How expectant women handle the craving reality

It is every woman’s wish to have a smooth pregnancy and deliver without any complication.

However, majority go through a lot for the nine-month period of pregnancy.

From being moody to hating the man responsible for the pregnancy; others develop a craving for something; be it a certain food, smell or even scenery.

Women interviewed by The Standard confessed to having cravings for differrent things during pregnancy.

Mercylina Atieno, a 26-year-old mother of one explained that she had a craving for roasted clay she bought in the supermarkets and soil, which she dug from a pit near her house.

“I tried to stop this habit but could not, as every morning before breakfast, I had to eat some roasted clay or soil before taking breakfast,” says Atieno.

She added: “I could not do without the clay despite being on iron supplements. The craving for roasted clay and soil never went away as I still eat them even after giving birth.”

Getting rid of the habit was not easy. She noted that as much as she was told to keep off, after three or four days she would go back to her craving.

Idah Mbai, a mother of two, explains that had it not been for the iron supplements she had been put on, she would have craved for non-food substances. However, with the supplements, she craved for yoghurt, roasted maize and chips.

“When I craved for something salty, I always opted for sausages as they contain salt,” she said.

Mary Akinyi, a mother of two, admited that was not aware that eating stones could affect her children’s cognitive ability, as she has not noted any difference in her two children, despite having eaten stones when she was pregnant with them.

Bowel distraction

She however admited that the only serious repercussion she suffered from eating stones was being admitted after she suffered from a bowel distraction complication.

But 36-year-old Miriam Nyobaki never had such craving in her first pregnancy. She was never put on iron supplements, neither did she experience a pica craving.

“I have an 11-year-old boy but during my pregnancy, I did not eat any non-food substance. In class the boy is perfectly normal as he has good learning abilities,” said Nyokabi, adding: “The only sort of craving I experienced during pregnancy was for sugary things such chocolates and sugar cane.”

The survey suggested that pregnancy-related craving is much higher among younger women than their older counterparts.

Pica was found popular in women aged between 16 and 20 years (77.9 per cent) compared to 13.1 per cent for those in the age bracket between 26 and 30 years.

The study disabused the notion that older women are more likely to encounter craving as they lack the mineral components found in non-food substances such as Zinc and Iron.