A mum told how an unusual medical condition made her crave the smell, taste and feel of bleach during her pregnancy.

Natalie Cruz, 21, was six months pregnant, in her second trimester, when she noticed she was becoming addicted to cleaning videos on TikTok.

#CleanTok is a viral hashtag where you can find deep-cleaning videos and hacks, and Natalie noticed she loved the sound of powdered bleach being shaken?

Soon she said she craved the smell and taste - and even heard the sound of the cleaning product being shaken in her dreams.

She later clarified in a TikTok comment that while she craved the smell, feel and taste of powdered bleach - she never actually ate any.

The insurance specialist was diagnosed with pica - an eating disorder where a person eats things which aren't food, even though she didn't eat the bleach.

Natalie from Atlanta, Georgia, said: "Six months into my pregnancy, I got lost on the cleaning side of TikTok."

"I kept finding the sound of powdered bleach so satisfying. "

"It was a sound that wouldn't leave me alone - I could even hear it in my dreams. "

"So I went to Target, bought three cans of powdered bleach, and instantly just wanted to feel it, and smell it."

"I consulted my doctor beforehand, who said as long as I'm not ingesting the bleach - and only smelling it once-or-twice - it wouldn't affect my health or my baby's."

Despite the desire to touch, sniff and taste bleach, Natalie wasn't alarmed by her unconventional cravings.

It wasn't long until she found out they had a name.

"It sounds bad, but I first discovered pica on TikTok," she said. "I was watching pregnant women experiencing 'weird' food cravings, and my doctor said it was probably what I was going through."

Pica is traditionally understood as an eating disorder.

According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic Manual (DSM-5), the disorder typically involves "eating non-nutritive, non-food substances over a period of at least one month" - but Natalie wants people to understand that just because she didn't actually eat any bleach, doesn't mean she isn't suffering from pica. "

"My doctor explained to me that I do have pica, despite not actually eating any inedible objects. "

"Obviously I'm not going to eat bleach, but I still craved it."

"While I only smelt and touched the bleach a couple of times [per doctor's orders], I loved the [#CleanTok] videos so much, I even watched them during labour to relax me."

"I wasn't worried it would harm myself of the baby, because I didn't ever eat any." "

She posted on TikTok about her cravings and went viral

"People always have something negative to say in the TikTok comments - they're all about invalidating and discrediting women and our medical histories," she said."

The cravings disappeared when Ayaan was born in June.