The only thing my mom remembers about being pregnant with me is that all she wanted to eat was fish — the McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich to be exact. She said that she would smell it and crave it all day, from breakfast to dinner. Women can have a variety of food cravings, but what does it mean if you crave fish while pregnant?
Some experts, according to Baby Center, believe that food cravings can indicate a mother's nutritional needs, but some experts see no links at all. The evidence, they explained, is anecdotal, and there is no scientific explanation or data that supports why a mom would have specific food cravings during pregnancy. If my body craved what it needed during pregnancy, I would have probably consumed more veggies and less ice cream.
So while your cravings for fish may not mean anything, at least not anything that medical science can back up, there are things to note about the safety of seafood during pregnancy. According to the Mayo Clinic, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended that pregnant women should eat more seafood for its nutritional benefits, but only seafood that is low in mercury.
The recommendation advised that pregnant women eat 8 to 12 ounces of low-mercury seafood per week, which includes shrimp, salmon, cod, catfish, tilapia, and pollock. The FDA and EPA suggested limiting tuna and avoiding shark, tilefish, king mackerel, and swordfish because of their high mercury content.
Many people believe that food cravings are linked to the gender of the baby. There will always be lots of old wives' tales and myths that circulate around gender prediction, and it can be a really fun way to try and guess your baby's sex. Craving fish is believed to be linked with having a girl, but just remember that these are not scientific standards for gender predictions.
If you're craving fish during your pregnancy, go ahead and eat it. Just follow the FDA and EPA guidelines, and always keep your doctor in the loop.
