Old Wives Tales
1. The old heartburn myth
If a pregnant woman frequently experiences heartburn, her baby will have a full head of hair. Simply not true. Some babies have hair, some don't. Most lose it all within a few weeks, anyway.
2. The umbilical cord strangulation myth
If a pregnant woman lifts her hands above her head, she will choke the baby. Give us a break. People used to think (and, alas, some still believe) that the mother's movement could cause the baby to become tangled in the umbilical cord, but that's just not true.
3. The curse myth
Anyone who denies a pregnant woman the food that she craves will get a sty in his eye. Nope. This myth doesn't mean that someone who stands between a pregnant woman and her cravings is in the clear, though: he will most certainly be subjected to threats, name-calling, or icy glares.
4. The heart rate myth
If the foetal heart rate is fast, the baby is a girl. If the heart rate is slow, it's a boy. Medical researchers actually looked into this myth. They did find a very slight different between the average heart rate of boys and that of girls, but it wasn't significant enough to make heart rate an accurate predictor of sex.
5. The ugly stick myth
If a pregnant woman sees something ugly or horrible, she will have an ugly baby. How could this possibly be true? There's no such thing as an ugly baby!
6. The coffee myth
If a baby is born with cafe au lait spots (light-brown birthmarks), the mother drank too much coffee or had unfulfilled cravings during pregnancy. Nope.
7. The great sex myth
Interestingly, this may be one of the few myths with a grain of truth in it. Love-making can stimulate your body to produce the hormone oxytocin, which can help your cervix ripen in readiness for labour. Your partner's semen also contains hormones called prostaglandins, which can cause contractions.
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