Old folks here believe that pregnant women have a craving for a particular food that would affect the pregnancy. For example, if the concepting mother wants a banana so much then more likely the baby would be a boy. The usual food they crave for is the green mangoes. Any pregnant women would love to eat green mangoes especially when it is out of season which means the husband would have a great difficulty in obtaning a green mango. Maybe it's part of the whims and caprices?
I haven't been pregnant yet, so I have no experience of having those food cravings. But this article explains why pregnant women get cravings, and weird ones at that during pregnancy: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/craving/201306/what-really-causes-pregnancy-cravings
My main craving was French fries and a milkshake, I always craved both at the same time and had to have them together. I think it was the salty with the sweet that made me want to eat these at the same time.
Pregnant women always have these special desires for food. My ex-wife loved to eat mango at totally unconventional times. Sometimes she even liked to mix the fruit with a few slightly different ingredients, such as jams and some sweet sauces. I just can't remember if she even ate something so "out of the ordinary".
My cravings during my pregnancy weren't any different from my cravings as my monthly period approaches. It's just that everyone in the family seemed to be more attentive to it because of my condition. I've always attributed the cravings as the body's response to the stress brought about by the many changes that's taking place at this time. In other words, the food becomes a source of comfort for women. Some say that cravings are our body's way of telling us that it needs the nutrient or substance found in particular foods. I don't believe in weird cravings, though, like wanting to eat a particular food in a color that is not normal for that food. Honestly, I've only read about it from old comics magazines.
Before I got pregnant I always thought that I would crave junk food more when I got pregnant but no. The only sweets I craved were milk shakes and chocolates other than that I only wanted fruits, vegetables, and nuts. When I tried chips I felt very sick and would vomit more than usual which was weird to me because when I wasn't pregnant I would have chip cravings almost all the time. But for sure most of my fruits and vegetables had to have salt and lemon.
My mum had very bad sickness when she had me but she could manage chips and had a craving for them. I suppose we are all different in what we can tolerate when we are pregnant. I don't remember many cravings when I was pregnant, only things I really disliked, tomato sauce which made me want to vomit even if I saw it in the bottle and coffee. I still hate tomato sauce now.
I am not sure about banana for a would be mother in case of a boy but what I know for sure is that most ladies want something different throughout their pregnancy period. In most cases they want to eat something sour or tangy. I think the reason for such craving could well be due to vomiting like feeling. Eating something and get away from that feeling makes them want to eat that particular item.
In my place, there is a visiting industry where traders sell some offwhite pieces of rock for women to chew or nibble no during pregnancy. As is the case of cravings during this time, its a consequence of shortage of particular minerals like iron which get easily depleted from the mother's body to support the baby resulting in a craving. My take is that there cravings are physiological alerts as to the element the mother needs to sustain a healthy pregnancy and case should be taken to eat mineral rich foods like avocadoes and pumpkin seeds to name a few examples.
Oh, wow. That is interesting. I never heard about that before. Ha, I'm not surprised about craving for stuff that's hard to find. I remember doing similar things to my poor husband. Of course, we always crave what isn't readily available. Okay, some things were, but others not so much. I remember my husband bringing home a certain ice cream bar to surprise me. It was the best ice cream ever, so of course, I craved it again later. Well, it could not be found from then on. He was on a mission to find it for me and looked everywhere that ice cream was sold, sweet man.
I would want to know which gender a woman would give birth to when their craving is soil. Most of the women at my place crave for soil or clay, especially one that is made by ants. I have not yet fathered a child but after listening and reading a lot, I have come to a conclusion that pregnancy gives both partners new experiences. I have a neighbour who narrated his story during the wife's pregnancy. She would literally ask for anything, to make matters worse even at night. At one point she asked for chips. The husband had to go out and buy her. Upon arrival, she claimed that the chips were so oily. He had to go and get other ones. Listening to such stories gives me fear. I pray that the wife I get won't have weird cravings.
The cravings I had were different from one pregnancy to the other. On my first pregnancy, I longed for chocolates. On the next one, I yearned for sausages. I didn't really have any cravings on my my third pregnancy, but it was slightly different with my last child. I felt like I always wanted to smell my partner's left ear, and I just got over it when my youngest was born.
I never got pregnant and I know pregnant women are weired. My friend is pregnant and giving her husband and people around her a hard time. She's asking for foods but not eating it she just like to keep it. Once her husband throw the rotten mangoes in their tray since she's not eating it and it started to affect other fruits, she just fired up and hitting his husband from throwing her mangoes. I just laugh when I saw her husband looking for the mangoes he throws in the trash because she dont want other mangoes she want what he throw.
When my mother was pregnant for the second time, she said she was craving for mangoes so badly and that too it was not mango season. My father had to buy mangoes from somewhere and she said she had given him a hard time craving for something off season. I am not a mother yet and I hope I will not have any weird cravings.
This is a condition known as Pica. It causes pregnant women (or sometimes other people as well) to crave non-food items. While the cause has yet to be determined, some believe that it may be caused by iron deficiency. Having iron checked would be a good idea. Some of the things people eat when they have this condition can be unhealthy, both for mother and baby. It's something that should be reported to the healthcare provider.
Here in the Philippines, I've heard that a lot. Some even go as far as telling you that their cravings affect the looks of the baby. I find them hard to believe until I met this mother who said she had cravings for crab when she was pregnant with her firstborn. Her firstborn then came out with two thumbs on each hand, hence looking like a crab. It was to me might be a weird coincidence, but it really did scare me as to what my wife would crave for when we had our baby.
I don't think the food a pregnant woman craves for dictates the baby's gender. What I'm sure of is that craving for certain foods and hating some is real. I didn't really crave for something out of this world or difficult to find but once I taste it, I'm good. Craving must be due to the hormonal change? I haven't really found out about it, haha.
During my pregnancy I had varied cravings I started with candy I would eat every time I moved from candy to eating popcorns I loved them so much everyone around me brought me a packet everyday everywhere in my house in my office desk they piles of popcorns it was a matter of time that I hated even the mention of them,I graduated to oranges now these were the sweethearts the smell of oranges just made my day I became like an orange vendor .
This is a very common thing with most if not all pregnant women, their body change and adaptation to the pregnancy tends to give them the feeling and urges that aren't of their making entirely but also from the influence of the fetus in their belly. I have had one experience with my aunt, she was 6 months pregnant then and one fateful night around 1:00 am she woke up and started disturbing she wants to eat roasted yam with sauce. Her husband practically pleaded with her to try and get some sleep, that once it's morning he would go get her roasted yam but she wouldn't have it that way and insisted it must be that night. I had to go roast half tuber of yam and made egg sauce for her to eat it with and she was practically awake disturbing until I was done with making the food and brought it for her. Once she had a taste of it she felt relived and went back to sleep afterwards. It was a very funny experience I had that day including the husband.
Yes, I second the motion. Pica is really happening. I have this story from my grandmother, and she said she had craved for matchstick heads (the flammable portion) during her pregnancy. You may also encounter some who crave for hair strands or nails. Pica is a disturbing condition and needs medical attention since the mom is consuming non-edible items and some are harmful.
That's true. I actually experienced it briefly when my iron levels were very low, I actually craved ice quite often and I ate them. Now I don't eat them anymore since the iron in my body has increased and I don't feel weak anymore.
That's interesting. At least eating ice won't hurt you though. You may have been dehydrated and in need of more fluids. Eating dirt or sulfur or hair and stuff, on the other hand, could be problematic. It's worth a discussion with the doctor, in my opinion. I agree, @Risa, it can be a bit disturbing. I'm sure it's even more disturbing for someone who is suffering from it, since they don't know why they are craving these odd things.
I agree, @Miches. Of the women I know, I haven't heard one talk about craving for something out of this world, although there are some stories of such weird cravings. I, myself, have five kids and I never craved for something impossible to find, like an apple that is blue in color, or something. I only craved for something I've tasted before and the need to taste it again is so intense I had to buy it. But sometimes, the food is the same but the taste is not the same as the one I've previously tasted so I try some others hoping to find one that is very similar to the taste I'm craving for. That's the weidest thing I've encountered during my pregnancies.
Yes, @Gad, craving for something could happen anytime -- day or night. But with the neighbour you mentioned, I think it's too inconsiderate of her to do that. Craving is not a life and death situation, it could wait until morning I had five kids and I never gave my husband a hard time to find some food I'm craving for when I was pregnant with them. If I could find it, I buy it myself, except when I'm already at home while he, on the other hand, is on his way home and along his way is a grocery. Only then would I ask him to buy something for me. Good luck with your future wife!
haha... that is truly a funny experience. Yes, that could really happen with some pregnant women that is why men should have a LOT of patience, and I mean A LOT, when a woman is pregnant, haha.
This is really true! You tend to crave for some food you once did not appreciate. Maybe this is psychological but in my own experience during my first pregnancy, I really wanted those very sour green mangoes, which in normal days I do not eat. I ate them almost everyday and it made my day complete. It was so weird that right after my son was born, the smell of those sour mangoes just literally made me sick. There must be a scientific explanation about this.
The craving of green mangos is a funny thing but they are very popular in some countries because they are considered the most desired fruit, because of their unique tangy taste though. Also these fruits can be eaten ripe or raw though and the ripe ones actually come in the colors- orange,purple and red as well-but the raw mangos are very sour and also you should consume these in moderation if you are pregnant because they can cause stomach upset,diarrhea,and allergic reactions as well. They do have lots of vitamin C in their raw form though which is great for pregnancy.