Is salmon safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about salmon during pregnancy?

1. Salmon is one of the richest food sources of the omega-3s EPA and DHA, and eating 8 to 12 ounces of fish and seafood a week during pregnancy may support your baby's health. 1
2. The FDA and EPA recommend up to 12 ounces of fish a week during pregnancy, which works out to about 2 to 3 servings from the lower-mercury 'Best Choices' list, like salmon. 2
3. Eating fish in pregnancy is supported mainly because omega-3s benefit your baby's brain development, though which fish you choose still matters since some carry more mercury than others. 3
4. Mothers who ate fish more than 2 to 3 times a week during pregnancy had children with higher developmental scores at age 4, an effect that showed up most clearly in children breastfed for less than 6 months. 4
5. Pregnant women get Listeria infections at a rate 16 to 18 times higher than the general population, which is one reason fully cooked salmon is the steadier everyday choice over raw or cold-smoked versions like lox. 5

Is salmon safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. If nausea makes fish unappealing early on, that's normal, and salmon can wait. There's no safety reason to force it. When you do eat it, the same rule applies throughout pregnancy: cook it fully rather than eating it raw or cold-smoked.
• Second trimester. Appetite typically comes back in the second trimester, which is a good time to build a habit of 2 to 3 servings of cooked salmon or other low-mercury fish a week. Salmon is done when it flakes easily and looks opaque all the way through.
• Third trimester. Your baby's brain grows fastest in the third trimester, which is exactly when steady DHA from fish like salmon matters most. Keep doing what you've been doing: cook it fully, and skip cold-smoked or lox-style versions unless you heat them through first.