Experiencing Cravings???
Pregnancy is like a roller coaster, every trimester a pregnant woman experiences something new. The second trimester is marked by an increase in appetite, heartburn and it is very common to experience cravings. Some women crave fatty foods like potato chips, while others can't resist sweets. It actually varies a lot and it is common to crave strange combinations of foods or drinks that they may never have tried before.
What can trigger cravings is not known, but that they arise from the most varied of reasons. One possible explanation is that your hormones change quickly and may be responsible. Cravings can also occur due to the extra work that the body does to produce much more blood quickly. Or it can be as simple as the comfort that certain foods bring as your body changes.
Model, Teodora Sutra shared her experience. When she was pregnant, with her daughter Isabella she was crazy for sparkling water and sweets.
“From the get-go, I started with sparkling water. It’s something I never ever drank before but could not get enough of right till the end! I loved adding Belvoir cordials to it for flavour. Thankfully my partner owns the Punnet health store so he had the fridge stocked 24/7 with san pellegrino water & belvoir!!
The other cravings I had were jellies. I used to always have the natural confectionary company party animals jellies on hand!!!
Another one was fruity yoghurts. I never really ate much dairy before pregnancy maybe that’s why I was cravings it so much.”
Teo also shared some insights about her family.
“Madness. My mum, when she was pregnant with either one of my siblings or me, she can’t remember which one - had cravings for the powdered baby formula. She would literally eat the powder with a spoon! She said she gained so much weight from it”.
Makeup artist, Tara Andersen is a mum to Gene, and is currently pregnant with her second. Tara explained her experience with both pregnancies
“My cravings were the same for both - fruit, ice pops and pickles the most typical one ever. I went off tea this time, which was crazy as I’m addicted to tea normally”.
But not all cravings are easy to fulfil. Some cravings are extremely unusual or even funny like that of the milliner Jennifer Wrynne who shared on her blog the stages of her pregnancy and, in particular, the cravings part. What she loved to eat most when she was pregnant were: Grapes, red meat and sugary haribo type sweets. Regarding strange cravings, she confided one.
"The smell of dog food (don't judge me (laughs!) But every time I was serving food to George, I was tempted to taste it! I would never do it (well, I don't think so), but it smelled so good."
Jennifer pointed out that in her family, strange cravings are common.
“When my aunt was pregnant, she liked to lick coal. One of my best friends loved to chew gravel (gravel-like on rocks !!), so at least dog food isn't that bad?”.
These different desires are more common than we think and include charcoal for four out of 100 pregnant mothers. Toothpaste, newspaper and even stones feature for one in 50.
But the 5 most craved foods aren't too out there, with Chocolate and chips leading the pack, closely followed by sweets, cheese and chewing ice.