If your family and friends are like most, they have probably been filling you with old wives tales about pregnancy, and the time right after birth, since the day you announced the happy event. Many of these tales have no basis in fact, while others have been found to have at least some truth to them. Yet even when it comes to gender reveal, wives tales still seem to pervade society and can be the cause of excessive worry at a time when you least need it.
High or Low?
Long before the development of ultrasound technology, the only one-hundred-percent successful way to determine the sex of the baby was to wait for it to be born. But of all the gender reveal wives tales that continue to persist, this one does, in fact, have at least some truth to it. One of the most common old wives tales about pregnancy is that if you are carrying your baby "high," you are going to have a girl, while if you are carrying low it will be a boy. This method of determining gender does, in fact, have a fifty percent success rate, but it is not a guarantee.
Your Movement Controls the Umbilical Cord
One of the more humorous tales you aren't likely to hear anymore but was once very common has to do with how you hold your arms. The tale goes something like this, "If you lift your arms above your head it will cause the baby's umbilical cord to become wrapped around its neck." Fortunately, this one is only worth a giggle as any movement you make is not likely to have any effect on the baby's umbilical cord.
Cats and Babies Are a Bad Mix
While this has nothing to do with gender reveal, wives tales continue to say you should never allow your cat to come near your baby. The reasoning for this is the firm belief that the smell of milk (breast or formula) will attract your cat and it will "steal" your baby's breath, resulting in your baby suffocating. Although there may be many justifiable reasons for keeping your cat out of the crib and away from your baby, this most certainly is not one of them.
Heads or Tails
Most baby's circadian (sleep) cycles are a little messed up when they are born, causing them to have problems sleeping at night. In most cases, this problem will resolve itself in a few days. But when it seems your baby is never going to let you get a good night's sleep, one of the craziest wives tales about pregnancy says if your flip your baby head over heels, it will help reset their circadian cycle, making it possible for them (and you) to get some sleep at night. A much better option is to feed your baby several times during the day and provide them with a quiet place to sleep with only a dim light, like a night light, in the room.
Oh Yes, You Can!
Perhaps one of the more pervasive old wives tales about pregnancy states that as long as you are breastfeeding your baby you cannot become pregnant! According to medical research, breastfeeding or lactation amenorrhea can interrupt your menstrual cycle and ability to ovulate; however, you should not rely on this method of birth control. To make matters worse, you may not even realize you are ovulating while you aren't having a period. Which, of course, means you could become pregnant and not have any idea when it happened. Stick to your preferred choice of contraceptive if you don't want to welcome another baby into your home before the first one is out of diapers.
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