Is it normal for a fetus to have cravings?

46% Normal

I have never been pregnant before and unfortunately, Google doesn't seem to have much to say what you type in things like "fetus cravings" so help me out here.

I have this... friend. And she claims that her fetus is constantly craving Starbucks coffee. I have also had... friends that have made similar claims regarding other foods.

I have no experience with this whatsoever and I am afraid to ask my friends that have children because... well how do you ask this is a normal way? Do fetuses communicate with their mothers somehow? Can they have preferences for food? When does this start? Are these claims legitimate? I don't understand :(

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46% Normal

Based on 48 votes (22 yes)

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Comments ( 28 )

dirtybirdy

11 years ago

She may need her coffee every day but the baby doesnt. She should limit her caffeine to less than 300 mg a day. Its a stimulant and the baby doesn't need that. There is a slight chance of miscarriage in early pregnancy for people who consume too much caffeine. And later in pregnancy it may restrict fetal growth.

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[Old Memory]

11 years ago

My guess would be that hormones and body growth have more to do with cravings.

Maybe she blames the cravings on her fetus because she doesn't want to take responsibility for caving into her cravings.

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  11 years ago
  
  So... it's not true?
  
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  - Moneybagschest
    
    11 years ago
    
    Yes it is very common for women to have cravings. I am surprised you can find nothing on this. When this is so conman. Babies crave food they need or that they like. Even if the mother hates this type of food. My Aunt craved pickles when she was pregnant and she hates pickles but the baby loves them. The baby is not using mind control. The body senses you are hungry and what the baby is hungry for. When you eat you will pick something that sounds appetizing.
    
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  - VioletTrees
    
    11 years ago
    
    No, it's not true.
    
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Avant-Garde

11 years ago

The baby isn't craving it it's the mother who is. Also, she shouldn't be drinking Starbucks. Allot of their drinks are high in caffeine and that could harm the baby.

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Terence_the_viking

11 years ago

don't blame it on the sunshine, don't blame it on the moonlight, don't blame it on the good times, blame it on the fetus.

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pizzabrowniesushi

7 years ago

I am a dude, I don't understand. It looks really difficult and I can't grow a fetus so I wouldn't say nothing.

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pizzabrowniesushi

7 years ago

hahahaha my mom said she craved sanka(eww) Hershey bars Chinese takeout popcorn those really salty potato straw thingies and a little wine.she probably smoked a bunch as well. fyi it was the 70's so yeah people didn't care/know so much I guess.

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Ambrosia

11 years ago

When a woman is pregnant its not so much your mind anymore but more of the reaction your body does when your pregnant. Changes are constant emotionally, physically etc. so cravings to strange things is just a reaction. For instance i was always a vegetarian since i was a kid up until i got pregnant and then suddenly i was eating burgers, steaks as if tomorrow was going to be the apocalypse.... i didnt even like the taste of meat. Now ever since i gotten pregnant...i BBQ like no body's business LOL

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sparrowanon

11 years ago

It's been proven that the human body knows what it needs better than you do. Often, when you crave foods, they have something you need.
A young boy used to eat almost nothing but salt. Upon being institutionalized and being refused salt, he dies. Why? An autopsy revealed his body was missing natural levels of sodium to make the body work. He naturally fixed this before he could talk by eating massive amounts of salt.
A study of preschoolers left to their own devices regarding food showed similar findings. The children we left to play with snacks scattered around the room for them to forage on their own. There were sweets, veggies, meats, fruits. Everything. Initially the kids started with the sweets (duh) but with in three days they automatically adjusted their meals to a fully balanced diet.
So maybe the fetus doesn't "crave" coffee, but the high calcium milk often found in high doses in fancy coffee these days. It's probably just an ingredient that she doesn't get enough of now that her demands have risen since becoming pregnant.

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- regisphilbin
  
  8 years ago
  
  thats pretty cool
  
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wigsplitz

11 years ago

Yes, it's real!! Some people eat things they normally find disgusting, and conversely CAN'T eat things they used to enjoy. When you want something when you're pregnant, it's a lot more intense than just having a hankerin' for something as a normal person and aversions are also a lot more intense. I used to eat these fucking DISGUSTING nacho cheese Slim Jims, they literally make me want to throw up just thinking about the taste of them, but when I was pregnant I'd eat them ALL the time.

I believe I remember reading an explanation for it being for getting a variety of nutrients and enough calories. Which makes total sense. I mean, duh, you need a lot of extra calories to make a baby. So naturally you'd crave more food more intensely. Your body does a very good job of making babies, if you were completely left to your own devices and had no hormonal triggers and other uncontrollable biological instincts during pregnancy, think of how low the birthrate would be. The baby takes over. They will steal nutrients from YOUR stores, including calcium from bones, in order for them to be born alive and as healthy as possible. This will also happen during breastfeeding, again to make the baby healthy, that's how nature works.

Try googling something more sensible like 'cravings during pregnancy' instead of 'fetus cravings', that's just idiotic and makes me think you're trolling, no one can be this dumb...*really*??!! Like, really? 'fetus cravings' sounds more like someone wanting to eat a fetus. Come on. You seem to have reasonable enough writing skills to be able to realize this.

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  11 years ago
  
  I know the woman can have cravings but I have no idea about the fetus. When I heard "my baby wants so and so food" so many times it got me to wondering whether or not a fetus DOES have cravings. I've never been pregnant so I literally have no idea.
  
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  - wigsplitz
    
    11 years ago
    
    Well, here's the deal...if you asked a doctor what pregnancy is like, they'd tell you 99% of them are all the same.
    
    If you ask a woman what her pregnancies are like, they're going to give you far more details, be a lot more enthusiastic, talk about the baby as a real person and not a 'fetus', she can tell you every little subtle difference between pregnancies, between having a boy vs a girl, etc....so, IMO there's really 2 right answers here.
    
    Does everyone who says 'the baby wants x' really believe or mean that? No. Do people who know the medical reasoning still say that? Yes. It's simply because pregnancy is a lot more than just another medical experience. It's not a broken leg or a cut, it's something that involves and controls your entire body and mind for at least 9 months and it's got to be the most amazing thing a human body can do.
    
    The baby is you and your partner, it's inside of you, it's there doing stuff, it's an individual, it's OK to be stupid over it. That's what you're supposed to do. Part of our instinct is to care for our babies as well, not just birth them, so the bond starts long before actual birth and only gets stronger (in normal people)....it's just another part of nature's way. I don't think most people would even be capable of looking at their 'fetus' from a totally medical and rational standpoint. I mean, with all we know about medicine these days and pregnancy has not lost it's 'magic' (to the parents, anyway) in the least, so...
    
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    - Anonymous Post Author
      
      11 years ago
      
      I'm just trying to clear this up here because I have literally no idea...
      
      Does the woman know which food the baby prefers, or are her cravings her own but she speaks for both parties?
      
      I know that women can feel the baby inside of them and get worried when they don't move or don't act in a certain manner, but as far as any deeper bond goes, I haven't the slightest clue. My friends are very personal with their babies already before they are born, and I can understand why, but I don't know HOW personal one can get.
      
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      - wigsplitz
        
        11 years ago
        
        You want it because you're pregnant, so you attribute it to the baby itself sort of, especially if it's something you'd ordinarily not eat-or not eat so much of. You don't really look at the whole digestive process when you're pregnant, you pretty much see it as a direct pipeline, even knowing it's not...
        
        It's really hard to explain, it's just something you have to experience. When you get a true craving, it's so incredibly intense, I can't compare it to anything really.
        
        Here's some articles I found. They seem to suggest that flavors can be present in the amniotic fluid and can affect the tastes of a baby, however it doesn't suggest at all if that's where cravings come from. I don't think there's an explanation for exactly why you pick the specific foods, besides possibly an instinct for the nutrients or calories. Of course that doesn't apply to all cravings, I mean you could have a perfectly balanced diet with proper calories and still get an intense craving.
        
        http://www.parentingscience.com/prenatal-learning-about-food.html
        
        http://www.divinecaroline.com/22097/73457-mom-s-diet-affects-baby-s-tastes
        
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        Anonymous Post Author
        
        11 years ago
        
        That and what the below poster said makes a little more sense.
        
        It's odd because my Mom drank a lot of non-alcoholic (or so she says har har) beer and ate a lot of peanuts and I can't stand either one of those.
        
        I think those studies are on to something in regards to studies in prevention of obesity. Like say, how a pregnant woman who eats certain foods is likely to pass the cravings for those certain foods down to the baby. I have to read into that a little more.
        
        But you're right, it is one of those things that would be difficult to tell unless one has been there, in regards to pregnancy it seems that it is one of those experiences where reading about it just doesn't suffice =/
        
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- VioletTrees
  
  11 years ago
  
  That's hormonal, though, it's not your fetus wanting things. The OP's friend thinks that they're having cravings because the fetus wants to eat certain things.
  
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  - wigsplitz
    
    11 years ago
    
    Yeah, I covered that. See entire second paragraph.
    
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    - VioletTrees
      
      11 years ago
      
      Oh, I see now! Sorry about that. I have trouble with accidentally skipping or mixing up sections of text.
      
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myownopinions

11 years ago

The mother usually craves food either through her hormonal imbalance or through her body telling her that her fetus needs certain nutrients, so in a way, I guess you could say that a fetus does "crave" certain foods, but it's actually the mother doing the actual food-craving.

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ravenna

11 years ago

Your friend is silly! No, a fetus cannot crave things. They also have no way of sending that information to their mother. It's only the mother who gets cravings.

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charli.m

11 years ago

Cravings in pregnancy are normal. I've never heard anyone 'blame' it on the fetus, though. Like Squirrel-Whisperer said, it's down to hormones etc. And like dirtybirdy said - coffee is not good for the baby.

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  11 years ago
  
  Ah. It's kind of the opposite from me. A lot of my friends seem to have a keen understanding regarding what food their fetus likes, activities... movies... but I digress.
  
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  - VioletTrees
    
    11 years ago
    
    Your friends are making shit up. They might believe it's true, but mothers don't have a special psychic connection to fetuses. There's no way for them to know what their fetuses like or dislike.
    
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[Old Memory]

11 years ago

IIN that I have a craving for a fetus?

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- Avant-Garde
  
  11 years ago
  
  Cletus, go outside and take care of the pigs!
  
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Is it normal for a fetus to have cravings?