Pregnancy Myths Folks Believe

Have you ever heard that you can tell the sex of a baby by the shape of a pregnant woman’s belly? It’s not actually true, but that’s just one of the many myths out there about pregnancy. And a new survey uncovers the ones people still believe today.

According to the poll of 2-thousand U.S. parents and parents-to-be, there are some surprising misconceptions about pregnancy including:

• Nearly a third believe that if you have heartburn while expecting, your baby will be born with a lot of hair (29%) and that spicy foods induce labor (21%).
• Some believe that craving sweets while pregnant means you’re having a girl, but it turns out, future boy moms had this craving just as much as girl moms (29% versus 28%).
• One in five paid attention to the moon phases when trying to conceive, believing it would help their chances of having their preferred gender.
• The idea that severe morning sickness is a sign you’re having a girl, but it turns out, a quarter of both boy and girl moms reported having it.
• Glowing skin is considered to be a common boy mom symptom, but girl moms were slightly more likely to report having clear glowing skin (18% of girl moms compared to 17% of boy moms).
• Having a low baby belly is commonly thought to be associated with having a boy, and 14% of moms who were carrying low had a boy, but 12% of girl moms also carried low.
• A racing heart rate is believed to be a “common girl predictor,” but only 10% of girl moms had a heart rate above 140 beats per minute.
• The myth that moms are better at predicting the baby’s gender isn’t true either. Dads were actually more likely to correctly guess boy or girl than moms (70% versus 63%).
• Some respondents even believe old wives’ tales like “If I were to break a mirror, my baby would be cursed with bad skin” and that if the baby is born on their side, they’ll be a genius.
• While 64% of parents tried to guess the gender of their baby, 69% trusted medical experts and had an ultrasound to find out the baby’s gender before birth.

Source: Talker