myths,superstitions & old wives tales!

[kamckellar]

i was wondering if any of you know or were told of any old wives tales,superstitions or myths,while you were pregnant or just any time?here's a couple to start you off:
its bad luck to cut your baby's hair b4 their 1st birthday
if its a boy you carry in your back and if its a girl you carry in your front.
did you believe them or follow through with any?

[Chickadee]

My daughter was born with red hair and I was asked several times if I had a lot of heartburn when preg as red hair is supposed to cause heartburn. I didn't have any actually :)

[kamckellar]

i got told that because i had heart burn that bubs would come out with a mop of hair.who makes up these things?

[Baby Girl]

I got told that you shouldn't wash your hair while menstruating or you won't fall pregnant during that cycle!!!

[pregasaurus]

1.If you scrub your nipples with steel wool before the birth you won't get cracked nipples. (no, because you won't have any nipples left to GET cracked... :eek: )
2. If you shave your babys head at 3 months old they'll have lovely thick hair. (or sue you when they grow up and find the photos :mad: )
3. If you drink a middy of stout once a week you'll have a strong baby. (or one with foetal alcohol syndrome.......take your pick :o )
4.If you have sex/ eat a hot curry/ go for a long walk/ go for a bumpy drive/ drink castor oil you'll go into labour. (or, not...... :rolleyes: )
5. If you own a cat/dog they'll get jealous when the baby's born and suffocate it in its sleep so you need to find them another home/ put them down. (Of course. Every cat/dog I'VE ever met has certainly been a homicidal maniac just waiting for their owners to have a baby so they can carry out their evil plans.)

[kamckellar]

steel wool on nipples? oh my god.who would tell you that.i laughed so loud when i read your reply. :D

[madvoice]

Heartburn means you'll have a hairy baby (I had one but I don't really think heartburn had much to do with it)
The ring on the string thing is useless. I think its side to side for boy and around in cirlces for girls or is it the other way around? either way it means nothing.

[red crayon]

I'm currently living in Vietnam so I can share a Vietnamese myth/superstition/etc - if your baby has the hiccups, it means they are cold. Not sure if this also applies to when they are in the womb :o

[monique]

I heard the one about the way you carry - but I heard that if you're all out in front it's a boy and it's a girl if you're carrying all around. I carried out in front and had a boy.

Also had the one about heartburn - I had hearburn from week 10 and did not have a hairy baby - if the wives' tale were true he would have been a gorilla

Also heard another one the other day - a family friend who is really into alternative medicine said ultrasounds are dangerous because the sound waves can damage a developing foetus. But then, her children didn't have their childhood immunisations and were put on the blood group diet once they went to solid foods, so I don't particularly give her ideas a lot of credence.

[Chickadee]

Ooops. Now that my memory has been jostled by the other posts, I think the comments I got about hair and heartburn were about the amount of hair and not the colour. I'll blame baby brain for my bad memory. :o

[kamckellar]

i heard too many ultrasounds cause a left handed baby.i had 20 odd with my twins and only one is left handed.the first lefty in both families.

[BJelly]

Someone told me pregnant women shouldn't reach up for things above shoulder height. Not sure what's supposed to happen.

[cwsmum]

My nana told me to use a toothbrush on my nipples while I was preg...a bit gentler than steel wool I guess.

kamckellar - I read in a book called 'The Odd Body' that left handedness is caused my minor brain damage at birth, usually caused by a brief lack of oxygen. Does this sound like something that might have happened when you children were born? I'm not saying there is anything wrong with your kids, but the book was written by a dr and claims to be all true..so now I am curious :p

[kamckellar]

hi cwsmum,my girls were born 11 weeks early as they went into distress due to the number of knots in their umbilical cords.Isla had a bleed to the brain as a result of oxygen being cut off,not sure exactly when but the drs think maybe around 27 weeks when she engaged.so the theory you read could be right.she is fine mentally but deaf in the left ear.drs think that this is a result of the bleed.drs also thought she might be retarded but shes proved all drs wrong.shes very bright and speaks so much better then Keely.though ive been told not to compare them as even though they are identical to look at,they are different people.i'll look for that book now as im curious too!

[moggs]

Hi,

I've been told about the heartburn thing which proved wrong because in my pregnancy i lived off of antacids (is this how you spell it?) and molly had no hair!

Another one to add is when pregnant, if you crave (or want) savory things then your babe will be a boy and if you want sweet things, it'll be a girl. I did want chocolate alot and other sweet things so there may be a little truth (or coincidence!)

Moggs xx

[cleighsa]

i watch that 'in the womb' doco on sat night, and it said that babys start to prefer one hand over the other in the womb. ie they prefer to suck left or right hand therefore lefthandedness is decided then.
dont know if true but interesting!!
:)

[Crazyfamily]

When I was pregnant with my first (15 years ago) I said to my then sil I was going home for a long relaxing bath. She then told me I can't have a bath while pregnant as it isn't safe. I laughed and asked her if she thought the baby may drown. I laughed even more when she said yes as the water can get inside you. Umm, what exactly is the baby living in inside us, and I would be rather concerned if bath water could get any where near my baby while still inside me.
She also believed you shouldn't put your hands above your head while preg as it could wrap the chord around bubs neck...I never knew it was attatched to my arms lol.

[TwoBlue]

Hehe this is a fun thread

I was told boys carry out front, girls all around - i was out front and am again this time
Headaches mean boys - had plenty of them and again too :(
Sweet craving are a girl and savoury a boy - I was savoury only with my son all sweet this time around....
I was also told not to lift my arms up when preggas (how weird!!)

If you enjoy the fun of old wives tales there is a website you can visit the link is
http://www.childbirth.org/articles/boyorgirl.html

It asks a series of questions and determines your babys gender (or what it is most likely to be) using old wives tale..

bit of fun :)

Cheers

[cwsmum]

kamckellar- Glad to hear your girls are proving drs wrong :) The book I mentioned has answers to all kinds of strange questions that no-one wants to ask. Everything from the left-handedness one to how long a severed head lives for. Sorry, that one is kinda gross. It is very interesting to read tho :)

There might be some truth to the food craving theory..with my son I craved microwave popcorn and this time I seem to be craving chocolate and Ice-cream and lots of milk...and the dr thinks we are having a girl.

[Jen]

I had heartburn with both my boys, one was completely bald and the other had a full head of hair.
I was also told not to lift my arms above my head by an old man at a market one day when I was looking through clothes.
On thumb sucking, both suck their thumbs, one his right, and he is right handed, and the other his left, but we are not sure which he is, he appears to be quite ambidexterous, spoons and forks with both hands, but hes only 16 months so we'll just have to wait.
I carried out in front with both and my sister who has two girls was the same. We have very similar figures so I wonder if body shape (you know pear shaped etc) has more to do with it.

Due Nov 26 with no 3, no heartburn (yet :D ) and it does seem to be coming around my sides more so we'll see what happens.

[our little treasures]

I've also read all front girl all bottom boy carrying low boy high girl. I did the ring thing with both and it worked round and round girl side to side boy. Sweet things girl and salty food boy both of these were right to, if you look bad during pregnancy its a girl and if your really sick its a girl due to dbl hormones this was true for me. By sick I mean hospitalised sick not normal morning sickness.

There are so many I'll wait and see what other posts come up.
loving wife and mummy to
dh 30
dd 16mnths
ds edd 22 july :p

[moggs]

Angelbaby!

That was true with my girl. I had a really sick pregnancy, with fibroids and bad morning sickness at the beginning and a constant wave of nausea throughout. I had everything from swollen ankles to pelvic pain! I think there is some truth to this one!

Moggs xx

[veve]

I dont know about that myth about being really sick- that it makes the bubs a girl- my SIL was really really sick (scary sick) during her first pregnancy, she had to be hospitalised and rehydrated twice

(she is not happy that my pregnacy to date has been relatively drama free!!!) -

and she had a gorgeous boy..

I guess with every theory there are going to be exceptions...

xxx
veve

[our little treasures]

I just thought that you would like to look at this link
www.amazingpregnancy.com as it has an interactive gender predicter
just a bit of fun as it said I'm having a girl and were told its a boy

[willsmum]

OK. let's blow up a few myths (I love the TV show Mythbusters - anyone else?)

I had heartburn both times - result - two baldies.

I craved savoury things (bbq shapes bikkies of all things) both times.
I carried right out front like the titanic both times.
I had horrible migraines for 3 months both times.

Result - two almost identical pregnancies. One boy, one girl.

By the way, I think the thing about not having a bath is due to temperature. Too much heat is dangerous. This is why spas are not recommended.

[TwoBlue]

I had a look at that link Angelbaby8 and it said higher chance girl.... the one i posted also says girl for me so who knows...???
Not that i believe the old wives at all but its a bit of fun. I will find out in a few weeks and we will see how right they are ;)

Also Willsmum... we LOVE Mythbusters in our house... what a great job that would be :D

[proudmumma4]

i did the chain thingy before i even new i was pregnant then i had a beautiful baby girl , ive also heard that if you stretch up or put your arms above your head it can cause a knot in the cord.
ive only heard this now and my daughter was born with a big true knot in her cord shes lucky to be here,
and you know what my midwife advised me to do during pregnancy stretch my arms above my head everyday as i was getting bad rib cramp so maybe this is true, who knows.
also i had 5 months of dreadful morning sickness ,
also ive heard that sleeping on your side is better for the babys blood flow, well when i was in labour babys heart rate went bad the only thing that calmed it was lying on my side maybe coincidence , i dont know ,
also my baby looks as if shes left handed was this because of the knot in the cord and lack of oxygen or just because her daddys left handed x