Mommy-To-Be Myth Busting:Dismissing Pregnancy Wives Tales

Save to notebook Email article Print article More articles

By Rachel Derry
Staff Writer LIFamilies

Like so many other rites of passage in our lives, pregnancy has its own slew of wives tales about who, what, and how much a mother-to-be can expect during the blissful 9 months of her pregnancy. Although many of the wives tales have been around since the beginning of time, which are the ones that you can trust, and which are just plain duds?

To help you weigh out the yays and nays of pregnancy myths, here is our list of busted pregnancy wives tales!

When you’re pregnant, you are really eating for two. Not really! Although your nutrient consumptions is recommended to increase, in reality doctors only suggest that you consume about 300 more calories than in your regular diet. So if your daily caloric intake is the average 1800 calories a day (as it is for most), you should really only bump that intake up to around 2100 a day.

Eat 3 healthy meals a day. False. Even before pregnancy, 6 small, healthy meals a day are recommended. While pregnant, try to eat a small nutrient packed meals every 2 to 3 hours to keep your energy (and sugar) levels even.

Say goodbye to your morning exercise routine. No way! Just because you’re pregnant doesn’t mean you need to cut out all of your usual exercise routine. Clear what exercises are safest for you and baby with your OB, and then stay active and happy throughout your pregnancy. A nice, long morning walk may just be the thing to keep away the pregnancy blues!

You can tell what the baby’s gender is by how you carry/how your appearance changes. False. There are many multiple-time mommies who will be the first to tell you that their pregnancy predictions were wrong. Just because you carry high in your pregnancy doesn’t mean you are going to have a boy.
A second time mommy-to-be may carry the same way she did the first pregnancy, but have the opposite sex. Your body reacts to pregnancy however it feels like it, not taking its charge from your little one. The only sure way to know your baby’s sex is to have an ultra-sound. (And they’re even wrong, sometimes!)

The bigger the baby is, the healthier the baby is. Not always true. Most pregnant mommies are always leery of their little ones coming out too tiny. Let’s face it, even if they come out 10lbs, they will still look tiny to us! In reality, the average newborn baby weight is 7.5 lbs and is very healthy. When babies are born much bigger they are at risk of suffering from obesity and diabetes later in life.

Long Island Pregnancy Articles > Mommy-To-Be Myth Busting:Dismissing Pregnancy Wives Tales