll tell you what is considered "safe". She (my OB told me everything in moderation)Good luck, and CONGRATS!!!
Oh, and btw- my little one is now nearly a year old, healthy as a horse and smart as a whip....was it the seafood? lol

if you eat low on the food chain, you should be ok. large fish who eat other fish and live for a long time (tuna, shark, swordfish, etc) have the most mercury. shrimp, scallops, and other shellfish are generally fine. so are smaller fish like cod and trout usually. i know they say that a certain amount of canned tuna is ok, but i never ate it while pregnant.

Here's the Web site I used when I was pregnant: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/fishmerc...

Hope that helps!

How often do you want to eat seafood? The big, long lived fish; tuna, shark, swordfish etc should be limited. Those are the ones with the highest concentrations of mercury. If you get a craving for a tuna sandwich, (chunk light type & blue fin tuna are more apt to be lower in mercury than albacore) I wouldn't say you have to deny yourself it. Cod, halibut, mackrel,haddock, pollock, are smaller & consider safe to consume regularly.

To clarify on the tuna, I believe that canned LIGHT tuna is made from smaller fish - if it says albacore or yellow fin, it's from the bigger fish and contains larger amounts of mercury.

Because the mercury accumulates over your child's lifetime, it's best to avoid if possible, so that they don't start off with elevated levels, which have been shown to affect mental development.

Although some people hate them, I found that I really liked sardines and anchovies, especially when I was pregnant. There is one brand (unfortunately I can't remember the name but it's in a paper cream wrapper) that had nicely flavored ones that were really good on crackers.

Two great resources for a complete list of fish (both are more conservative than state or federal guidelines but provide information about why each fish is categorized so you can make your own decision). You can also print a handy wallet guide, which I find very helpful because I can never remember.

http://www.ewg.org/safefishlist

http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1521

if you do eat fish only eat those that have both gills and scales. (when they're alive, of course) seems those fish that have both do not absorb the toxins and junk from the water.

I am not a huge seafood person but I was told one serving of tuna a week is ok and anything that was a shell fish. The shell absorbs the mercury? I did eat steamers and muscles during my pregnancy- no one said it was bad. But it looks like from the other comment that Mom might know more than me! I would ask your OB to be safe.

Shrimp is okay but I am still skeptical but ate it only a few times in my pregnancy. Tuna 12 oz a week is fine too but it should be the gross chunk light (looks like cat food). I also only ate that 1 or 2 times while being pregnant.
Cod (all large white fish) are safe to eat as well again in moderation.
I would actually stay away from salmon I keep hearing controversy on it. Some say do not eat farm raised others say that is actually what you should eat. Then I also heard salmon has less mercury than tuna despite what you hear. So I would say stick with shrimp, cod & other white fish only.

tilapia is also low mercury, common & not too expensive.

My dr said just no tuna steaks (canned tuna was fine because it came from smaller fish, so it's lower in mercury) and no swordfish. Everything else was fine. He did suggest moderation on the seafood, though (one time per week - but I was eating pretty much just tuna).

We tell our patients nothing raw,no steamers/mussels.Shrimp and lobster are safe,(not shrimp when you are nursing though,b/c of the allergy)You can also have haddock,cod(white fish)!!Very healthy!!Enjoy!!

You can have any fish low in mercury. You can look it up online it will help you. Basically tuna once a week, try to avoid swordfish and there are a few others on there. Haddock, Tilapia, Salmon, scallops, shrimp, lobster, clams, all the white fishes I believe are ok. Good luck and congrats!!!

I've pretty much given up all seafood except wild caught Alaskan salmon (the farmed salmon is high in mercury, and has gobs of antibiotics). But my mom just turned me on to a brand of canned tuna called Papa George, which is troll-caught (i.e., dolphin safe and sustainable) and tested for mercury before it's processed. It's not available in regular grocery stores, you'd have to special order it from a co-op, or maybe it's available online.

ask you ob for a list of fish that are unsafe to eat during pregnancy due to mercury content. I know swordfish is a no-no. Mackerel is another. Seafood itself is okay though, infect it's encouraged. Good luck

I was told eat anything you want just don't over do it. Fish is good for you while your pregnant just don't eat too much of it because of the mercury. If you're really concerned call and check w/ your ob

If you eat shrimp, look for "wild" as opposed to farm-raised, (which by the way, over 90% sold is farm-raised, read those lables to be sure), it'll be more pricey and you'll need to search for it, but well worth it, since you can't put a price on healthy eating! Wild salmon also is by far the better choice. I'd avoid canned tuna, or limit it to once a month. As someone else mentioned, mercury is accumulated over time, and you could be exposed unwittingly in addition to that tuna that's being consumed (for example, a flu-shot that docs will soon be advising in the coming months), contains mercury..............enjoy your healthy seafood choices!