Hailey Bieber's Unusual Pregnancy Food Craving Explained

The Bieber family will be growing by one, the couple announced jointly on each of their Instagram accounts earlier this month. The post features clips of the couple's recent vow renewal ceremony, with Hailey draped in a floor-length, white lace dress tenderly caressing her baby bump. In a now-expired Instagram story, Hailey shared with a little lighthearted humor that she's been experiencing some relatively unusual pregnancy cravings (via InStyle). While it's not uncommon to develop a sweet tooth or a hankering for something savory while pregnant, some pregnancy cravings can be a little bit more outside the box. "No, you're not allowed to judge!!" the model wrote as the accompanying text to an image of her holding a pickle covered in egg salad and topped off with a splash of hot sauce.

Anywhere from half to 90% of women in the United States crave a specific type of food when pregnant, most often towards the end of the first trimester, according to a 2014 scientific review published in Frontiers in Psychology. But pickles, egg salad, and hot sauce?

While we don't know the exact cause of food cravings during pregnancy, hormones, cultural factors, and nutritional deficits are a few components thought to potentially play a role (via Frontiers in Psychology). Houston Methodist adds that pregnant individuals may also be drawn to certain foods that help alleviate uncomfortable symptoms, such as nausea or vomiting. As it turns out, however, Hailey Bieber is far from alone in her newfound love of pickles. "I have many pregnant women coming in saying that they're craving foods like watermelon, pizza or even pickles," OB-GYN Dr. Elizabeth Mosier told Houston Methodist. Similarly, researchers from the scientific review cite an early study in which pickles were among the most common food cravings experienced by pregnant adolescents.

As for the egg salad, experts at The Mother Baby Center point out that many soon-to-be parents find themselves reaching for eggs. So while not uncommon, experts point out that there are cases in which a craving for eggs during pregnancy may be your body's way of telling you to up your protein intake, which helps promote red blood cell production during pregnancy.

That just leaves the hot sauce. Again, Hailey's cravings prove not to be so strange after all. The Mother Baby Center states that hot and spicy foods are another popular pregnancy craving thought to be associated with hormonal fluctuations. For some people, however, spicy foods are a recipe for heartburn and indigestion, so if hot sauce cravings are new for you, it's best to consume it slowly and in moderation.

Yet perhaps the most unusual part about Hailey's pregnancy food cravings isn't so much the ingredients themselves, but the fact that she's desiring them all together. Maybe not, though. CBS News reported findings of a OnePoll survey issued in connection with Vitamin Angels back in 2023 that showed 42% of women who had experienced childbirth within the last six years had craved "an unusual combination of foods," citing peanut butter and pickles as one example. No judgment here.