Good news for pregnant sweet tooths

A friend of mine forwarded me this study that should make pregnant sweets lovers feel a little better about their cravings. Women who ate high levels of chocolate during pregnancy had a better chance of having happy, smiling babies than those who ate lower levels of chocolate. Even if the woman was stressed out during pregnancy, if she indulged her chocolate cravings, her baby was less fearful of new situations at six months old than her stressed out compatriots who abstained. Researchers say it's possible that the chocolate consumption and happy babies might be related to a third, unknown factor. But they think that perhaps the chemicals in the chocolate resulted in positive mood changes in the mother passed on to the baby.

In my case, pregnancy brought on a sudden craving for Snickers and french fries. I continued eating at least one chocolate bar a day, probably more than one more often than I'd like to admit. I'd say River ranks very highly on smiliness, happiness and ease at adjusting to new situations.

So, if you are wavering between saving the calories and the caffeine from chocolate and making yourself feel better, indulging yourself might have positive benefits for baby.

How does your chocolate consumption or lack of it compare with the study results?