eating fish when pregnant?

[tcinks]

I'm wondering what your doctors have said about it. I have appointment next week, but I don't remember them saying anything about it with my last pregnancy. I loooove fish/seafood ...especially tuna... typically eat it quite often. But if its healthier for baby for me to cut back I'll do that. Is it just certain types of fish? Can I tell by just looking at the package? Anyone know of a helpful website or something to find more info? Thanks in advance.

 

[jlw617]

Hi T!
Fish is very good for you while pregnant but they don't want you consuming too much Mercury, some fish have higher levels than other, sorry I'm pretty sure tuna is one of them! Just google fish with high level Mercury or something like that and you should get a list.

 

[jlw617]

Oh and it doesn't mean you can't eat it, just that you may have to cut back a little

 

[oneill614]

Albacore tuna has higher mercury than "chunk light," so you can eat a little more of the chunk light.

My dr told me not to eat too much salmon but then I read that salmon is some of the best fish you can eat while pregnant, so that seems suspicious.

 

[jlw617]

Albacore tuna has higher mercury than "chunk light," so you can eat a little more of the chunk light.

My dr told me not to eat too much salmon but then I read that salmon is some of the best fish you can eat while pregnant, so that seems suspicious.

That is odd, as far as I know salmon doesn't have high Mercury levels and the fish that do seem to be on the larger side, swordfish, mackerel, shark...

 

[lomelindi17]

Yes the mercury is concentrated higher in larger fish like tuna, swordfish, and shark. Small fish are ok. I'm staying away from farmed fish personally, but seafood in general is one of the best foods you can eat especially when pregnant.

 

[tallybee]

Yeah I thought salmon was good? Tuna is one with high mercury but I've been told 1-2 portions a week is still good.

 

[blaze07]

I've done a lot of reading on this and it's recommended that we eat 2 servings of oily fish per week to get the DHA needed for brain development. This includes salmon, trout, sardines and anchovies. Plus the smaller the fish (sardines for example) the less toxins.

 

[tcinks]

Thanks for all your responses ladies! I guess I'll swap out my tuna for salmon and sardines. I wish I'd known that before I made a big batch of tuna salad yesterday. Haha.

 

[flou]

I was to limit the amount of salmon and tuna during pregnancy. And to avoid shark, marlin and swordfish. You can eat as much white fish as you want. You can also eat other types of seafood, prawns etc as long as they are cooked properly.

 

[BlingyGal]

Flaked tuna has less metals than albacore.

And lake fish (like trout) have almost no metals at all.

I eat flaked tuna about 1-2 times a week. My obgyn is fine with it.

 

[Eline]

My didn't say anything about fish. We normally eat it once a week. I rarely ever eat tuna though because it's considered an endangered species. I do take prenatal vitamins containing DHA.