We all have heard of many weird cravings our mothers, grandmothers and friends have experienced when pregnant. Girlfriends will compare the things they just have to eat when pregnant. Husband’s truly are sent out to the store late at night to fulfill that overbearing need his pregnant wife is dying for.
Do pregnant women really have strong cravings? Do they really crave odd things?
Yes! Not only do we crave them, but we can’t think of anything else until we satisfy them! I recently asked on our BWF Facebook page what were our mama’s most common and/or strange cravings. We had well over a 100 responses. I will share the most popular ones with you here.
The most common food and drink cravings were:
- Mexican Food
- Anything lemon: sliced lemons, lemonade, lemon sherert, and even one woman who craved smelling lemon scented Pledge!
- Fruit, especially citrus.
- Red meat, even by women who were vegetarian for years
- Tuna
- Chocolate
- Ice…lots and lots of ice
- Ice cold water
- Coca Cola
Oddest cravings, which usually were a mix of sweet and salty:
- You guessed it…pickles and ice cream
- Mac n Cheese with honey
- Corn dogs and cheese sticks dipped in jelly, jam, and syrup
- Tator tots dipped in applesauce
- Tropical Starbursts with pretzels
- Roasted marrow bone
Non Food Cravings, also known as Pica (which luckily they talked themselves out of consuming):
- Dirt (one mama ate pasta to satisfy this craving)
- Chalk (a mama chews on ice to keep from chewing on chalk)
- Vic’s Vapor Rub
- Bleach (lemon)
- The smell of gasoline
So, the next time a pregnant mama you know has a (food related) craving, indulge her! What were your cravings?
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104 Comments
Tessa
Ooo, count me in for Ice! It has gotten so bad that my husband goes out and buys bagged ice instead of trying to keep up with freezing cubes at home. I can easily go through 3 bags of ice a week! Speaking of ice, I think I’ll go crunch on some riiiiiight now! 😀
Angela
Please, please, please don’t just assume this is “just another craving” because craving ice can be a symptom of a serious deficiency!
Mrs. BWF
And sometimes it’s just a craving. Depends on the woman and pregnancy! 🙂
Christina Cordero
I’ve had cravings for grapes, carrots, mac ‘n cheese, red meat, ice cream, pickles, (not together thankfully!), sour cream & onion dip, seafood salad (very particular recipe — Subway only! LOL), McD’s Filet-O-Fish (though i felt sick @ the thot of McD’s! Weird!), pasta with butter and parmesan, and ICE!!!! I was told tho that that is a symptom of Anemia, which i definitely had simultaneously!
Alexa
I’ve craved orange juice and Frosted Mini Wheats this entire pregnancy. In my first trimester, I was so sick that those were the only things that I could keep down in the mornings. Now, I think it’s just habit. I’ve also almost completely given up coffee…. which is weird, because I had a two-cup a day habit before. I was planning on cutting down when I got pregnant, but def. not giving it up all together!
Amy J.
Chalk is made of magnesium and my old science teacher said it was safe to eat and started eating it in front of the class. 😉 Magnesium supplementation may be in order. I find that women tend to crave a nutrient they are in need of. I was once told if you crave sweets you need more protein, if you crave salts you need more water or electrolytes. Seemed to keep my cravings down when I remembered that.
Mrs. BWF
I would not recommend a pregnant woman start consuming chalk though. 🙂
Heather
Baking Soda. Arm and Hammer toothpaste, with baking soda. I loved the taste and texture in my mouth. I also loved the smell of bleach! As far as food goes…with my 1st i craved green peppers all the time! I ate them like apples for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. With my second child i craved BBQ alot. The taste of BBQ ribs. My favorite part was when some spots would be a little over done and it was a little burnt and crunchy…mmmmm. The BEST!
Christy
I went through a variety of starch/dairy combos with each pregnancy, things like cereal with milk, bagels with cream cheese, baked potatoes with sour cream, mac & cheese, etc. During my first pregnancy I was also really into tuna and had to force myself to keep it to one can per week (because of the mercury), but during my second I was mostly uninterested in tuna.
Ashley
Ice cravings can point to an iron deficiency. Keep taking those prenatals!
I craved Egg McMuffins and peach Snapple. And I became a near-compulsive purchaser of tea…I almost never drank it before, but while I was pregnant, I had several cups a day and my “tea collection” took up an entire cupboard!
Lynnie
When I was pregnant, it was jalapeños and green olives……and no heartburn from the jalapeños, which was very unusual in my mind.
Taylor
I craved sweet pickles during the first trimester, and I usually hate them with a passion. During the second trimester I was never hungry. But the third… oh the third. Milk milk and more milk. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and for the love of GOD if someone took any of my canteloupe I could’ve killed them. I am still pregnant, and still craving all of these things. Now I’ve added ginger ale to the mix. I’m ready to be a normal human being again. I miss beer and sushi oh-so-much!
Shelly
I craved pickled beets while preg with my twins. I could go thru a jar in a day. Was almost to the point where I was gonna buy stock in the company.
skylar
I would go through those HUGE handled jugs of Sunny Delight. Easily 2 or 3 a week!
Katlin
I drank LOTS of ice cold water, but I craved sugary cereals. I could have lived off it!
Kristin
Mine was vinegar well apple cider vinegar by the glass full !!!!! Oh and chocolate but never together
Danielle
Jars of pickled jalapeños. I keep making nachos so I have an excuse but at this point I just eat them out of the jar. Luckily I haven’t had problems with heartburn, yet.
emma
PEANUT BUTTER. ALL. THE. TIME. 🙂
Sara
Pepperoncini peppers, Rocky road ice cream, and bean burritos from Taco Bell!
Elizabeth
With my second it was Greek yogurt with honey. After she was born anytime I ate oit, she got sick (so I only had it until I figured out that was what was making her sick), so we’re vegan now.
Amanda Zierath
Weird craving for me was cheese on banana bread. Craved McDonald’s fries a lot too! In the first trimester I was so sick somedays all I could keep down was a large order of fries. Non food item for me was the smell of my parents garage, I could have sat in there and sniffed for hours if it was healthy. It smelled like dirt and gasoline. Weird.
megan Reid
When I was pregnant with our second child I had a strong craving for ciggarettes! I have never smoked in my life and have never been around people who smoke, but for some reason I wanted to smoke so bad. Don’t worry, that is one craving I did NOT indulge in. There were times I actually cried because I wanted a ciggarette so bad and I knew I couldn’t have one.
Mandy
Mine was garlic pickles….and the pickle juice. I went through 4 large jars of garlic pickles…juice and all! It still makes my mouth water thinking about it!
Lauraina
I definitely agree with the Mexican food… I actually drove myself to Taco Bell during my first trimester, which may not sound like a big deal except for the fact that I am an all-organic California hippie and I DO NOT eat at Taco Bell, not even on road trips!! I also ate quite a few hamburgers, it was the only thing that helped the nausea… I read that pinto beans have iron, and of course red meat does – pretty sure that this is why I was craving Mexican food so much. That and watermelon are the main cravings that I remember…
I’m in my 2nd trimester currently and drinking milk daily, which I haven’t done since I was a kid – it actually would always give me a stomach ache before and I barely consumed any dairy at all pre-pregnancy! I was also gluten-free before pregnancy, and now am eating tons of gluten!! Oh, yeah, and tons of bacon these days, too…. Who knew?? 🙂
Kathryn
My big craving with my first pregnancy was tuna, tomatoes, and thousand island dressing, all glopped together! Second pregnancy it was just Pepsi…..
Alison
I’m in my first trimester of my first pregnancy. As a habitual coffee drinker I was surprised that it now is gag inducing. As a vegetarian for over a decade prior to getting pregnant I didn’t expect a ravenous craving for red meat. Also having never been a huge citrus fan now eating any and all citrus fruit multiple times per day.
Nina
With my 1st all I wanted were fresh veggies…loaded with salt. Green Peppers, Cucumbers, Cabbage, any veggie I could get my hands on. I even salted my salads. I had to use a lot of restraint with the salt the 7 months the craving lasted. Stopped as soon as I had her. But when she was a week old I wanted Lemons all the time.
The 2nd was sweets, I remember wanting Double Bubble Bubble Gum, which I absolutely hated before and after. He was also a summer baby so I wanted coke and cherry icees 24/7, I’d also add in lemon juice. The Icee/lemon craving lasted into nursing, stopped about 4 months in.
With #3 on the way all I want is peanut butter with honey and lemon. I mix it all in a bowl and eat the peanutty, honey, lemony goodness! Who knows how long our little sprout will have me craving things!