You Arent Supposed To Hold A Newborn Baby If On Menstrual Cycle?

Specialties Ob/Gyn Nursing Q/A

I have been having a debate about this with some people. They swear that it's so true, but I just don't believe it. I actually think it's kind of silly, an old wives tale at best. Someone even told me that the MD's and RN's tell mothers this before they are discharged, but I have two kids and have NEVER heard of such a thing.

So I wanted to come here and ask some of you experienced nurses about this. Have you ever heard of it and if so is there any validity to it?

I didn't take the time to look this up but... I am not sure a woman on her period should handle the child of an orthodox jew, but then again how would the patient know?

Specializes in Critical Care, Medical-Surgical.

Very funny . I never heard about this before.

Specializes in Cardiology, Research, Family Practice.
Nascar nurse said:
My Grandpa swore all of us girls had to stay out of the cucumber patch during our periods or the plants would die.

I am LITERALLY LOL!!!

Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.
Nascar nurse said:
My Grandpa swore all of us girls had to stay out of the cucumber patch during our periods or the plants would die.

Sounds like grandMA didn't want to have to hoe the weeds that week

My mother grew up with her grandmother and older aunts and believe me they are riddled with tales. This one I have never heard. I'm going to ask her just FMI.

Why cant u hold them at this time of the month? What is the rest of the tale?

I have heard of this! This is something I remember being told when I was much younger, and many older women in my family believe this, although I dont remember their reasoning. I've never really paid any attention to it, and I too thought is was very silly, but I remeber not being able to hold family member's babies when I was younger and on my menses.

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I never heard of this one, but I do remember some of my Nana's prohibitions regarding the menstrual period. She was a nursing student during World War I and knew a lot about the human body, but she still believed in many of the old wives' tales.......she called a woman's period her "sick time", and thought that water and physical activity during the menses made her more vulnerable to "female problems". Therefore, PE was out, and swimming and even showering were discouraged; so was handling milk because it would curdle in the hand of a menstruating woman, and gardening because the plants would wither and die if she walked among the rows.

Have we come a long way, or what?

Actually heard yesterday, on The View, that it is thought that one of the reasons women live longer than men is because they are releasing some toxins each month. Haven't researched it but I guess that could be a plus.

Specializes in Peds Critical Care, Dialysis, General.

OOPS! Laughed so hard I had to go change my Depends.

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
OBplease said:
Actually heard yesterday, on The View, that it is thought that one of the reasons women live longer than men is because they are releasing some toxins each month. Haven't researched it but I guess that could be a plus.

Reminds me of another of my grandmother's pet health theories, which was extremely common among Depression-era folk and created two generations of elderly people who were/are obsessed with their bowel function. They literally believed that the body contained "poisons" that had to be eliminated via the daily "constitutional"; otherwise, they'd get sick. Nana was notorious for hauling out the ol' enema bag every time one of us went more than 36 hours without a BM I remember spending entire days hiding out down cellar because I had a cold and she was on the warpath with a nozzle!

Dunno about the monthly toxin release during menses, though; I've been postmenopausal since age 47, and I've never felt better in my life........maybe because I'm no longer anemic like I was when I was having periods. Who knows?

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
starmickey03 said:
I have been having a debate about this with some people. They swear that its so true, but I just dont believe it. I actually think its kind of silly, an old wives tale at best. Someone even told me that the MD's and RN's tell mothers this before they are discharged, but I have two kids and have NEVER heard of such a thing.

So I wanted to come here and ask some of you experienced nurses about this. Have you ever heard of it and if so is there any validity to it?

To me that's like "open the window when your patient dies so their spirit can leave."

Sounds bunk to me. But it got me thinking...isn't the normal bleeding/lochia that occurs following delivery pretty much the same as a period? All that fun stuff in the uterus has to shed during the postpartum period. If you look at this way, then this theory is extra bunk. Because then pretty much all newborns would be constipated.

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