It is a given fact that pregnancy can bring a lot of changes to your body. Various symptoms will let you experience lots of ups and downs as an expecting mama, but you have to power through everything to meet your little bean and introduce them to the world anytime soon!
There are a lot of different Filipino beliefs or superstitions when it comes to pregnancy, and one of them is “paglilihi”. It can be manifested in different ways such as nausea or morning sickness, while some develop this certain fondness over something or someone, but the most common one is having pregnancy cravings. And a question about this remains for discussion – “is paglilihi true or not?”
Most soon-to-be mamas are experiencing such pregnancy cravings as it is one of the early symptoms of pregnancy. Though pregnant women are different, in general, undergoing the paglilihi stage begin by the end of their first trimester. It can also be noted that these pregnancy cravings peak in the second trimester, but will then decline towards the end of the third trimester (Wisner, 2022).
What Causes Pregnancy Cravings
Some experts expressed what they believe are the causes of paglilihi, and at the same time, they acknowledge that these vary among women. When it comes to pregnancy cravings, there are others who crave for ordinary food like the usual chocolates, fruits, and vegetables, but there are some that look for foods that you never liked or tasted before one became pregnant (Waters, 2022). It may be the weirdest possible food combination any expecting mommy can feel like eating – maybe for instance, pancakes and ketchup together or green mangoes dipped in peanut butter!
Although there are no stated facts and research-based findings in the medical field yet, there are theories on why pregnant women experience paglilihi or having the presence of pregnancy cravings. These may possibly be due to the following: hormonal changes, nutritional needs, and psychological factors.
Hormonal Changes
One of the possible reasons why pregnancy cravings start is because of the hormonal changes within the body of an expecting mama. For instance, the sense of smell and taste during pregnancy in the paglilihi stage heightens, wherein it becomes more sensitive. The hormones present from being pregnant can bring changes to the taste receptors, making expecting mamas want certain foods or cause aversions to your well-loved food (Hawaii Pacific Health, 2017).
Nutritional Needs
Pregnancy craving starts when the body is telling the mind to be healthy? When it comes to nutritional needs, the typical idea that people have in their minds is that mamas crave certain foods containing nutrients that they currently do not have enough. This resonates to the concept that pregnancy must involve proper nutrition for the developing bean. So having nutritional deficit would alert the mama into needing foods containing the vitamins and minerals lacking in their diet. It makes sense, right? This would mean that if mamas tend to lack folic acid, iron, vitamin A, among others in their diet, vegetables and legumes would usually be part of their cravings. But this is not the case as in a study, pregnant mamas commonly have sweets or high-fat foods in their cravings and the healthy counterparts of those such as fruit and vegetable pregnancy cravings sat low on the list. This wheeled into the conclusion that mamas don’t always crave the foods whose nutrients are what she and the bean needs due to lack of evidence. In short, the said factor does not have a proven link to the paglilihi stage and remains a belief.
Psychological Factors
It is already very common and normal for mamas to experience cravings during pregnancy. Still, there are differences between the preferences, especially location-wise. Psychological and cultural factors have become intertwined when it comes to craving food and compared to the nutritional factor, data backs this up this time. Mamas from different countries have been craving foods that are already embedded in their culture. Women biologically experience the same patterns, which partly explains paglilihi, and culture causes the diversity in that aspect.
Just to also mention, here in the Philippines, there is this thing that they call “maselang paglilihi” where aside from the weird pregnancy cravings, pregnant women are identified to experience intense symptoms like heavy vaginal bleeding, unbearable headaches and having sudden poor eyesight, and more which makes it a more challenging pregnancy journey for the expecting mama.
Myths on Paglilihi
A lot of Filipinos seem to be fond of teasing the expecting mama when they are in their “paglilihi stage” because of the pregnancy cravings they have. The argument of whether “paglilihi” is real, pertaining to the belief that eating specific foods or the pregnant woman’s cravings influences the attributes and looks of the unborn baby is debatable and controversial. There is no exact scientific proof that supports this, but it is believed that “paglilihi” is more cultural (Dizon, 2018).
Aside from the theory that the newborn’s appearance will be highly affected from the food pregnant women consume, there is also another one where pregnant women should not be wearing necklaces or wrapping around a towel on their neck during their pregnancy. The superstition is that those who do this can cause the umbilical cord to be wrapped around their little one’s neck upon giving birth. Certainly, there is also no factual evidence for this, but there is a chance for the said umbilical cord to wrap around your baby’s neck because of their movement inside the womb (Batara, n.d). There are more myths that are out there which are still present in today’s time. It is really a factor that people from different generations continue to bring it up when a relative of theirs is pregnant.
What should mamas do?
If ever you’re still wondering, no - having pregnancy cravings is not a bad thing. Going through this or the paglilihi stage should be taken as part of the process of pregnancy. Mamas should go ahead and honor these once it is seen that pregnancy cravings start. There’s nothing more fulfilling than appreciating the moments in those nine months. But while taking care of your pregnancy cravings, it is still important to beware and take care of your health. Afterall, health is definitely your top priority to keep you and your little bean safe. There is no such thing as bad cravings but be sure to not go overboard with them. So here are a couple of guide questions you can reflect at by yourself to know if indulging on the cravings is still acceptable:
- Are your cravings taking over your balanced meals?
- Do they lead you to eat more than you are hungry for?
- Do they make you choose foods that are highly transformed too often?
There’s nothing wrong with having some needed pregnancy cravings from time to time. But a healthy diet should still be the priority during pregnancy. This is for the better for you and your bean. If you think your paglilihi stage is getting out of control, it would be best to take guidance from your doctor or dietician. In that way, they would be able to help you with the psychological and the behavioral aspects of pregnancy more.
TAGS:second-trimester
