Is it safe to drink eggnog during pregnancy?
That depends: Is it commercially prepared (i.e., the kind sold in a carton at the grocery store) or is it homemade? And if it is homemade, is it made with raw eggs or cooked eggs? Stay away from eggnog — and anything else, such as holiday cookie batter — that contains raw eggs, as homemade eggnog often does. Raw eggs are a no-no during pregnancy, because they sometimes carry germs such as salmonella. Salmonella is a type of bacteria that can cause food poisoning, and in very rare cases, be fatal. Contracting salmonella during pregnancy rarely harms your baby directly, but the high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration that accompany a bad case of food poisoning could cause preterm labor or miscarriage. Commercially manufactured eggnog, on the other hand, is made with pasteurized eggs and has not been linked with salmonella infections, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). There are also many recipes for making eggnog at home that use cooked eggs, and these are safe. Jus
