From the article: Pica in Pregnancy
Pica is a nutritional disorder often diagnosed in pregnancy. Rather than have the "normal" pregnancy cravings of sweet or salty, women with pica crave non-food substances like dirt, rocks, matches, clay, etc. This can be very dangerous and your midwife or doctor will want to help you. When did you notice you had pica? What did your doctor or midwife do about it? Did you only experience it when pregnant? Share Your Experience
Sad but true
- No one in my family knows that I have been eating chalk for a couple of yrs I'm in my 3 rd pregnancy and the craving is overwhelming I try to control myself and limit the amount if I do eat it.. It's even harder cuz I work with chalk all the time.. I've always been low in iron... I'm sure that has a lot to do with it..
- —Guest Tere
I craved clean rags and sox
- After I washed my whites [ rags, soxs , tshirts , etc ] I would chew on them loving the taste and smell of the detergent and bleach. I would chew on my boyfriend tube soxs and he would wonder why he only had one clean sox but I couldn't help it, the taste and smell drive me crazy for it :)) doctor told me not to do it because of the chemicals in the bleach.
- —Guest Message
I crave nail polish
- I have intense cravings for nail polish. I have to have my husband hide it from me! The cravings are so intense! I like to chew on the plastic lids to water bottles and lick and smell nail polish.. Now that I'm pregnant I fight it but it takes everything in me (and my husbands helping to intervene!)
- —Guest MeMommyof3
Craving for ice and clay
- About 4 months ago I started craving for ice and every month my craving got worse and all the suddenly my started craving for dirt I don't care where I am if I start craving for it I have to have it I can't hold on. I buy my clay and eats it, all the time . I carry it in my purse. I don't no how to stop.just like Amaelli3 said it i only liked ice at different pizza places or subway. But I'm not pregnant . When I was pregnant I did not crave for that.
- —Guest Lizzy
NOT A GOOD EXPERIENCE AT ALLLLLL!
- I cannot even share this experience with my hubby. I craved for coal and flower sand during my first trimester. I would intentionally burn my food and would eat up the coal. I would go to the flower garden pretending to be inspecting the newly planted flowers, only to end up leaking the sand. It was really crazy but thanks to my counsellor who helped me control it.
- —Nj.Mkparu
fabric softener, dryel sheets
- I began to inhale fabric softener and my mouth watered if I inhaled it...so shortly after I began licking fabric softener and my mouth watered more. I knew this was harmful so I stopped and just began sniffing it..I put it on a rag and carried the rag around smelling it. Dryel sheets were my next thing as I would lay one on my chest and inhale and my mouth would also water. It's crazy, but the doc just told me not to eat the fabric softener because of some harmful things in it.
- —Guest danielle
Not diagnosed but this was crazy
- I craved clear nail polish. At first I would only enjoy the scent, smelling it when using it on my nails. The moment the baby was born the craving left me. With each succeeding pregnancy I was more definitely attracted to clear nail polish and by my fourth and fifth children I would actually take it on my tongue right from the bottle. This was 37 and 38 years ago. I had never heard of Pica. My doctor said, when I told him about this, "you are probably craving some nutrient in it". He did not tell me to stop. Both of those children are grown men now. Nothing happened that I know of. But I knew then and realize even more now, that that was a very strange thing to crave. Does anyone know what that might have been about? The craving left the moment I had the babies.
- —Guest creativemom
Ice Cravings
- With each of my pregnancies I've craved ice. It's a very intense craving. With one I wanted pellet ice and with the next I only wanted ice from a certain coffee shop. My midwife tested my iron and told me it was low and that the two were probably related. She encouraged me to eat more iron rich foods and that lessened the cravings dramatically.
- —maelli3
Yuck!
- I craved paper. It started by accident because I got some in my mouth. But then I noticed was salivating when I saw paper, but only lined notebook paper. My doctor upped my iron, said I was anemic and it went away after I had my baby. They told me not to eat it.
- —Guest mamazzz
