Why? Because raw seafood can be home to all sorts of bacteria, viruses, and other nasty things.įood poisoning can suck at the best of times. Raw shellfish is definitely something you’ll want to avoid. If you see “Gejang” * on the menu, that means raw crab, and you’ll want to avoid it until baby is out. Sorry mama, no raw oysters for you! As far as crab goes, the only place you might encounter raw crab is at Korean restaurants. Swordfish, marlin, shark – because these have lots of mercury.2 portions a week of oily fish, such as mackerel, salmon, or trout.What you should limit: Docs tend to say don’t eat more than: Properly cooked fish, smoked fish, or frozen fish – including shellfish (yep, that includes crab).
Other low-mercury fish, though, are a-okay. Some fish are just naturally high in mercury – and the problem is that, in too high quantities, mercury can cause some problems for you and baby. While you can do something about the latter, the mercury thing is a bit trickier to sidestep. The two main problems with eating seafood while pregnant are mercury and poorly cooked fish. But it’s actually much more okay than the food police would have you believe. Seafood tends to be top of the list of things people say you can’t eat while pregnant. Can pregnant women eat crab? Final thoughts.