Do You Have Any Favorite OB Myths?

Specialties Ob/Gyn

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I was wondering if anyone had a favorite OB myth that you've come across in work.

I'll start with a few of my favorites:

When I worked at a maternity home, the lead houseparent told the girls that if their baby was a girl, it proved that the young lady had participated in a lot of sexual activity at conception. If it was a boy, the young lady had intercourse only once or twice. I couldn't think of any biological basis for that one. Of course if the young lady had a baby girl, then she would really have been read the riot act about her sexual activity from the housemother.

This one I heard rather recently. A woman went in for an u/s to determine the baby's sex, and baby had it's legs crossed. The woman asked the u/s tech to count the fetal ribs because men have one less rib than women do - the "Adam's Rib Theory."

Anyone heard of other interesting OB myths that are brought into the doctor's office or hospital?

The first thing my mother said when I was told her I was pregnant is,"Don't put your hands over your head! You'll strangle the baby!"

I,naturally, was compelled to wave my arms in the air and dance around to the music of my mom screaming. :D

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Also, what about the divination trick of a needle with string stuck to the eraser of a pencil - let it swing across the abdomen, if she swings transverse, it's a girl, if it swings vertical, it's a boy.

Another favorite: Urinate into a cup of Drano. If it fizzles, it's a boy, if it does nothing, it's a girl. I may have that backwards, but either way, I wouldn't go encouraging women to play with Drano during pregnancy! Besides, it's a waste of perfectly good Drano!

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Also, what about the divination trick of a needle with string stuck to the eraser of a pencil - let it swing across the abdomen, if she swings transverse, it's a girl, if it swings vertical, it's a boy.

Another favorite: Urinate into a cup of Drano. If it fizzles, it's a boy, if it does nothing, it's a girl. I may have that backwards, but either way, I wouldn't go encouraging women to play with Drano during pregnancy! Besides, it's a waste of perfectly good Drano!

I thought you had to put your wedding ring on the string...but I guess anything would work (if it really worked!) huh?

I have had many pts talk about the need to "mold the baby's head". Been to afraid to ask how they intended to do it! LOL

Baby oil and massage.

When my middle was a baby one of my neighbors was an old Jamacan lady(maybe she was Haitian?) , she taught me how to rub his head to get rid of the flat spot on the back of his head. Is hard to explain how to do it, there is NO pressure, just a firm stroking. It took a month or so but it did round out.

Our favorite was usually stated by our unwed teenaged moms who were shocked that they were pregnant because "You can't get pregnant the first time"..... Or from the mommy with a 10 month old at home who says "but you can't get pregnant when you're nursing"...HMMMMMM!

i always heard that women carrying girls tend to have more morning sickness than women carrying boys...but as i recall, that may have actually had a factual basis (something to do with B12 count...? it's been way too long since i read that book).

enh, who knows. my mom had no morning sickness with me. then again, my sister-in-law, who had a daughter last may (the cutest in history), had a ton of morning sickness. so...hmm. :uhoh21:

I've heard that if a woman who is menstruating, and is not the baby's mother, holds the newborn, it will cause the newborn to have colic. I've also heard that allowing a newborn to breath very cold air will cause colic.

I had a lot of heartburn, and my daughter was born with a full head of red hair. I carried really high (under my ribcage) and was told I would have a boy, but I had a girl.

How about dreams-- I kept dreaming that I had the baby in minutes, but I ended up having a C-section. Maybe it's the opposite of whatever you dream?

I had 3 boys and one girl and all my pregnancies were essentially the same.

Dreams . . .yes, many wild and crazy dreams.

I've been given strange advice too . . . my son's great-grandmother admonished me for changing my son's diaper while he was laying on the floor (the best position in my book). She told me he would get pneumonia being on the floor and in the draft.

My mother-in-law bundled my son up in so many blankets that he got a "blanket fever" which is a real thing . . as soon as the blankets came off down came his temp.

steph

My mother-in-law bundled my son up in so many blankets that he got a "blanket fever" which is a real thing . . as soon as the blankets came off down came his temp.

steph

I had seen a commercial lately for Luvs diapers. It had the voiceover of a "grandmother" giving advice to a young mom, which she ignored. One of the things that she said was "when in doubt, it's better to overdress baby." Yes, I agree it can lead to fevers, but I guess that's what people thought was best to do so many years ago.

Someone also mentioned something about morning sickness. The more morning sickness a mom has, the healthier the baby. I'm wondering if that's true or if it's something used to placate the mother during the 1st trimester.

I used to tell my clients these things, but after my cousin had a CDH baby, I'm not so quick to say something like that. BTW, this was when I was a very young doula and probably wasn't so bright to say something like that. :rolleyes:

Anyone heard about this with morning sickness? Are there any studies saying that this is true?

I heard a mother tell her daughter to put on some socks or shoes because bare feet on the cold ground would "freeze her uterus and make here sterile"- she might have said "barren".

I just got through with OB this year in school and my instructor always said that if a mom had a hx of miscarriage and with the current pregnancy had a lot of morning sickness, everyone would get excited because morning sickness was a good sign that the pregnancy would go to term....something about having the right amount of hormones to sustain the pregnancy would make it more likely to have morning sickness?

Specializes in Cardiothoracic Transplant Telemetry.

Both of my grandmothers thought that my mother was incapable of breastfeeding because her breasts were small. I can remember my mom talking to my grandmother on the phone, trying to convince her that she was not starving my brother to death!!!! :rotfl: My mom always told me that both grandmothers snuck me so much food as a infant that she, being young, finally gave up on breastfeeding my sister and I. It wasn't until she and my father moved several hours away from my grandparents, and she gained a little more self confidence and experience as a mother that she was able to stand up to the family and successfully breastfeed her last two children

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