Being pregnant for the first time is wildly exciting and pretty scary all at the same time. Well-meaning friends and family are quick to offer their ‘advice’ and ‘wisdom’ on everything; from what you shouldn’t be eating, to how to tell the gender of your unborn child.
Here are some of the silliest pregnancy myths to give you a giggle.
- If you don’t drink lots of water when you’re pregnant then your baby will come out dirty.
- If you have heartburn when you’re pregnant it means your baby will be born with a full head of hair.
- If your newborn baby cries a lot, it means they don’t like the name you’ve given them and you need to change it.
- If you eat lots of oranges when you’re pregnant, your baby will be born orange.
- Eating spicy food during pregnancy will make your baby bad tempered.
- If you stay mad at someone while you’re pregnant, then your baby will look like that person.
- Looking at ugly animals during pregnancy means your baby will resemble that animal.
As we go further across the globe, pregnancy myths become even more bizarre…
- In Mexico, they say pregnant women shouldn’t be exposed to moonlight.
- During an eclipse, pregnant Indian women shouldn’t touch anything that’s metal – not even a door handle.
- In China, if you eat or drink anything cold while pregnant, you’ll make your baby cold.
- Those from an Arabic background shouldn’t look at rabbits while pregnant, or else their baby will grow up to have buck teeth.
- A Native American superstition says that if you cut your hair while pregnant your baby will be born bald.
Thankfully, I think we can be pretty confident that we won’t have dirty, bald, orange babies with rabbit-like teeth and a name they hate!