9 Bizarre Myths About Pregnancy - Britannica

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• Introduction
• A mother’s beauty
• Morning sickness
• Give up the spice
• Ropes and nuchal cords
• Hair and birth defects
• The lunar effect
• Ugly animals
• No gifts, please
• Tummy rub

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9 Bizarre Myths About Pregnancy That’s one for each month! Ask Anything Homework Help Written by Kara Rogers Kara Rogers is the senior editor of biomedical sciences at Encyclopædia Britannica, where she oversees a range of content from medicine and genetics to microorganisms. She joined Britannica in 2006 and... Kara Rogers Fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Britannica AI Ask Anything Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask Anything

Pregnancy is a time of excitement and anticipation, and mothers-to-be are often brimming with questions, many of them, unfortunately, based on myth and superstition. If I drink coffee during my pregnancy, will my baby be born with brown spots? Can looking at a lunar eclipse really cause a deformity in my child? There are countless myths, superstitions, and old wives’ tales about pregnancy, many of them wonderfully misleading and yet actually believed and perpetuated. Nine remarkable ones are presented and debunked here.

A mother’s beauty

According to myth, girls steal away their mothers’ beauty. By contrast, if a pregnant woman grows more attractive through her pregnancy, she can thank the little boy in her womb. Of course, the truth of the matter is that morning sickness, changing hormone levels, and an expanding baby bump leave many pregnant women exhausted and plagued with acne, especially in the first trimester. So, at the peak of beauty, expecting women generally are not. And that stands regardless of whether the baby is a girl or a boy.

Morning sickness

The worse a woman’s morning sickness, the more likely she is to be carrying a girl, or so popular myth suggests. And myth it likely is, if you were to ask an expert on the subject. But research suggests that there could be something to this one. A study published in 2004 found that the proportion of women who delivered girls was slightly higher for women who sought treatment for nausea and vomiting during pregnancy than for women who did not seek treatment.

Give up the spice

Myth also suggests that spicy foods eaten during pregnancy can burn the baby’s eyes, resulting in blindness. Spicy foods also have been blamed for miscarriages and the induction of labor. While those associations might sound plausible to some people, they aren’t real. Spicy foods can increase a pregnant woman’s risk of heartburn, however. Repeated heartburn during pregnancy may mean that the baby will be born with a head full of hair, if we are to believe another old wives’ tale.

Ropes and nuchal cords

In certain cultures, superstition advises pregnant women to avoid stepping over ropes while pregnant, since doing so could result in a nuchal cord, in which the umbilical cord becomes tangled around the baby’s neck. In the modern era, the myth has been extended to include electrical cords. Myth also recommends against raising the arms above the head while pregnant, as this, too, could result in a nuchal cord. There is no scientific basis for any of those myths.

Hair and birth defects

If a woman’s hair is cut while she is pregnant, the baby could develop problems with its vision. It is difficult to fathom a natural process that could underlie the cause and effect implied by this superstition. More controversial is whether women should dye their hair while pregnant. The use of hair dyes has not been definitively linked to birth defects in humans, though experts advise against it in the first trimester.

The lunar effect

Among the more firmly entrenched superstitions of pregnancy is the notion that the frequency with which babies are born increases during a full moon. Even some medical staff who work in labor and delivery wards believe this one, possibly reinforcing in the popular mind the plausibility for an actual connection. Despite extensive investigation, however, scientists have yet to identify an association between full moons and birth rates.

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Ugly animals

An old wives’ tale that exists in several cultures suggests that when a pregnant woman looks at an unpleasant or ugly animal, her baby will take on a resemblance of that animal. There is no evidence to support the idea, and more importantly, babies simply cannot be ugly.

No gifts, please

In some cultures, it is believed that buying, receiving, or opening baby gifts before the baby arrives attracts evil spirits or brings misfortune, such as a miscarriage. Based heavily on fear and belief in magic, this one bears the hallmarks of superstition. Along similar lines, some women believe that the baby’s spirit will be scared away (in a miscarriage) if the pregnancy is announced too early. This, too, is based on a false understanding of causation. The risk of miscarriage naturally is higher in the first trimester compared with the second and third trimesters. Announcing a pregnancy in those first weeks has no influence on miscarriage risk.

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Tummy rub

As tempting as it may be, a pregnant woman should refrain from excessive rubbing of her protruding tummy, according to an old wives’ tale from China. If she indulges beyond reason, her baby will be spoiled. What the myth suggests is highly unlikely. It is worth noting, however, that by 10 weeks of gestation the developing fetus can sense touch, producing responses when prodded through the mother’s abdomen.

Kara Rogers