Urge to smell and eat rags and towels :/ embarrassed

[Mw3753]

Very embarrassing but I have to say I have been having the urge to sniff and eat clean towels or rags. I am 29 weeks pregnant. The towels and Rags have to be fresh and clean. Now, I have sniffed my clean towels and rags but I have not eaten or have chewed any. I want to chew a rag so so so bad. I have not chewed a rag because I am so scared of how bad I want it and how good it might be to me or how satisfying it will be for me to where I can't stop. I'm scared I will not be able to stop chewing a rag, I honestly feel like if it tastes the way I picture it, I will not be able to stop and I might want to swallow it. I know...... ????? Um, t's not just the taste that I am urging for it's actually really the texture of the rag. I can imagine the Ruffles from the rag against my tongue and the top of my mouth and it feels so amazing. I feel like I have the urge to eat rags more so because of the texture rather than the taste. I have read that this souns like a condition called pica meaning the urge to eat non-edible objects. I also read some comments about other women only having this problem while they are pregnant. Honestly for me, I've always had it but for some reason while I'm pregnant it feels severe and it bothers me that I cannot fulfill the urge because it's weird to me thinking about sitting there trying to eat a rag and it might be dangerous and I am scared I might like it too much and won't be able to stop. I told my boyfriend about it the other day, I was a little playful about it. We kind of joke about it. But this is real haha. Well I guess I could tell my doctor about it. I really do not want to make it a big deal so I have just been blowing it off so I'm thinking maybe I could just continue to blow it off. I do not want to be diagnosed with some crazy condition when I could just hide it from everybody.

[Georgina_D]

Contact your GP. I think you may have a deficiency (vitamin/mineral) x

[roxannacar]

Pica can Be a sign of iron deficiency so mention it to ur midwife/gp

[KaleidoNoo]

Definitely go to the GP. They’ll understand and be able to advise further.

When I was expecting my daughter I had something similar. Bathroom body sponges. They had to be wet and all I wanted to do was bite them and feel the sponge against my teeth and it was definitely about the texture. I never ate any of them so it wasn’t pica. But similar. My partner at the time helped by getting me a number of sponges to make wet and bite. It was sweet of him to participate considering how unusual it was. The second I had my daughter sponges had zero appeal.

[sweetilemon]

If you crave something major it's usually because you are defiant in a vitamin or mineral. Are you taking a multi vitamin like pregnacare? If not try that and otherwise go to your GP to ask them to do a check xx

[Mw3753]

Thank you all so much. These replies helped me to not feel alone not that i want spmebody to go through this. By the way i had my baby feb 14th 2018 and i have not had the urge thank god! I never went to the doctor about it, i just figured it was becasue i was pregnant. It was very odd though. I had never heard anybody talk about that happeneing to them.

[Godsnotdead11]

Im exactly the same way im 33 weeks now but i have always had this craving every since i was a little girl i had to go see a therapist but i just recently started back. I love the texture also and definitely can only be fresh towels and rags

[Sheluv_niii in reply to Godsnotdead11]

😂😂ohh bc I’m not pregnant nd never have been but I’ve been doing this for years I juss like the fresh dryer taste after you wash them I also eat a lot of ice I’ve been doing both for about 3 years

[LucyAlana in reply to Sheluv_niii]

Ask your doctor to check your iron levels. I had this - I could eat a whole kg bag of ice huddled by a radiator so I didn’t get too cold. Had really low iron levels which made me anaemic. Wasn’t pregnant at the time.

[Keciapufflala]

I chew lots of freshly cleaned items but only during pregnancy stop when it’s wet enough then it’s gross but yea it’s as you imagine but I’d never try to fully eat hehe