Listening to the Baby... Through the Belly?

I have been working on an essay for school entitled, “The Mystery of Cravings.” It explores the reasons why some women have strong cravings for certain foods during pregnancy and others do not. In it I compare two viewpoints, one that says a pregnant woman should be allowed to eat whatever she wants, whenever she wants, because it is the baby speaking through her, telling her what it needs, and another that says that, even though a woman's intuition is heightened during pregnancy, it doesn't mean she should follow every whim and fancy – she still needs to ensure a balanced and nutritious diet, regardless of what she may “want.”

I would like to believe that every woman does have a heightened sense of what she needs to eat when she is pregnant. However, my own experiences thus far have made me wonder on more than one occasion. When nausea was commonplace in the first trimester, ice cream, toast, and cheese were mild foods that seemed to soothe both my belly and my mind. But then I discovered that my body did not tolerate them so well anymore. So I was left thinking, DOES my body really know what it needs?

I wonder if there were emotional, rather than nutritional, reasons for wanting some of those foods. While my desire for ice cream MAY have meant that I needed more protein, calcium, or magnesium, it could have also simply been an addiction to something sweet, with a creamy mouthfeel and nostalgic memories of ice cream during childhood. While my inability to eat other foods MAY have had physiologic roots, it could have simply been me looking for more attention from my husband and peers. After all, women are told it is normal to go through extreme changes in appetite during pregnancy, almost to the point that is not only expected but thought of as “cool” or “hip.” Could this make women feel pressured to change their diet in extreme ways?

I'm just wondering. I'm wondering if my initial changes in appetite were really founded on anything the baby may have been trying to tell me - or if it was, so to speak, “all me!” I hope that I am listening to my body honestly, and that the needs of my baby are being heard and met. I have no doubt that my body is putting the needs of my baby above my own, and indeed I don't want to obsess over every bite I put into my mouth (I think that's called orthorexia!), but I DO want to be consistently hearing the needs of my baby. I have heard of couples who, when given the opportunity to sit down, close their eyes, and mentally ask the baby what it needed, came up with the same reply, instantly. Maybe I need to do that more often – not just assume I know, but actually sit down, close my eyes, and ASK the baby. Because, after all, I am feeding the TWO of us, aren't I? It's now about more than MY needs.