Cravings in Pregnancy

A friend announced that she was having a baby recently and talking about her cravings. It made me remember the differences in the food I was compelled to eat during my own pregnancies. They say that it is your body ensuring it gets any nutrients that are missing from your current diet.

With the first, it was plain food. Nothing sweet. I would find myself standing in the kitchen eating All Bran or Cornflakes from the packet – sometimes I would eat it in a bowl with milk, but mostly dipping my hand in like sweeties. From there I moved on to nectarines and then offal-based foods. I couldn’t get enough chopped liver in a sandwich or braised in a casserole. Kidney turbigo too. I can remember someone giving me a shortbread biscuit and I nearly gagged because of the sugar in it.

Another child, it was chocolate all the way. I began the pregnancy underweight and it was almost as if my body was forcing me to eat calorific things. I went everywhere with a multipack of Cadbury’s mini bar selection in my bag.

Of course with my last ill-fated pregnancy, I knew I was pregnant the day I pulled into a service station for a comfort break on my way home from Ruf’s and just had to buy a packet of chips from the KFC outlet. My body was almost on autopilot as I queued, paid and then stuffed the salty slivers into my gob, almost growling with pleasure a la Homer Simpson.

For the next few days, I ate my way through numerous packets of crisps and, on one fateful occasion, found myself at midnight bathed in the light of the open door of the fridge as I ate cold mashed potato from a tupperware pot. Scooping it out with my fingers and licking them clean. For a 30-year anorexic, it was a most peculiar experience.

Three different babies, two different fathers and a whole variety of specific dietary needs.