Your body goes through a host of changes when you’re pregnant—there’s an entire other human being living inside you, for one! This does mean that you’ll have to adjust your diet accordingly. If you’re with child, you’re better off avoiding these 4 items in your daily diet.

Fish With High Mercury Content

A highly toxic element, mercury can be especially dangerous to a pregnant woman and her child. Not all fish have high mercury contents, though. Just some: shark, swordfish, tuna and mackerel.

Do eat low-mercury fish, though. This will give you a healthy supply of Omega-3 fatty acids, essential for your baby.

Raw Eggs

A major no-no. Give all these items a rest: lightly scrambled eggs, poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, cake icing and salad dressing. Symptoms usually affect the mother alone, but salmonella in raw eggs can affect childbirth too.

Eat eggs that are thoroughly done, or check the labels of egg-containing products to ensure that Pasteurized eggs have been used.

Organ Meat

Here, it’s a question of quantity.

Organ meat in the right quantity is good, even recommended, for expecting mothers. Iron, vitamin B12, vitamin A and copper are all good for you and the baby.

Too much, though, can cause vitamin A and/or copper toxicity.

Caffeine

Every mother has probably heard that coffee is bad, but it’s not just your morning cup of steaming coffee you need to avoid. Caffeine is found in soft drinks, cocoa, and even tea. There isn’t a blanket ban on coffee, though—just limit your intake to less than 200mg per day.

If you’re pregnant, you’ll want to do your best to keep yourself and your baby healthy. For this reason alone, it’s important that you avoid these foods.

References:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-foods-to-avoid-during-pregnancy#section6

http://www.activebeat.com/sexual-health/10-dangerous-foods-all-pregnant-women-should-avoid/