(regular post above)
I’m giving away two Samsung Strive cell phones! WOO!
As I’ve written in the past, I am the spokeswoman for the Text 4 Baby campaign (what’s Text 4 Baby? click here). When I’m out there in the world talking about the program, I use one of these fancy-pants Samsung Strive phones (and I definitely do NOT prank call people on it).
Besides all the regular cool phone features, the Strive has access to AT&T mobile share, which is this awesome service that lets you upload all your phone’s photos and videos so all that stuff isn’t stuck on your phone. It also has a super-handy Next Generation messaging, so you can have conversations with multiple people at the same time (among other things).
I like how the phone is small, but the keyboard pops out. Annie likes it, too!
These phones are courtesy of AT&T and ME! The contest is just for the phones, the service is up to you. The phones can be activated at any AT&T store.
To enter, leave a comment with the craziest pregnancy advice you received. If you’ve never been pregnant, then tell me what you think the weirdest thing is about pregnancy. Two (2) winners will be chosen via Random.com and announced on Friday after noon pacific time. You can get another entry by signing up for Text 4 Baby. To opt in to text4baby, you text BABY (for English) or BEBE (for Spanish) to 511411. After you provide information on the due date or your baby’s birthday, the program sends you a weekly text message with health and medical guidance timed for that week of the pregnancy or your child’s age. If you opt in, leave me another comment (honor system). Good luck!
The winners (chosen by random.org) are #45 – KATE, and #144 ALISON! Congrats, ladies! More prizes are coming, so keep checking back!
melodi says:
The acraziest i have heard is not raising your arms above your head because it’ll wrap the umbilical cord around your baby’s neck.
Cathy K. says:
My Mom used to own a beauty shop (lots of rollers and hair spray and little old ladies) so I’ve heard my fair share of advice, but the strangest things I heard were the various methods to determine the baby’s sex – wedding rings spinning, what you were craving, how you were carrying – too many to count!
Jennifer says:
My craziest advice was by my grandma who said not to have sex while pregnant because your husband could poke the babies head and cause brain damage.
HMMM really grandma?
Kelly Merritt says:
Guy gave me some Pure Lanolin cream used for horses that he said is the best for diaper rash. This guy is in his 50’s never married, no kids. Scary thing is that it works. But it was very strange.
My mother also told me to put tape a quarter on the baby’s belly button after the cord falls off so the baby won’t have an outty bell button. I didn’t do that and my kids both have innies.
Nadine says:
A woman in the pregnancy gym class told me, that if I dance barefoot outside by full moon, I’m gonna have a girl.
Jacqueline says:
I was told not to ride a motorcycle in my 3rd trimester, as the vibrations could harm the baby. I just cracked up, I mean- did they think that I would even attempt that anyway?
Sue says:
Annie’s picture is just the absolute cutest!!!
Andrea says:
Heartburn means the baby has lots of hair.
Kandi Ann says:
When I was pregnant with my twins (baby loss Mama here) the craziest advice (I think this tows the line of advice really) was take a needle and thread and hang it over your belly and it will spin one way for girl and one way for boy. It said, Boy-Girl and it was exciting. Looking forward to seeing them in heaven. This was way before I knew I had IC and their loss could have been prevented.
LAH says:
That if you the only fruit you eat is apples that the baby will be born breach!
Gail says:
The weirdest thing came froma doctor. I suffered with severe hyperememsis and was being fed through an IV at home. The nausea and vomitting still persisited through the meds. The doctor told me to cut fresh lemons in half and lay them all around me, that the smell of lemons would help the nausea. I was desperate, so I tried. While it didn’t help the nausea or vomitting, my room did smell better!!!
Meghan says:
I was told that my baby would take on the personality of the person who annoyed me most during my pregnancy. Whilst pregnant with my third dd, I worked with an obnoxious, smelly, nosey, ANNOYING woman. Even though i didnt believe the wivestale, I secretly tried REALLY hard to like this woman so my daughter wouldnt be like her!
Alexandra :) says:
I know someone who was in labor with me for a hundred and twenty-two hours. She said that the doctor kept her all drugged up during that time so that he could go to his football game in peace. Then when it looked like the baby just wasn’t going to wait that long, he took her pain meds away so that she would push harder. Not exactly about pregnacy in general, but if that isn’t weird, then what is?
Spring says:
Is it bad that my mommy brain is not allowing me to think of any advice, bad or not? I do remember having evening sickness & my mom telling me I was crazy and that wasn’t what was wrong with me. This from the woman who had evening sickness when pregnant with me.
Kimberly says:
The craziest advice I got was to “never, under any circumstance, ride in an elevator”. . . . I can’t recall the reason, as this was 29 years ago but, you can bet I never did.
Elizabeth says:
I was lucky enough not to get any crazy advice; just.the good type of advice. I did get a lot of comments on the size of my belly, how big my baby was going to be, and how I was crazy for having a doula and wanting natural childbirth.
Tracy says:
I have two doozies. One – to determine if you are going to have a boy or a girl, pour crystal drano in a cup and pee on it and the color change will tell you. (Hello – toxic fumes!). The other was to take mineral oil to start labor. (Blech!)
Julie says:
I was told not to take baths during my pregnancy at all because it could cause too much amniotic fluid! Huh?
Shari says:
My girlfriend heard that drinking so much Castor Oil would start labor with her over due pregnancy. uhh.. yeah – it didnt work. She was miserable!!! It was another 5 days before the doc induced her.
Carrie says:
I heard you won’t get stretch marks if you eat jello every day!
Jennie says:
The craziest I ever heard while pregnant with my daughter was not to sit indian (excuse me, Native American) style cause it will squish the baby.
karla says:
can’t stop laughing!!!!!!!
hahahahahahahahaha
Missy says:
When I was expecting, my mother-in-law was beside herself that hubs and I didn’t want to know the sex. Of course she wanted to take my wedding band, swing it over my wrist on a string and find out for herself. I was paranoid enough with my pregnancy, I stayed away from the crazies!
laila says:
im 27 weeks pregnant with my first child. the craziest pregnancy advice ive recieved so far was from my grandma. She told me when im eating ice cream, to let it melt in my mouth first, then swallow it, so that i dont give the baby brain freeze. yup.
Lisa says:
When I was 4 and my Mom was pregnant with my sister, I remember thinking pregnancy meant eating Taco Bell burritos, having your ankles puff up, and painting a guest room yellow. I still have some squirmy feelings toward swollen ankles.
nancie says:
FUNNY….i had morning sickness SO BAD with my first pregnancy – ALL i could eat were taco bell (green…when they had green sauce) bean burrito’s…and they were SO VERY GOOD…3 times a day, EVERY DAY!
Susan A says:
OMG! That is the only thing I would eat my first trimester for breakfast! I still have a craving for a bean burrito for breakfast very now and then.
Tracy M says:
I’ve been told if your partner wears boots to bed you’ll have a boy.
Isn’t it amazing how these little bits of information just flow around?
I am not pregnant, nor do I have children, but my bestie has a 4 month old and I put his bday in the text4baby to get updates on him
Beth and Melinda says:
you know I can’t remember a darn thing
Sarah says:
I haven’t received any advice yet, because I haven’t told anyone yet really, but I think the weirdest/coolest thing was watching a friend of mine’s belly move at lunch at work one day. You could see the baby’s foot (or whatever part) move across her belly through her shirt!
Michelle says:
My grandmother really stressed to me how important it was that I avoid wallpapering because the chord could wrap around the baby’s neck.
There are so many reasons why this is totally bizarre! The biggest ones:
Why wouldn’t all reaching cause the chord to wrap around the baby’s neck, not just wallpaper reaching?
And why on EARTH would I ever want to wallpaper anything?!
Lauren says:
Having never been pregnant (but hoping to be at some point!) the craziest thing to me is the sheer fact that there will be a little person INSIDE ME!
Thanks!
Charlsie says:
I can’t remember any weird advice but I do remember everyone thinking that I needed to sit down all day. If I got up to do anything someone would ask me what I needed. Nice in the begining but annoying by the end.
Tammy says:
Pregnancy advice – you’re eating for two. I took that to heart and gained 65 lbs. Not good.
Heather says:
It wasn’t so much advice as an odd comment regarding the fact that we had to have a C section due to a breach birth – my m-i-l called my husband and said that his aunt (who is a nurse) thought we shouldn’t have the c section because the baby would just turn on its own during labor. I love my husband because his comment back was when she (his aunt) becomes a an ob/gyn she could then give advice. Considering that my punkin head had bruises on her tushy from being so smushed in her breach position – we just laughed about the turning since that baby was not moving.
By the way not as though you do not know it – but Annie is adorable.
Julie B says:
The craziest pregnancy advice I was given was to smoke pot to help my morning sickness. YIKES.
Lamb says:
I hope this particular advice wasn’t from your mother in law! :p
isabelkhan says:
When my baby had hiccups in utero, a lady from El Salvador told me to put a piece of cotton on my nose. She swore they would go away. She even had a piece of cotton in her purse!
Becky says:
I remember being told not to make fun of anyone while your pregnant or that your baby would come out with the exact same thing you were making fun of.
Not that I would EVER make fun of anyone!!!
Jill says:
That if I ate spicy food, my baby would have lots of hair… I tried it, my baby was a total baldie!
Randi says:
My mother-in-law was extremely obsessed about me not putting my arms up over my head when I was pregnant. She said that it would tangle the cord around the baby’s neck! My husband, however, was more than happy to grab things off of the high shelves for me for 9 months!
Elizabeth says:
I’ve only been pregnant once, and it ended in miscarriage and no one ever gave me any advice.
However…I’ve read that you might poop during labor. And now I tell my husband that ALL THE TIME.
Melinda says:
With my first child, I was going on two weeks past my due date. Someone told me to try going over rail road tracks really fast (try to get some air under the tires) and the bumps and drop down would tell the baby it was time.
Another person told me to eat lots of salad with spicy Italian dressing. (This one I DID try, to no avail lol)
Kathy Stevenson says:
I have had two babies but I don’t remember any crazy advice. People just liked to try to scare me with gory and long labor stories!
MissyK says:
Some of the advice in these comments are wild! LOL!
My thing wasn’t advise really, but with my first (almost 22yrs ago) my aunt insisted that she could tell what I was having. Similar to an earlier commenters Needle & Thread thing but my aunt used my wedding ring. She said it was going to be a girl, INSISTED it was a girl. Everyone just KNEW she was right. I got all girl stuff at my shower later.
Yeah…I had a boy…
Debbie says:
I was told (by some of my crazy Italian in-laws) that since both the baby and I had hiccups frequently, that it meant the baby would be born with a lot of hair… true for the first one, but not so much with the second (peach fuzz!!).
melissa says:
I don’t know if it’s really advice, but I was way overdue with Abbie and one day when talking to my grandma about it she said Melissa don’t worry you don’t ever see a little old lady walking around still pregnant. I was convinced I’d be the first!
melissa says:
I’ve never been pregnant, but the weirdest thing I’ve witnessed is random people thinking it’s ok to ask the gender, possible names or actually touching the belly of strangers. Just strange!
Kate says:
Craziest pregnancy advice: If you eat a teaspoon of red pepper and olive oil it would resolve my preeclampsia. Came from and old italian grandmother. When I was put on hospital bedrest at 30 weeks, she insisted that the pepper would get me out and back to normal. When I delivered at 36 weeks she said “Well if you had taken the pepper you wouldn’t even be having a preemie”.
Now, I actually DID try peppermint wraps on my ankles because they were HUGE from the preeclampsia. They didn’t help much but MAN did it feel good!
Heather says:
Kate! You won! Email me so we can work out the details!!! thespohrs at gmail dot com
YAY!
Rachel says:
I was told that if you have bad heartburn you’ll have hairy babies. So far that’s been true for me.
Tori says:
When I was coming up on my due date, I had about 5 women tell me to just get a C-section. They said I’d have an easier recovery, and it would be all around a better experience. “you can pick your date!!” I heard too much. I just said thanks, I’ll think about it. (and had I needed a C-section, I would have done it in a heartbeat, had I been convinced it was necessary.)
My rule of thumb-
I try not to have unnecessary surgeries.
Colleen says:
I could FILL a book with weird advice I received from my old school Italian mother in law. The best one was that I can’t eat ANY type of berries when pregnant because it will leave a “horrible birthmark on the babies face. If she was born with a birthmark IT WOULD BE ALL MY FAULT and I would have live with the guilt my entire life”. Yep, she did.
Brandi says:
When i was pregnant, i had awful heartburn and everyone always told me my baby was going to have a head full of hair and that was why i had heartburn so bad. Now my baby was born with a head full of hair, but i dont know if thats what caused my heartburn. haha.
I signed up for text4baby also!
Staci says:
I think the worst/craziest advice I’ve heard is that it won’t hurt the baby if I have a glass of wine or beer in the evenings. After 2 miscarriages, it looks like this pregnancy will finally be our happy ending, and I don’t intend to do anything to get in the way of that!!
Diane says:
My friend’s father would ask the pregnant woman to hold out her hands. If she holds them out palms down, it’s a boy, and if she holds them out palms up, it’s supposed to mean she’s having a girl. Because girls apparently are always holding out their hands for money! HAR HAR. How sexist can you be, right?
J+1 says:
“Don’t lift your arms over your head, or the cord will wrap around the baby’s neck”
Teri says:
I was told that bedrest would help keep the baby in longer (probably true) and that it would keep my pelvis from separating in a very painful way (hah! hah! not at all true).
Oh, and I was told that thing about peeing on the Drano, too, but like the previous poster I remembered enough freshman-level chemistry not to try it!
Stephanie says:
I’ve never been pregnant…. but the thought of something moving around on its own inside you is both intriguing and bizarre to me!
Lacy says:
The craziest pregnancy advice I ever got was not to put my hand over my head because it would wrap the umbilical cord around the baby’s neck. My mom freaked out when I reached up to close the back hatch on my car.
Barnmaven says:
I can’t recall anything I was told about *being* pregnant, but I remember being told to get rid of our cat because he would “smother the baby.”
Melinda says:
Haha…I was told to get rid of the cat, too. But because it would make me and baby sick before it was born, cause “cats are nasty”.
MissyK says:
I remember my aunt telling me to get rid of my cats because they were “evil”. That they would climb into the crib & suck the babies breath from it to kill it.
The odd ideas that some people have. Yikes.
Melanie says:
The only crazy thing I can think of was my husband’s childhood neighbor having to tell me EVERY TIME I SAW HER FOR NINE MONTHS (which was surprisingly a lot) that her nephew’s wife was supposed to have a girl (as was I) and the ultrasound was wrong. She went on and on about how we shouldn’t plan for a girl because they were probably wrong… blah blah blah. I wanted to hit her over the head with my ultrasound video.
Julie R. says:
When my first ob found out we had a cat, she was concerned about toxoplasmosis. Her advice was no excessive petting. Needless to say, I switched to another practice.
Mynde says:
Crazy pregnancy advice- lets see………….when folks say to rest while you can before the baby comes. As if it is possible to ‘rest’ with a live cat inside your body doing backflips, you have to pee every 30 minutes and your hormones are driving you insane : )
Amber says:
Not to stand in front of a microwave bc it could harm my baby…it really sucked bc that meant I had to cook my entire pregnancy.
Missy says:
Not exactly pregnancy advise, but long before I came along, my mom’s cousin told her that if you rub a freshly wet diaper over your face, you will always have clear skin. They of course laughed when she actually did it, but she did always have beautiful skin!
Lisa says:
I don’t really remember getting any weird advice. My MIL told me that when she was pregnant people told her not to raise her arms above her head because it would cause the cord to wrap around the baby’s neck. She thought it was insane and raised her arms above her head just to prove them wrong
Beth says:
I signed up for Text4Baby when you first wrote about it.
I’ve heard some whoppers though:
If you crave orange juice, it’s a girl. (wrong…that’s all I craved this past time)
If you deny a pregnant woman of her craving, you’ll get a sty in your eye.
If you eat butter (ew.) it will lubricate the canal for a smooth delivery.
You will lose a tooth for every baby.
If you want to conceive a boy, your husband should eat peanuts every day.
Don’t bend forward from the hip while pregnant or your baby will choke on the thumb she’s sucking.
Where do people come up with this stuff?
Eva says:
weirdest pregnancy advice : aim to the left to conceive a boy??!?! we have a girl so I guess he aimed to the right LOL
Kim says:
The weirdest thing for me was feeling this alien inside of me and loving it more than words could ever describe. Wishing and waiting for her to come out and meet me, then a couple of weeks later kinda wishing I was still pregnant so I could get a semi full nights rest again.
Jean says:
M ex husband’s grandmother said that if I craved strawberries and didn’t eat them, the baby would be born with a big red mark in it’s head.
Kim says:
I signed up for the text 4 baby too!!!
Thanks
Heather says:
I am already signed up for the texts. Thanks for letting us know about it. I love it.
Rachel says:
I am scheduled to be induced on 6/17 and this is mine and my husband’s first child (a girl!). The strangest advice I got was from a woman at work. She claimed if I ate pickles and other sour foods I would have a girl. I didn’t follow her advice because I’m not a fan of sour, and we’re still having a girl. So maybe what you eat doesn’t determine your baby’s gender? I don’t know. I’m not a scientist.
Heather says:
Hmm I have not gotten any crazy advice but I am sick of everyone telling me what I am having. They all have their crazy ways of “just knowing”!
julie says:
To find out if it was a girl or boy to mix my pee and draino.
Alison says:
I think general comments that I received were quite reasonable but I still remember the questions afterward – the one ‘Is he strange?’ really threw me. I didn’t know if he was strange but hoped he was an individual. Apparently they were asking if he was ok around people he didn’t know.
angela says:
i can’t seem to remember any weird advice but what really has stuck with me is all the weird stranger comments. I never got super huge with any of my three pregnancies, and I had strangers all the time tell me that I could not possibly be due next week (or whatever) because my belly was way too small and I had to be wrong about my dates and I really had at least another month or two to go. And that I was obviously starving my unborn child. I also loved the people who insisted that I was really having a girl because I was not carrying the right way for a boy, and mark their words the ultrasounds were ALL wrong and they were right. Because they were, you know, looking at my belly from the OUTSIDE which is obviously more reliable. Snort. (and yes, I did still have a boy!)
Kim Hartman says:
The oddest advice I got when I was pregnant was that I should never eat fruit (birthmarks), could not eat shellfish while trying to conceive (sickness), and the best was…”be careful when doing your bathroom business…if your baby is small, it could just slip out if you push too hard” (was my first pregnancy and I was terrified for about 10 minutes after this comment, then someone sane talked to me.)
I loved reading all the comments.
Marit says:
I have no children yet, but have plenty of friends with them. The weirdest advice I’ve heard is from my friend, Jessica. She was advised that you can “dance a baby out.”
It’s true. We attended a wedding of some close friends and were dancing MACHINES all night long. She left the reception that night and went right to the hospital. The bride and groom came to see her that morning, they’ll never forget her birthday! And Jessica will never forget their anniversary.
I’m going to make sure to crash a wedding right before I give birth!
daisybv2 says:
I was told that having a c-section was horrible that i would not be able to walk for days or eat.
I found out that it was totally not true
Melissa says:
I have a baby loss, but I will go. My mom told me not to eat for 2 days before I was going to have the baby so I didnt poo on the table. Now how in the hell was I supposed to know the exact 2 day mark?
(she pooed on the table apparently and never got over the trauma)
Jen says:
I think the craziest for me was actually from my doctor… whenever he would listen to the heartbeat he would predict girl or boy based on the rate (from an old wives’ tale). I know he didn’t believe it, but it always struck me as odd that he did it at every appointment!
Amy says:
I was told the sicker you are the healthier your baby. I was not at all sick and my baby was not healthy. I guess this one may have some truth.
Gina says:
I heard about the peeing on Drano thing too – very strange!
Saritha says:
Ha, I am 37 weeks pregnant and someone told me last month me that if the husband puts on weight when the wife is pregnant, its a girl..and if he loses weight while the wife’s pregnant, its a boy!!! Hilarious, no??
Annie is a darling btw.
Gabriella says:
Before we ever fund out the sex of the baby my Mother would hide a fork on one side of the couch (under the cushion) and a knife on the other side. She would tell me to sit on the couch ( I didn’t know where each was) and which ever side I picked is the sex of the baby I was having. Fork for girl knife for boy! I never chose correctly..lol.
angela says:
My craziest pregnancy advice was not to eat a watermelon seed because that is HOW you get pregnant. That was my childhood advice.
Later, it was not to raise your arms over your shoulders or it would rip the umbilical cord off (WTF)!
I’m not pregnant, but have been many times and have four cuties 10, 9,7 and 2 (youngest is a week younger than Maddie and also a preemie, as was my first)!
Pick me, that two year old hid my phone LOL
LD says:
worst pregnancy advice? That my morning sickness was all in my head because I “think too much,” and if I just relaxed it would go away. Riiiiiight.
Cute~Ella says:
It wasn’t pregnancy advice, but my mother once told me that my really bad cramps were because there wasn’t a baby in my uterus and my uterus was mad at me.
No, I’m not kidding. She wants a grand baby!
Lamb says:
No pregnancies here. It’s hard to narrow down to my #1 weirdest thought about it – the entire process weirds me out! Hemorrhoids, vomiting, stretch marks, c-sections and STAPLES (not glue, lol!)…and there are so many women who are excited to get pregnant despite all this?? I’m just not in that place yet :p
Megan says:
I’ve never been pregnant but my favorite crazy pregnancy “tip” is that the baby will have a birthmark shaped like your biggest craving. Love pears? It’ll be a pear-shaped birthmark! I don’t know how it carries on from there (ie: a hot dog shaped birthmark if you love hot dogs?), but I sort of love thinking about it.
MaFa says:
Ha! I craved and ate tons of pasta and now my daughter has red squiggly lines on her thigh. Ok, more like dots, but you can squint and imagine short spaghetti. I love it!
Kenda says:
Not exactly advice but I did get clarification at my baby shower thankfully. I had been reading all the books at my first pregnancy and I had been reading about “toughening” your nipples in preparation for breast feeding. The books mentioned roughing them up a bit after a shower;all that jazz. Which, by the way, totally freaked me out. Then I opened a gift at my shower and it was a wire nipple brush. I thought I was supposed to rub that on my nipples to clean them.. I looked at my mom with this horrified look on my face and sort of swirled it around my boob with a questioning look, and she busted out laughing and exclaimed to all “no, Kenda not on your OWN nipples, on the bottles!!” Thank God she straightened me out. I can just imagine what I would have been doing with that brush later that night…..
Mary in AZ says:
ROFLMAO. That is seriously funny, Kenda!
Peggy says:
Craziest advice I ever got was from my MIL. As soon as we told her I was pregnant, she told me that she had saved the wooden spoon she used to whack my husband with when he was little, and I was welcome to have it since with my husband for a father, our kids will need it! I politely said, “thank you, but we’re not planning to hit our kids.” Unbelievable!
Stephanie Neal says:
I was told that if I had a lot of heartburn my baby would have a lot of hair; turned out to be true!!
Bethany says:
No pregnancies yet, but I’ve heard that a craving for orange juice means it’s a girl…
Kristin says:
Ditto on the raising the arms over the head.
DESERA JOHNSON says:
When I was pregnant I had many sinus infections and was on antibiotics a lot along with the extra iron. At one point all I could smell and taste was the iron, so I stopped taking the extra iron tablets and then when that smell/taste went away, I couldn’t smell anymore. When I brought it up to my doctor, she said “well maybe it will come back if you get pregnant again”. Maybe I should’ve tried it because I still can’t smell, fourteen years later!
Totally agree….Annie is the cutest!
Amanda C says:
Craziest pregnancy advice? If you have severe heartburn, the baby has red hair. Maybe not so crazy as both my red-headed boys caused me awful heartburn! Thanks for an awesome give-away!
Candice says:
The old, “Don’t raise your arms above your head…” advice. LOL
FunnyGal KAT says:
The weirdest advice I’ve heard is the same as some others: putting your arms up above your head could cause the umbilical cord to wrap around the baby’s neck. Silly…
Cortney says:
I was desperate to go into labor and my OB told me to go to the mountains of NC, get in the lake ankle deep on a full moon and then proceed to drive the 8 hours back to Georgia and I would be guaranteed to go in to labor! Needless to say we did not do that, but he was completely serious!!!
Debbie in the UK says:
Mt father told me that when he was growing up there was a woman on his street who spent a lot of time with a small black and white dog (?). This woman had the baby and it was badly deformed and looked the spitting image of the black and white dog she spent time with, covered in black and white fur. I was pregnant with my first baby at the time. I am not sure what pearl of wisdom he was trying to impart though !!
Camie says:
That you can determine the sex of your baby from the way your pillow faces. . . ? Whaaat?
MM says:
In my case, epeats of many of the posts here:
Heartburn signals a baby will have lots of hair.
Dangle a ring attached to thread over your wrist. If it begins to turn to the right, you’ll have a girl and the other way, a boy.
The sicker you are, the healthier your baby. The sicker you are, that means it’s a girl.
If your baby is breech right before you are due, you can go to a bruja (witch) and get her to massage baby the right way around.
Don’t eat luncheon meats. (In France I hear you aren’t supposed to eat salad.)
Don’t stand in front of the microwave. What a pain when you’re fat to have to go to another room every time you want to heat something up. And many years later I’m still nervous waiting for food in front of the microwave!
Every child increases your foot size by a half to whole size. Sadly, this is actually true.
What a number pregnancy does to you!
Susan A says:
I think this one is very common but I think totally weird. It is the recommendation to have sex to induce labor.
Liz says:
This is more about getting pregnant I guess…
We did artificial insemination several times and the last time (the time it worked) the electricity in the hospital went out so the nurse said “I think we can still do this” She went and found a flashlight and then my husband had to hold the flashlight for her… we were all laughing and the nurse said “Laughing is good — it’s going to work this time!” And it did!
Jenny G says:
Get diapers wet, then freeze them. When you have swollen ankles you can use them as ice packs! It actually works really well!
Heather says:
From the “nurse” who was a childbirth educator at our hospital:
During the class on breathing, my husband reasonably asked why a pushing woman would hold her breath, when during any other kind of workout (weight lifting, etc.) it’s well-known that you should NOT hold your breath because the muscles need oxygen to perform.
The “Nurse” replied (and this is a direct quote):
“The uterus is a different kind of muscle.”
Obviously, one that doesn’t need oxygenated blood. How silly of us.
I have a whole notebook of her authoritative claims. I would e-mail them to our doula after each class to make her laugh/vomit.
Amanda says:
My mom told me to never put your arms up above your head. The umbilical cord will strangle the baby. She about had a fit when she saw me reach for something on a shelf!
Karen says:
Got lots of advice some wierd some helpful, most came during my second pregnancy when I didn’t find out the sex of the baby and everyone tried to figure it out. Apparently if you crave meat you are having a boy and sweets if you are having a girl
Allison M. says:
The craziest & WORST advice I ever received was that it is completely normal at 26 weeks to not feel your baby move (not even a kick) for over 3 days. WRONG!!! It is not normal! Thank God for my persistence and motherly instinct…my son is alive today. 2 more hours and we would not have him here. Your Doctor is not always right and does not always know best…get a second opinion. My son’s placenta was “all used up & nothing left for him to survive on” He was slowing dying inside of me hence no movement.
Miracles do happen! Doctors are not always right. Believe in yourself!
Heather says:
I think the strangest advuce I heard was to drink flat coke to help with nausea… DIDN’T HELP.
Kelli says:
I’m pregnant right now, and I guess the craziest advice I regularly receive is from people who haven’t had babies in MANY MANY years telling me things that aren’t true anymore. And not believing me when I tell them things have changed in the past 20 or 30 years…
Kelli says:
I subscribe to Text4Baby.
Allison M. says:
Signed up for text4baby!!! This is an awesome program!
Natalie says:
Drinking canola oil will cause labor if your past your due date…..grossssss
Melanie says:
I dont remember getting any really crazy ones…but i like many others got told to eat spicy food and walk walk walk to help kick my lil doodlebug out after he had extended his stay
Kristin says:
I never really got any crazy advice – that I remember – but my husband’s family was convinced I was having twins with my first that when he was born several of them asked if there was another baby. (they are seriously insane). And when I was a baby (like a month or two) a lady told my mom “oh isn’t HE cute (while I was dressed in pink from head to toe), you know, they don’t open their eyes until about 3 months or so” Ya lady, I’m a girl HUMAN, not a dog!
Meghan says:
When I lived in Taiwan I heard the most bizarre things about pregnancy. The one that sticks out though …… I was told not to act as a witch in the school halloween play as my baby will forever think I am a witch and not love me. I was also told not to open the refridgerator door as the baby will catch a cold!
Melissa says:
I have some advice to give…make sure your child isn’t breech before you are in labor for hours!
A week before my due date my doctor told me my babies is head down and in position, but then a few days later when my water broke and my doctor wasn’t on call at the hospital, and a nurse who didn’t know how to use an ultrasound machine, and 8 hours of labor (3 hours of very hard labor) my baby had turned and was now breech! C-Section here we come, the nurse felt SOOO bad she couldn’t tell he was breech earlier, but I couldn’t be mad at all, I had my beautiful baby boy in my arms!
Leah says:
I was told that if I had a problem with high blood pressure, I should eat an entire roasted chicken (for the protein), an entire watermelon (for the diuretic effect) and submerge at least 70% of my body in a pool (the pressure of the water would push the water out of me). This advice was given to me by a doula last week (I’m 33 weeks along). I’m not making any judgment as to it’s veracity, but it’s certainly weird advice.
Michelle says:
If you are past due… THE 3 HOTS.. are said to help induce labor !
Eat HOT (spicy) food.. then
Take a HOT bath… then
HOT sex (not sure who wants to do that
at 40 weeks lol)
and I was told NOT to eat EGGPLANT PARMESAN.. bc it also induces labor!!!
Allison says:
The strangest pregnancy advice I got when I was pregnant with Parker was to scrub my nipples with a loofah every night to ‘prepare’ my nipples for breastfeeding… I did NOT do that. Who does that?! Sore nipples + loofah= screaming pain!
Cynthia says:
Not really advice, but a dumb comment. When pregnant w/my second, my SIL insisted it would be a boy because that’s how it is in their family. (Two kids, one of each sex.) She was right, it was a boy and the first was a girl, but NOT for the reason she insisted. I was kind of pissed that she was right, but very happy about the boy.
Kristin says:
The craziest thing I have heard is the needle test you do with a needle and thread and if you dangle the needle over you palm depending on which way the needle goes will determine what sex you are going to have for all your kids as well as how many kids.
Kenna says:
I didn’t get so much strange advice, unless you want to hear about my aged grandmother who was convinced that simply MOVING would cause me to lose my first…. she also lectured me on the cats and how they would “suck the breath right out of that baby”. I took a strange delight in taking photos of the cats sleeping beside the baby and sending them to my own mom, who in turn promised NOT to let Grandma see them!
That said, I did get some very GOOD advice, and I will share that instead of repeating what has been said so many times already!
First bit? Let your kids get dirty.
Second? Don’t take anyone’s pregnancy advice.
Laura says:
Heather, I just wanted to say thank you. A few months ago I read on your blog about the text4baby, I just had my baby about 2.5 weeks ago. I loved it during my pregnancy and now I have it for the baby. Thank you so much for sharing the information. This was my third child, however someone of the info I was never given before. It’s a great free service.
And, I would love to win a phone as I have a crappy free phone from ATT&T. I had to give up my iphone recently and I very much miss it.
Deborah says:
The weirdest thing about pregnancy is that a HUMAN BEING comes out of your vagina.
Heather says:
If i swung a pencil on a string depending on which direction it spun I would know whether I was having a girl or not! And not to worry! That nev er works for a pregnant woman!!
Sarah says:
My sister believed that putting a knife under her hospital bed while she was in labor would ease the pain!
Ashley Hast says:
Yeah, maybe it would, if you pulled it out to threaten your husband or doctor, and they gave you pain meds to ease the pain. LOl.
Laura says:
the weirdest pregnancy advice i got, I could probobly list them all, but right now memory sucks. lol My last pregnancy I so wanted to induce pregnancy myself (was having a ton of complications) and i was told to have sex with me on top facing away. Something about the position was supposed to help. did I try it, NO, there was no way I would put myself in that position, but I had no idea how it would work. Just thought thatit was really funny.
BTW your little Annie is so darn cute
ally (adil320) says:
I didn’t get too much crazy advice. I did all the normal old wives tales…
Putting a ring on a thread and seeing how it swings to determine gender.
Heartburn = hairy babies.
Eating before you get out bed helps with morning sickness ect…
Amy J says:
Melodi stole mine, the umbilical cord must be wrapped around many babies’ neck!
Lorie H says:
With my first pregnancy my son just didn’t want to come.. someone told me to drink castor oil and that would bring on labor.. no didn’t do it!
Lori Musacchio says:
This came from my mid-wife…to start labor, drink a couple shots of castor oil, orange juice AND vodka! lol…along with having lots of sex because the sperm thins the cervix and orgasms get the uterus contracting…both weird to me!! Who would drink alcohol while preggers and who really wants to have lots of sex when 9 1/2 mos preg!!!
Alexandria says:
This is just a funny one, I am four months pregnant and still dont have to wear bigger clothes. My dad told me if I dont start wearing maternity clothes my baby will be squished.
Also I signed up for T4B
Debbie says:
I was past my due date on my second child, and of course, I heard the “have sex and the baby will come really quick”. Who wants to have sex at 40 weeks??? Not I….and it didn’t work!
Eliza says:
The craziest advice I got while pregnant with my first daughter…
My husband’s grandmother told me to sniff scotch to get rid of my all day nausea.
I was lucky enough to have “all day sickness” and about month 5 she told me to sniff the scotch every time i felt like I was going to be sick.
Needless to say it didn’t work!
What’s crazier? Her advice or that I tried it???
Shana says:
I’m raising two bonus kids full time with my husband. Never been pregnant. The craziest thing about pregnancy is that at the end A BABY is supposed to come out of your VAGINA! crazytown!
Deenuts Dana says:
The best advice I received was to read as many books as possible before baby came, because it would be almost impossible to read once she was here.
And boy, THAT was the most accurate piece of informaiton I’ve ever received! My daughter is now 2 and I have yet to finish a book since her birth.
Ashley Hast says:
I *love* to read, and all of my kids *love* for me to read…because I’ll say yes to whatever they ask me, if they ask while I’m reading. Lol.
Lisa says:
If you eat strawberries while pregnant, your baby will have a strawberry mark/stork bite…I ate TONS of strawberries while pregnant w/ my twins…there’s no sign if strawberry marks.
Ashley Hast says:
I’ll have to ask my mother about the strawberries business. I have a small heart-shaped ‘berry birthmark on my boob.
karen t. says:
I’m pregnant with my first right now and one of the craziest things I’ve heard (from more than one person!) is to avoid crowded places b/c if you get bumped into then it could hurt the baby. Hmph, I thought little baby bean was pretty well padded in there!
karen t. says:
signed up for text4baby too! thanks!
Trisha Vargas says:
That eating Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with A-1 Sauce would make me go into labor.
I don’t know what’s worse. The advice or that I actually tried it. Not good, not good at all.
Heartburn for hours and constipation, cause I ate like the whole box even though it was awful.
I was overdue and desperate !!
(((HUGS))) from Florida
Jennifer says:
The craziest thing that I was told was eat chicken soup if you want a girl!
Danna says:
Craziest advice:
Well, I had a lot of issues with people telling me I was too young and all. We knew this lady that was into the “magic” stuff like cards and all. She told me I needed to bathe myself in pee so the baby would not come out with all these evil vibes. She told me if I didn’t, the baby would have a bad personality. Hmmm. It was interesting, but I sure didn’t do it!
Andrea says:
Well the craziest thing I remember was that since I had constant heartburn the entire pregnancy that my son was going to have alot of hair. He actually did but could have been a coincidence.
Andrea says:
Oh and I signed up for Text 4 Baby. I’m due Dec 18th!! woo hoo!!
Alison says:
I think the old wive’s tale that sticks out most in my mind is the idea that if you have a lot of heartburn, it means your baby has a lot of hair. Uterus, esophagus, same diff, right?
The craziest thing about pregnancy for real is the nesting drive. That behavior is so interesting!
Heather says:
Alison!!! You won!!! Yay! Email me thespohrs at gmail dot com and tell me where to ship.
YAY!
Beth says:
Craziest advice – don’t get up to pee for the last 3 months of your pregnancy – that way the baby will sleep through the night after they are born… if only they did and you didn’t have to pee every 5 minutes!!
Kyle says:
My friends who had babies already told me over an over that breastfeeding was “unnatural” an I should go straight to the bottle. I’m pretty sure they just wanted to get back to drinking lots of margarittas (and I mean lots!). I was fortunate enough to breastfeed for a full year.
Heidi says:
My last baby was sunny side up. I was told to sit in a bath with ice water and that would cause the baby to turn her back to the warm side… this may be true, but how about you go first!! no thanks!!!
Helene says:
I went into labor at 20 weeks and was put on strict bed rest. I had people tell me they wish they could go on bed rest too. The crazy advice part was I had people telling me to ENJOY my rest (since I won’t sleep when the baby comes) and how lucky I was to have to stay in bed. Uh yeah. Crazy advice.
houpley says:
i was told to eat kiwi and pineapple to get my labor started! the funny thing is – i did! but he still took his time!
Ashley says:
I think the craziest thing is the birthing experience. My sisters told me all the things that no one would admit to, like pooping yourself or that breast feeding hurts so bad. But as for advice, someone told me to start opening up my hips myself and to do certain exercises to help get pregnant.
Missy says:
I’ve never been pregnant but I think the weirdest thing about pregnancy is the wacky cravings. I knew a girl that ate snickers cut up in her spaghetti-o’s. She said it was delicious and would try to eat it when she wasn’t pregnant.
BeeBelle says:
The weirdest actual advice to me was not to climb a ladder at work, as it would make the baby’s umbilical cord wrap around her neck. The weirdest overall advice was that if you pee in a cup of Drano, the resulting color will tell you the gender of the baby. I have since heard the chemical combination (urine + Drano) actually creates poisonous gasses, so that’s some freaky weird advice.
Mary in AZ says:
I didn’t receive any advice that hasn’t already been mentioned here. The disovery that it really is true that feet would grow a half size with each pregnancy was truly depressing though. Having just had #3, it’s true for me. I have a friend with 6 children and she’s gone from a 7 to a 10! Crazy…
Heather says:
I’ve been pregnant and can’t really think of anything crazy anyone told me. The weirdest thing about it from what I remember is what an air head I turned into. I kept losing my words and every conversation would turn into a game of charades!
Alicia says:
I have never been pregnant, and I don’t recall my daughter’s birth mom ever receiving any odd advice.
The only kind of advice she got was to eat the eggplant parmesan at a local restaurant called Scallini’s. It has been said that the meal induces labor within 48 hrs. It didn’t work for her. However, she did go into labor within hours of eating at Red Lobster.
Ashley Hast says:
I tried the eggplant parmasean thing. Couldn’t find anyone that made it in our area, so I made the *crappiest* version ever, and it didn’t work.
wordygirl says:
I don’t remember a lot of crazy advice, but I do remember being asked CONSTANTLY if I was pregnant with twins – I WAS NOT. Thanks, everyone, for reminding me HOW FREAKISHLY HUGE I AM!
Terra says:
I remember someone telling me that I shouldn’t swim in lakes while pregnant because the water is dirty. My doctor totally laughed at this.
Stephenie says:
Craziest advice – Do not lift your arms above your head or the ambilical cord will wrap around the baby’s head.
Lori says:
I cannot think of any crazy pregnancy advice besides the one’s that a lot of people already listed, but I can say the most humiliating thing that happened to me after I had my baby is I had a woman come up to me (in January) and say “Oh you look so cute, when are you due?” My response with a red face “I had her on November 2nd.” I am pretty sure she was more embarrassed….hopefully!
Cinthia says:
Back in the 70s, my sister’s MIL was told to eat plenty of fried plantains (which are a very popular breakfast/lunch item in Costa Rica) to make sure the baby had a healthy weight. She ended up having a 10+ pound baby…
Nowadays, most Costa Rican OB/GYNs forbid pregnant ladies from eating plantains after the 5th month.
Ashley Hast says:
Plantains are *wicked* good!!!
Lisa says:
A lot of people did tell me about the “heartburn equals child with a lot of hair” theory, and for me it held true! I have three kids and suffered with heartburn mostly during my first pregnancy, and she was born looking like she was wearing a huge black wig!
Also, the strangest thing is this dark line I always got right down the middle of my belly. So weird!
Ashley Hast says:
I had heartburn straight from the devil, but all 4 of my kids were born bald, and stayed that way for a while. I’m guessing that means the heartburn I experienced wasn’t as bad as I thought..lol…I feel horrible for you!
Alison Hunt says:
I’ve heard that if you eat orange-colored foods, you will have a boy! My friend at cantaloupe, oranges, orange jello, and tangerines. She did have a boy–but I don’t think that had anything to do with it!
Steph says:
My hubs aunt told me “Do not worry about cribs…they are expensive. Just use a dresser drawer.”
She was serious. And it was decided..she will not be left alone with our kid!
Ashley Hast says:
Well, at least if the baby cried you could just shut the drawer. Lol. Kidding.
Steph says:
True. In that case…SHE IS GENIUS. I kid..I kid…
Jessica says:
My mother-in-law told me that I should save the placenta to make lotion. Also, she said I should squirt breastmilk in the baby’s eye to prevent infections. I didn’t do either.
I also registered for text4baby!
Ashley Hast says:
Holy. Monkey. Piss. I was just watching on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern yesterday…they eat placenta in Thailand for the vitamins, just like dogs and other animals, but at least the Thai’s cook it. Last week in the grocery store, I was looking at shampoo. One was actually called Placenta, made with *real* used (obviously! lol) placenta….but I’m not sure it was animal or human.
Jena says:
I’ve never been preggo but the strangest things I have heard about pregnancy come from my best friend in high school and my mother. My best friend has a birth mark on her wrist (honestly, I have seen it) shaped like an ice cream cone. She claims it is because her mother craved ice cream while pregnant with her.
My mother says I love frozen Suzy Q’s because that’s all she ate while pregnant with me. I don’t think they are true but it makes you wonder. .
Ashley Hast says:
It’s a wonder our first son didn’t come out red and green! I *seriously* survived on pickled okra and hawaiian fruit punch! Lol.
Lori says:
I was also told not to take a bath while pregnant. I thought that was so weird. It’s not like I was bathing in scolding hot water or anything.
Dianne in Cali! says:
The craziest thing I was ever told was to give my son a CHICKEN BONE and let him naw on it to help his teeth come in while he was teething!
Thank you for the opportunity
Ashley Hast says:
I heard that too! Insane! I wondered why in the monkey piss they’d tell me to give my BABY a chicken bone, when I’ve always been told (by the same people, mind you) to NEVER given chicken bones to a dog, because it can kill them if they swallow pieces of the bone. Granted, a teething baby is most likely not going to swallow the bone, but c’mon morons!
Joie says:
I have never been pregnant, but the weirdest thing to me about pregnancy is that there is literally a human being chilling in your stomach. I think it is kind of weird and almost creepy that this little human has hair waving around in there and there are nails. I get this weird image of them scratching at my insides…which could come in convienent if I do have a scratch there. The whole idea of pregnancy is very sci-fi to me. Kind of like the Matrix – where there are these humans being “made”…I want to have a baby someday, but I have a feeling I am going to be trying to get them to do cool human tricks in there….
Krystal says:
The craziest thing I heard about being pregnant is that you shouldn’t get too warm because it might heat up the amniotic fluid and damage the baby.
By this, I do not mean avoiding hot tubs, I mean being outside in warm weather or wearing warm clothing. Bizarre.
Tracy says:
I’ve never been pregnant, but am constantly in awe of the miracle of it all. I’ve had friends have babies and then suddenly, while they are pregnant, I’ll just realize that there is a live person in there, inside them, and the mere fact alone of that miracle when truly thought of, is astounding. I’m always fascinated.
Elizabeth says:
I’ve never been pregnant, but whenever I see a woman who’s about to give birth all I can think about is that her baby is RIGHT THERE under her skin, just inches away, and in a few days will be out in the open. It’s so weird!
Kelly says:
The weirdest advice wasn’t really for me (although the advice to eat lots of fried foods to induce labor was strange), but came from a Pregnancy book that my mom had when she was pregnant with me–the copyright date was 1965–It told mom’s to have a glass of wine at night to help them relax, that you didn’t need to stop smoking just because you were pregnant, but if you didn’t smoke that didn’t mean that you should start, and lots of other weird ones that I cannot remember right now. It is so funny to go back and look at that book and how things have changed since I was born.
Jeni says:
The weirdest advice I was given was to concieve a boy the air should be chilly. Seriously who comes up with these things!
Courtney Keech says:
My grandmother told me that if I popped a pimple while I was pregnant my baby would be born with pimples.
Guess what? She was wrong, haha.
Ainsley says:
Someone told me not to eat cottage cheese, or it would curdle my milk. I responded by walking to the fridge, and eating a big spoonfull straight from the carton, right in front of her. She liked my reaction about as much as I like her unsolicited advice.
Dianna says:
It’ so weird how people feel entitled to touch a pregnant woman’s belly.
Tracy says:
Worst advice? Pretty much anything in What to Expect When You’re Expecting.
cathi beers says:
Don’t eat sushi. Whatever. Not that I eat a lot anyway, but I ate pretty much watever I wanted.
Manda says:
My mom told me my butt would get bigger if I had a girl baby, but not a boy baby.
when she totally guessed my second was a girl, but turned out to be another boy, I told her: Guess my butt is just big naturally – thanks ma!
Ashley Hast says:
I had 4 kids, two of ’em boys…and my butt is *still* flat as a pancake. Brazilian butt lift, here I come!
Kathy says:
Give yourself an enema prior to going to the hospital to deliver so that you don’t poop when pushing. Umm…in the midst of painful contractions, give yourself an enema?? At home?? No thanks..I am sure the dr’s have seen poop before.
kellye says:
i was reading a pregnant woman’s blog about her having to use pillows to prop the belly up while sleeping on her side. i never thought the belly would need support… i just thought it, you know, was there. haha.
Paula says:
Someone told me to eat a salad with basalmic vinegrette to start labor. I started labor during the night after my salad supper! Haha!
Meg says:
I always thought that the whole pregnancy brain was the oddest part of pregnancy…just…i dunno! will have to experience it myself!! =)
Heather Wittman says:
My cousin, a mother of five, told me to start scrubbing my nipples with a loofa sponge a few weeks prior to my due date to toughen them for breastfeeding. Ouch, no way! Also, a lady I work with from some country in South America freaked out when she found out I had looked at a hamster because now my baby was going to have a hamster’s face.
Ashley Hast says:
The hamster thing cracks me up!!! Sounds similar to what my grandma told me that I posted further down….that when watching a scary movie, I shouldn’t put my hand on my belly in shock or surprise at a horror movie, or it would permanently scar the baby!!
Ashley Hast says:
Hamsters *are* super cute though.
Rach L in Vancouver says:
Not a mom just yet, but I’ve been told to be prepared to poop on the delivery gurney when pushing. Is this true? This is the scariest thing ever, I do not discuss bathroom functions with very many people.
Liz says:
Weirdest pregnancy advice for me was actually pre-pregnancy advice. I was told about certain sexual positions to use if I wanted a girl. Yeah, didn’t need that kind of “help” in conceiving.
Amy J says:
Signed up.
Deb Hauer says:
With my first pregnancy I decided I would go into it with an open mind and not get scared by any advice I was given. It didn’t stop people from trying but I just put it in the back of my mind and dealt with things as they came. Then I went over due……and on the 7th day….I was told to go to a local bar named Matts here in Minneapolis, MN. It is a really small, hole in the wall, type of bar. So here is big ol’ belly and me walking in to a smoky bar to get a ‘Juicy Lucy’. This is a cheeseburger with the cheese on the inside of the meat. I ordered one, ate it, went home….NOTHING! Then I was told it was because I didn’t have the onions on it. So I went back on day 8 and day 9 and had another one….NOTHING. I had to be induced on day 10.
Karen Junge says:
I was about 10 months pregnant and it looked like the baby was going to graduate high school in my belly. my mom and grandma told me to take a teaspoon of castor oil and that would put me into labor. Will the little 19 year old girl that I was didn’t know to much about life yet even though I thought I did. I took the oil and boy was I in for a night. Lets just say I didn’t go into labor but when I finally did I didn’t have to worry about pushing something out but the baby. so ladies that is one wise tale that you shouldn’t try. thanks karen.
AppleTree says:
I haven’t been pregnant yet – perhaps sooner rather than later — but after reading through these comments I think the craziest thing I’ve heard is all of this talk about suspending something from a string (ring, pencil, needle, pine cone, tuft of dog hair, etc.) and watching the rotation to indicate the sex of the baby.
Seriously?
Jill says:
I have more of a “after you have your child” advice. My MIL told me that rats like baby boys pee-pees so make sure we don’t have any…rats, that is. C-RAY-ZEEEE!
Editdebs says:
Don’t remember much advice (it was 15 years ago), but I do remember being told about spicy food creating curly hair. But when I got pregnant, I couldn’t eat spicy food (I used to love spicy) and I still can’t.
Angela H says:
My dad said It’s ok to drink during pregnancy because his mom drank and smoked while she was pregnant with him (Umm yah dad, that’s reason enough for me NOT to drink…I’d never take that advice anyway)
Stacey Johnson says:
When we were trying for our 3rd child, my brother in law (who was 20 at the time) told me if we wanted to have a son we needed to “do it with the lady on top” Yeah. Thanks Bro. We had our 3rd daughter about a year later.
Darcie says:
I think the weirdest thing about pregnancy is that the baby drinks her own urine! WHAT!? The doctor says it strengthens and helps her grow…but I just can’t get past it! WHOA!
Marcea says:
Ahh… I remember when I was overdue, someone told me to eat lots of eggplant parm dish. I ate a lot and it never put me in labor. To this day I cannot eat eggplant parm. yuck!
Beanie says:
The craziest advice I’ve received is that we should give away our cat because once he smells the milk on the baby’s mouth – he’ll attack.
Right on that.
Ashley Hast says:
I heard all sorts of insanities – I guess the craziest/funniest was from my grandma. She said if I was watching a scary movie and got scared, to *never* put my hand on my belly when exclaming in shock or surprise, or it would permanently scar the baby.
Brittany says:
Let’s see. Mama need s a new phone without drool and baby teeth bites!
The weirdest advice would be that I’m not allowed to cross my legs, because that makes the cord wrap around the baby’s neck. Which is ironic since I psychotically never crossed my legs for any pregnancy based on that claim, and ALL THREE of my kids had cords are their necks at birth.
Soooooo……
Jennifer says:
I don’t tend to be a person that gets unsolicited advise – i think I look cranky a lot. But i did get a lot of wonky theories from my mother in law. she is a firm believe in the ‘height in which you carry’ the baby determines the sex. I’m a big girl and i carried my son really high – I don’t even think I looked all that pregnant really because where he ended my belly stated. Anyway. MIL was convinced that of course he was a boy because he was so high. And then went on to tell me about how high she carried my husband and how low the girls were (my sister in laws) and her sisters pregnancies yada yada yada.
When I asked my mom about how ‘high’ or ‘low’ either of her babies were … i just got a blank stare. She said, “I can’t remember stuff like that.”
Pretty funny.
My husband could use a new phone, good luck to me!!!
Nia says:
I’ve never had the pleasure of being pregnant, thanks to the monster that is infertility, but for me the weirdest thing about pregnancy is when the mom can see and feel which part of her baby is poking her. And how the mom can tell her baby’s schedule from in utero! Actually, what makes it so weird is that I think it’s beautiful and I cannot wait to be able to experience it!! LOL!
Andrea says:
The craziest advice I heard was don’t eat anything with seeds during your pregnancy because the baby can’t digest them, and will carry the seeds in his/her little body for years to come! Come on now!
Cassie C says:
I have never been pregnant nor am I at any place to be…but I remember 7th grade sex ed. in health class…The teacher pointed to me and said, “Take a look at Cassie, she is the reason you should not get pregnant, none of your bodies are ready yet to push a baby out, it would get stuck and be incredibly painful because your hips are too small.” [que the embarrassing red cheeks now…i was a mortified seventh grader knowing people were imagining my waist size and a baby trying to fit through there]
Now almost 24 and I have quite round “baby making hips” according to my grandma – fear is the best medicine.
Bless all you Mom’s out there! =)
Amy K says:
My father-in-law kept telling me that my baby was OBVIOUSLY a boy because I was hungry all the time. Nope! I got the girl I was hoping for, just like I told him I would:)
Mary Sisk says:
In order to get through labor pains I imagined my body was a marshmallow and I was lying on a hot beach melting and stretching. It worked!!!
Love ya!
Kristin says:
Let’s see…I also heard the pee in Drano to tell the sex of the baby. Ummm, HELLO, ammonia (in the urine) plus bleach = chlorine gas = BAD BAD STUFF
Barbi says:
My baby is 8-1/2 years old today. So it has been a while since I was pregnant. One of the crazy things I hear these days is you shouldn’t eat deli meats . I am not sure why, but, that is crazy stuff!
Chantel says:
My uncle’s girlfriend told me not to raise my hands above my head while in the shower because the umbilical cord would get wrapped around the baby’s neck. Not sure why this “rule” was only for the shower. lol
damaris says:
to not have sex at all when you’re pregnant. HELL-O after you have the baby you’re not going to have time for sex so you might as well enjoy while you’re pregnant, just sayin’
Melissa says:
I think the weirdest thing about being pregnant is what some women crave. I have heard the craziest cravings like pickles and ice cream. Also, I cannot even imagine what it would be like to have something growing inside me and moving around.
Antonia says:
I’ve never been pregnant, but I think the weirdest thing about being pregnant is the whole Belly Button pop out. My mom told me it was like growing a third nipple and totally made me curious about SO much, well, until I took Child Development and really saw what they looked like.
Yolanda says:
Heather –
Good afternoon. I have never been with child but the oddest advice I ever heard was actually for my husband. A friend said that he may need to pop a little blue pill because during my second trimester I will be insatiable. Is that true?
Chantelle @ photo mommy says:
When I was pregnant with my 3rd child (and 10 days overdue and due to be induced in 2 days) my mom called me up and said I would go into labor that night because there was a full moon. I woke up at 6:30 the next morning and I was in labor!
Amber Wilson says:
The weirdest thing about pregnancy to me is the strange line that goes up your stomach! I also think the food cravings are insane! A professor of mine was just pregnant and she hates turnip greens and hadn’t had chocolate cake in four years. She had a sudden craving and called her mom to bring her some chocolate cake and turnip greens. Her mom brought her some the next day during class and she ate them together! lol It was insane!
Mairead says:
Maybe not the craziest, but definately the funniest advice I received, came from a little old Irish lady with a walker. She leaned towards me an whispered, “It doesn’t come out as nice as it went in!!”. Priceless!
Jenni says:
Never been pregnant, but the weirdest thing for me is when I see pregnant women about 2 or 3 days away from delivery…it’s just looks like a pin to the belly would pop them!
Oh, and watching from the outside the baby moving on the inside…that’s complete sci-fi!
Amy says:
I’ve never been pregnant…though it’s not for lack of trying. 8 years of infertility has left us tired, frustrated, and still longing for kids.
Having said that, pregnancy is just weird in general because there is a tiny person growing inside you! Yikes!
Jenna says:
I think the weirdest (and coolest) part of being pregnant would be feeling another person’s body parts inside of you. weeeeeeird.
Tamara S. says:
Well, I don’t know if it’s really advice but when we were going through the process to adopt our daughter we always heard “if you adopt you’ll get pregnant”. Guess who got pregnant a few years after we adopted our daughter? Me!
Amanda M. says:
Though I’m sure it’s a popular answer, the weirdest thing about being pregnant seems to me to be a human moving inside of you. I was in the hospital with my friend through her labor, and watching her whole stomach move when her baby rolled over… AHHH! It freaked me out.
diana says:
i can’t really remember any crazy advice, just all the crazy food rules that i totally didn’t follow the second time around!
shenais says:
the weirdest (and best) part of pregnancy was having that little human move inside of me. so, so unbelievably cool.
Brittany Albert says:
I just signed up for text4baby.
Beth Gravitz says:
The weirdest thing that happened to me when I was pregnant was that my salivia glands were working overtime. At some points I had so much salivia in my mouth that it would cause me to start choking and coughing. Not such a big deal excpet when you’re a court reporter in the middle of reporting important proceedings and you have to stop everything so you can choke on your spit. Good times.
Erin M. says:
The weirdest advice I ever received was being told that if I ate too many salads my baby would never eat veggies. Um ok.
Hah!
Kristina says:
I’ve already seen mine listed as well, but its the don’t raise your hands above your head or the cord will wrap around the baby’s neck.
Holly says:
The weirdest advice I got was towards the end of my pregnancy and I was having trouble sleeping. Someone told me I should drink a half a beer every night so I could get some rest.
Amanda C. says:
Well, I am Chinese, therefore I have a lot of crazy ones. (You know, Chinese are superstitious.)
1) When you are pregnant, you are NOT allowed to move your funiture around your house, becuase the goddess who is looking after babies from above doesn’t like it, and she will punish you by giving you a unhealthy baby.
2) You are NOT allowed to put a nail into the wall while you are pregnant, the resuit is the same – a unhealthy baby.
There is more, but since you only ask for two, so there they are.
Colleen says:
I was over due with both my girls and I tried EVERY old wives tale there was. Walking, doing the horizontal tango, castor oil. I was induced BOTH times so none of the tricks worked!
Colleen says:
Oh and I signed up for Text for Baby!
MaFa says:
I was told not to eat dark chocolate during pregnancy because it causes allergies in your child. Supposedly some new medical research supports this. I don’t care if it causes green skin and Shrek ears, I can’t imagine avoiding dark chocolate during pregnancy of all times. (I didn’t. Daughter has normal ears, no green tint. No allergies either.)
jessica says:
I heard that if you get cankles while you are pregnant you are having a girl b/c naturally girls are more likely to get cankles than boys? go figure!
Nichole says:
my mother in law told me not to be to suprised if I had twins because the “twin” could be hiding behind baby #1!!!
Nama says:
I’ve never been pregnant, but I think the weirdest/worst thing I hear about pregnancy is the destroyed painful state of one’s nipples when breast feeding. I can handle a lot of gross stuff and crazy amounts of pain, but just thinking about swollen, ravaged nipples makes the hairs on my arms stand up…something I’m not looking forward to!!
Kelly says:
I was told if we wanted a girl we would have to DTD while my husband wore boots… Needless to say we are expecting our 3rd baby boy
The weirdest thing about pregnancy to me has to be how frequently it makes you use the restroom. Especially in the beginning when the baby is so small… And then bam as soon as you have them your back to normal
Kristen says:
I heard every imaginable ‘old wives tale’ you can while I was pregnant. My great aunt told me that I should put vinegar soaked brown paper towls on my head to treat morning sickness. That was the strangest.
Tonya says:
I am now pregnant with my sixth so I have hear LOTS of things… My craziest piece of advice by far was to have my hubby give me a nightly rub down with Mayo (all over) to avoid stretching… lol. Then when I asked MY MOM (she gave the advice) if she was crazy she said to make sure we get the nether regions to avoid tearing while pushing. GROSS!!!
Christy says:
Weirdest pregnancy advice I had was to go to the local Yoga – Momma Prenatal Yoga class on the night of a full moon.
Kelli Cole says:
Eat watermelon everyday so the baby would be born with pretty coloring…seriously.
Mandy says:
When my daughter was breach, my midwife told me to lie relined with my head lower then my feet and put an ice pack on the top of my belly and a flashlight at the bottom to get the baby to turn. That was weird but it worked!
Jen Tepe says:
My mother in law told me that ‘washing dishes by hand when you are pregnant will make your baby have more hair when they are born’ ummmm, really?!?! I loaded the dishwasher everyday as usual and still wound up with a little man with hair when he was born. =-)
Nadine McCrow says:
I was also told that I shouldn’t raise my arms above my head for the same reason. And that if I drank a lot of milk, I would have a girl!
meg mcg says:
Oh jeez, I got tons of dumb advice. I think I’m going to go with “sleep now cause you won’t be able to sleep when the baby comes!”. Excuse me, but sleep is not like a bank where you make deposits and them withdraw later. Heck, advice should be do everything possible right now, screw sleep cause you’re not gonna have a minute to yourself for at least 2 years!
Christy says:
Visited the text4baby site and signed up!
Nadine McCrow says:
I have been signed up for the text 4 baby since May ’10. We are expecting baby #2 in January!
Jody says:
The weirdest advice I had was hanging a string with a ring on it to tell the sex of the baby. . .
Jackie says:
Hmmm…I don’t recall any weird pregnancy advice…just people guessing what I was carrying and in the end, 95% were wrong!
Thanks for this chance…my teenager would LOVE this phone!
Becky says:
The craziest advice I ever received when I was pregnant with my twins was to not eat peanut butter in case either one has an allergy
MrsP says:
When I was pregnant my mother told me to eat everything I craved cause if I didn’t the baby would come out with some sort of malformation due to that craving….uhhhh yeah that didn’t happen….hahaha
Pieces of a Sometimes Extraordinary Life says:
I was told that extreme heartburn in pregnancy meant your baby would be born with a lot of hair. Which I completely laughed off (like right, hair can cause acid to rise into your throat???), but just recently I read a study that said this is absolutely true. Mothers with more heartburn have, on average, significantly hairier babies!
Elisabeth at myronickmusings says:
The craziest pregnancy advice I received wasn’t really advice, but just random comments from people. The one that sticks out the most is the comment from a drive thru worker who thought I looked ready to pop at 25 weeks. Yeah, that made me feel great esp. since I was seated and well, getting fast food.
Elisabeth at myronickmusings says:
I receive the texts – they are great – thanks for letting us know about this program.
Dana MArkawicz says:
id have to say a tale about concieving. Someone told me after the deed is done, to pretty much stand on youre head and the sperm would make it there for sure!!! haha
Mindy says:
craziest advice…babies don’t like schedules. ha. mine do.
kristi w. says:
A friend told me, and I am pretty convinced, that babies suck out your brain cells while nursing. I hope that by “sharing” my brain cells she’s at least getting smarter, because I sure can’t remember a thing anymore…
giselle says:
I’ve never been pregnant and the whole thing sounds strange and terrifying. I admire all of you that have done it.
Rebecca says:
Weirdest pregnancy advice was that I shouldn’t ever fly while pregnant because the pressure would break my bag of waters and I’ll go into pre-mature labor.
Erin says:
The weirdest part of pregnancy is feeling the baby have hiccups. It’s like a little twitch, but regular and it happened to my little one a ton, so I was constantly feeling these little tics in my belly all day long!
Tiffany says:
The wedding ring on a necklace or string trick. I was told if it went in a circle it was a girl. Mine would go round and round in a circle and we had a girl. So come to think of it…maybe it wasnt so crazy!! lol.
Becky Mochaface says:
I’ve never been pregnant but the weirdest thing to me is when you can clearly see a foot or elbow poke out. *shudder* It creeps me out.
Casie Creech says:
The craziest advice I got was to eat pineapple to make the baby come. . . 1 entire cane later, it didn’t work (nor did much else!)
Casie Creech says:
I also opted in for the texts! Sounds pretty cool!
Laurie SL says:
I only remember the crazy post-pregnancy advice I’ve received – my MIL (she’s from Taiwan) didn’t want me to wash my hair for a month after I gave birth. I was like, ‘Uh oh, no way”. She also made me eat chopped garlic and rice fried with sesame oil – and the garlic still had its skin on and there was more garlic than rice! I can totally understand where these traditions come from and are even rooted in science and health, but I just tried to accommodate her traditions as much as possible. Thank goodness she was in NY after I gave birth, but my husband made the garlic fried rice for me to eat! Bleh!
By the way, you’re awesome!
SJ says:
I was told to eat soaked fennel seeds to make sure I would lactate.
Amber says:
Older candy striper at the hospital, told me my baby was in the wrong position (she was tranverse-lie, sideways in my tummy) because I laid on the couch too much!!! How did she know!!!
Pamala says:
The worst advice was to use Caster Oil to induce. I mean I’m impatient and all but frankly I don’t want the runs. Could you imagine? Having the runs while trying to push a baby out. LOL!
I signed up for the texts even though I’m technically due in two weeks.
Mel says:
That twins skip a generation and we would definitely have twins. After 3 kids still NO twins.
Mairead says:
Funny, I was told that twins skip a generation and I would definately not have twins. I have twins, as does my sister. My mother had twins and my father was a twin!!
Ray says:
I don’t really find anyting weird about pregnancy. It just amazes me on how you can have a baby in your uterus and have all your other organs functioning properly at the same time; as your uterus expands. A woman’s body is amazing.
Sarah says:
My son was breech and I was DETERMINED to get him to turn… so i did ask for advice… I was told to stand on my head for as long as I could stand it… cuz he liked being butt down- he would turn and be the right way!!!!
Well- my husband caught me in our room with my feet on the bed- butt in the air and head on the ground.. trying to get him to turn… it was one of the most crazy ideas i’d ever heard- but it was worth a try cuz i wanted him to TURN!!!!
paulaemerysmom says:
I was told that if i liked to dress up girlie and do my makeup that i was having a girl… I worked in a salon for goodness sake i had to look good no matter what!
Erin says:
When I was pregnant with my first child, some weirdo friend of my mother-in-law’s told me that I shouldn’t wear deodorant or use shampoo during the pregnancy because the chemicals should harm the baby. She also told me to get pregnant again immediately after giving birth so that my kids would be best friends. Needless to say, I rejected her hygiene tips so as not to offend my friends and coworkers. And my kids are 3 years apart, by choice. ‘Nuff said.
Ashley says:
My old boss used to remind me every single day that if I got upset, my baby would be born with a terrible attitude..but if I was calm and happy that I would have a ‘perfect’ baby.
(I think she was just trying to keep me from getting too mouthy. ;c) )
He’s moody sometimes, but I think he’s perfect anyway.
Shannon says:
I had a friend tell me I couldn’t eat anything with red dye in it.
When I asked my doctor about it, he looked at me like I was crazy.
Joy says:
When I was pregnant I was helping a friend from Portugal pack for a move – when I started to lift a vase of cut flowers she told me that pregnant women shouldn’t handle or hold flowers because it would be bad for the baby – she wasn’t specific about how it would be “bad,” but she was very serious about it and threw the flowers out so that I wouldn’t accidentally touch them.
Carli Wiese says:
Strangest advice I have been given while pregnant and overdue…..have your husbanmd massage your cervix so you will go into labor.
sara says:
the craziest advice i ever got was to eat a bowl of ice cream every night so that my baby would be sweet!
sara says:
i also opted in for text4baby!
Annie is beautiful, enjoy every minute@
Bethany says:
My daughter was born a month early. My mother-in-law told me she could tell I was getting close to giving birth because my nose got wider!
I thought she was crazy, but Anna was born three days later and four weeks early. She must have known what she was talking about!
Bria says:
I was told to try drinking a gin and lemonade and have a hot bath to go into labor. Gotta love the British! (I live in the UK so I don’t know if I’m actually eligible to win…just thought it would be fun to share).
Melissa says:
Labor is easy— hahaha that was funny! 12 hours later, i wasn’t laughing anymore.
Dee Dee says:
The craziest advice I have ever rec’d was on HOW to become pregnant. And I must preface this with please, please never try this! It could be fatal. I was told by a woman that to help people struggling to concieve you could take a cut up raw chicken and place it in your vaginal cavity and suture your vagina shut. This in turn would create an egg to be easily fertilized. Ummm nope never don’t dare try it!
Lindsay from Florida says:
I’ve read through almost all of these because they’re hilarious, but this one … ummmmm, WTF?!?!?!?!?
Ashley Hast says:
Holy sheep shit, Murdock! Now that?! Is *insane* bid’ness!
googiemomma says:
worst advice i ever recieved? “don’t have a third child–kids are too hard”…this from someone who had been told THE DAY BEFORE that I was expecting my 3rd child.
I truly didn’t know what to say.
But I’d love some new phones! :0)
Liz says:
I think the weirdest advice was all the events and different foods people suggested to start labor….lobster, mac & cheese, Mexican, Chinese, driving on bumpy roads, nipple stimulation, etc. I tried some of it, but I don’t think it made any difference!
Fiorella says:
although i have never been pregnant and am 16 yesterday i was at target peacefully walking through with my hand on my tummy because i had a stomach ache and the worker in the juniors section came up to me and said ” excuse me miss are you looking for maternity?” i was b=mortified.. i mean i weigh 110 lbs but im short so it looks weird anyway i scoffed and walked out of the store.
Audra says:
When my baby hadn’t turned into the correct position my OB told me to go home, get down on my hands and knees and scrub the floor. She said that something about the scrubbing action would prompt the baby to turn around so she was head first. Strangely, it worked.
Cortney says:
I had a coworker that was adamantly against breastfeeding. While I was pregnant she’d bring up the topic all the time about how she tried it for a few days but it was so weird and unnatural. What?! I didn’t listen to her- breastfeeding had it’s challenges but I’m so glad I did it.
Diana says:
I’m the color guard sponsor/coach at the high school where I work. When I was pregnant with my daughter, my grandmother told me that I probably shouldn’t do that since raising my arms above my head would cause the cord to tangle around the baby’s neck.
Stephanie says:
The best/and or strangest advice was not to push too hard when I pooped!!!! This person made a huge point of saying don’t get constipated because if you push too hard pooping you could have the baby in a toilet!!!! I was scared to crap for days!!!!
bec says:
Nothing truly crazy, just lots of contradictory stuff about what to eat/not eat. Drove me nuts.
Joy says:
I heard the arms over the head thing about the umbilical cord. I heard that heartburn thing about lots of hair. There was “doin’ it doggy style’ to have a boy, but I guess that is pre-pregnancy. I heard that an active baby will walk earlier (turned out true in my middle child’s case) and that a less active baby will be an early talker (not true in my son’s case.) I heard that whatever you crave when you are pregnant will be the baby’s favorite food.
Then there are the tons of things that we’re told to make the baby smarter…shine a flashlight on your stomach to stimulate the baby’s eyes and brain. Play lots of Mozart to make the baby smarter. Tap your belly in different patterns to stimulate the baby’s brain. While pregnant eat at different times than you usually do so the baby won’t automatically be awake when you are ready to eat (never worked.)
Andrea Myers says:
The craziest pregnancy advice I received was to drink castor oil to get labor started. It tasted terible and it didn’t work!
chel says:
i’ve never been pregnant, but i’ve heard that the baby will kick you in the cervix and the pain is unbelievable. while i want children, this is something i am not looking forward to!
Angie says:
I’m 14 weeks, and the weirdest advice I’ve gotten so far? Not to eat what I’m craving because then the baby will hate it after it’s born. So, if I want the baby to like chocolate, I shouldn’t eat chocolate.
AND…MIL told me that if I “just relax” that my morning sickness will go away. Uuuuum, no. Notsomuch.
P.S. I signed up for T4B last week, once I was officially past the 1st tri! Super helpful so far!
joyce says:
My grandma told me that if you get uglier when pregnant, you’re having a girl (she’s stealing your beauty), and if you get prettier (aka “glowing”) you’re having a boy! I had two boys by the way.
Melissa says:
I was also told not to stretch to reach things or it would tie the cord in a knot.
Clara says:
I don’t really remember anything crazy, besides the heartburn thing, but it wasn’t true, I had more heartburn with my son and he had hardly any hair at all.
I do remember my inlaws saying after they were born, when they wouldn’t sleep through the night that I was suppose to sit under the kitchen table with them, flip them over, and spank them. They swore by it… I never followed that advice, and guess what, they eventually did sleep through the night without that silly ritual! hahaha
Julie says:
Hard to think of anything too crazy….was constantly told I would be having a baby with a lot of hair because I had heartburn everyday.Of course, she barely had any hair. Some of the comments here are hilarious!
Becky says:
I can’t remember any weird advice, really. Or maybe I just wasn’t listening
AmazingGreis says:
I’ve never been pregnant, but I sure do hope to be someday, you know, before I’m too old for kids. I’m not sure what I think is crazy about pregnancy, but some craziness that I’ve heard, from friends & strangers, is that OMG you really should have a child now, because you’re over 30 and you’re getting too old to have a kid. thanks for that people!!! LOL
Jenny @ http://motherlawyercrazywoman.blogspot.com/ says:
Not to go running b/c it will jostle the baby. Good thing I don’t run.
Bridget says:
Heartburn means the baby will have a lot of hair…in my case this was true. I had heartburn from 12 weeks on, and my son had a ton of hair!
Bridget says:
Just signed up with T4B!
Sara says:
My grandmother told me the old classic about not reaching up to open any cupboards above my head because the baby would get strangled by the umbilical cord. She was completely serious. It’s weird when people tell you stuff like this and they are genuinely trying to be helpful. I think I just said, “Mm-hmm.”
Jeanette says:
The craziest advice I got was from my Lamaze coach who said contractions ALWAYS start about 30 minutes apart and gradually get closer together. I started having contractions every 5 minutes, then 2 minutes, then 10 minutes and they weren’t predictable. My husband said he didn’t think it was really labor because the coach said they would be predictably getting closer together in time. So he went back to bed! By the time he drove me to the hospital they were less than 1 minute apart! Then we had a baby in no time at all! What a great day!
Steph says:
The BEST advice I ever got was keeping saltines and flat Sprite by my bed to help me in the mornings. My doctor was very honest. He said it wouldn’t keep me from puking (I had hyperemisis) but it would give me something to puke up so I wasn’t quite so miserable.
Emily Crossett says:
Either I never got weird advice or I never listened. Probably the latter!
Emily Crossett says:
I signed up for text 4 baby. I actually signed up last time you posted about it! I have been receiving texts and it is kind of neat even though this is my third baby!
Jenny says:
It wasn’t really advice but it was a crazy part of my pregnancy. My husband had a crazy dream that the nurse handed us the baby and it’s name was Molen Frye (not really our style – we went with “Alex” instead) and it was already printed on the birth certifcate so it couldn’t be changed.
My husband woke up a little panicky. heh.
Kyla says:
I was told to eat a lot of garlic to enduce labor.. Might work for some people but left me radiating awful garlic smell that made me want to get sick.. ( It was also during the hottest time of the year, so I was sweating like CRAZY as it was)… and, long story short- no labor… for weeks after that… Nice. Sorry if anyone has actually tried this and it worked- just didnt work for me. haha.
Karla says:
I think the craziest baby advice I received was to drink castor oil to induce labor. Yeah, no thanks.
Karla says:
I signed up for text4baby.
Tuwtles says:
I’ve never been pregnant, but my sister just had a baby and I heard someone tell her once that watching scary movies would make the baby ugly. Also, I used my niece’s birthday for the text4baby
Jennifer says:
Probably being told that my husband and I shouldn’t have sex, because he’d poke the baby. WEIRD. Also, I was microwaving something for lunch one day, when my Mother-in-Law walked into the kitched, SCREECHED for me to GET AWAY FROM THE MICROWAVE BECAUSE I WAS KILLING MY BABY. I couldn’t have moved if I’d wanted to, I just stood there staring at her in shock.
Jennifer says:
Also, signed up for text4baby. =)
Kelly says:
It’s odd, but the weirdest pregnancy advice I got was from my midwife. When I hit 7 days past my due date, I was handed a sheet of paper with a “recipe” printed on it. This recipe was intended to bring on labor naturally, rather than being induced. I dont remember the whole list, but I do know it included castor oil, raspberry tea, lavender and some other pretty disgusting things. I was to mix it all, and drink it 3 nights in a row once I hit 10 days late. Just the SIGHT of the list made me gag… thankfully, my son decided to make his entrance on day 9, so I never had to drink the evil concoction, lol…
Debbie S. says:
I was 4 days late and a neighbor told me to eat Mexican food to induce labor…sent my husband for it…he came back with tamales, burritoes, and nachos…I ate all of that, plus a huge slice of cheesecake around 9:00p.m…..woke up at 2:30 a.m. peeing on myself (or so I thought) Finally realized my water had broke Not sure if it was the Mexican food/cheesecake or the amount I ate! I named my daughter after the neighbor!
Kelly says:
Signed up for the text4baby for my sisters pregnancy since there’s definitely not a pregnancy in my near future…
huv123 says:
I’ve never been pregnant but the weirdest thing about pregnancy is how often people go back and do it against despite all the pain and gross stuff!
Priscilla says:
I’ve always been told that when you become pregnant, always wish for the opposite of what you want..so you get the gender that you do want…righttt. i’ll just wish for a heathly baby.
Joy Springer says:
That jumping on a trampoline would make my daughter (who was breach) flip around.
(Jumping on a trampoline at 35 weeks?!?)
Shannon says:
I was told if you refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread, it’s a girl. But I love the heel and I have two girls so I guess that proves that wrong!
Kaitlin says:
I have never been pregnant, but I saw a picture of a pregnant belly a few weeks ago and you could see the shape of the baby’s foot. I am now completely freaked out because of course I knew you could feel them kick, but I didn’t know you could see their footprint! I’m still hoping the image was Photoshopped!
Audrey says:
hmmmm….i used to be a labor & delivery nurse so there were a lot of random “cheers” that family members would come up with and say during end-stage pushing that i KNOW i wouldn’t have wanted yelled at me while i had my legs up in the air, hoo-hah fully exposed and working so hard to push my baby out…i was continually surprised that more relatives and friends didn’t end up with black eyes….but the weirdest pregnancy-related thing i’ve heard is to have a mama whose baby is breech DIVE into a swimming pool multiple times to get her baby to turn….sounds like a good way to end up with an abruption if you ask me :-\
Nikki says:
Weirdest thing I observed from a friend who had just had her baby….milk of magnesia for diaper rash. Weird, but it really works.
Emily P. says:
I didn’t get pregnancy advice, I got labor horror stories! So many people told me how awful it was and how I better enjoy the way I feel now (9 months pregnant in July), because the worst pain of my life was coming. Who says that to someone who’s due date is two weeks away?!?
Greta says:
After 2 boys my OB gave me an article about how to have a boy or girl. When I asked if they worked, he replied I have a 50/50 shot? Guess not, 5 boys!
Jennifer says:
I was told not to breastfeed cause it will make your boobs saggy!
lacey says:
My best friend (who recently gave birth) and I (who, very sadly, have not yet been pregnant) agree that the weirdest social-life-related thing about pregnancy is that strangers think that they have the right to your body—they touch it, and they ask very personal questions about it, and this is all socially acceptable. We’ve agreed that the next time one of us is pregnant, we are going to prank the public on it constantly, like when strangers spontaneously ask, “When’s it due?” or something similar, we will say, deadpan, “Um, I’m not pregnant,” or when people ask what we’re naming the baby, we will say, excitedly, “Doris! It’s a boy!” or something similar. (*Note: I will probably not really do this. I am not mean enough. But it is funny to think about.)
LeAnn Aaron says:
I was told by my MIL that I had damned my son to hell b/c he wasn’t circumsized. Um, we are NOT Jewish!
reshmi says:
Do not plait or tie up your hair when in labor as it causes your cervix to knot up.
I am expecting my first daughter end of July. Annie is adorable.
Melissa H. says:
A dear, but overprotective friend begged me not to use a microwave while pregnant.
Melissa says:
The craziest advice I got while pregnant, not to eat onions… because my baby’s skin would peel horribly just like the layers of onions.
Ummm, all babies skin peels when theyre first born. Helllooooo. And whats odd is I HATED onions before I was pregnant – while pregnant I craved them and now I loooove them.
Melissa says:
I also opted in for the text4baby text’s!
Jennie says:
Play the same song over and over around the baby, in the car, at home, etc. Can be any song you like. Once the baby is born, he will be so familar with the song that playing it will soothe him. I never had a chance to try it but my friend swears it worked for her!
Cara says:
The weirdest advice I received was to use Milk of Magnesia for diaper rash…um, what? It did help, tho.
Kate says:
I was told (by my nail technician) to only drink hot water after delivery and TO NOT SHOWER FOR A MONTH. After delivery. After sweating, and pacing and pushing for hours. I may or may not have sat there with my mouth wide open in disgust.
Meg says:
I’ve never been pregnant, but I can’t wait to start having babies. I think it’s all so beautiful. Just waiting for a job/career and a little more life stability (I’m currently in grad school.) So, right now I live vicariously through other mommies with beautiful babies.
Maria Delgado says:
My mother in law swore up and down that I could not wear high healed shoes because it would tilt my uterus and hurt my unborn child. Yeah, it was ridiculous.
Maria Delgado
mariadelgado32032 at yahoo dot com
Kim says:
I don’t have any weird advise that I received to share but I did get blamed for 15 lbs. a coworker packed on during my pregnancy, lol.
Maria Delgado says:
I texted BABY!
Maria Delgado
mariadelgado32032 at yahoo dot com
Kate says:
The craziest thing I heard while I was pregnant was to bathe my feet in pickle juice to make the swelling go down or to prevent swelling. Ha. Pickle Juice. Nothing and I mean nothing but time got rid of ankle/feet swelling!
Gwen says:
I’ve never been pregnant, but the more I hear about it, the worse it sounds. I think the worse part for me will be the testing for diabetes. Let’s just hope that I don’t have it!!
Becky says:
I had a lady swear up and down that my first daughter was a boy. She kept telling me I can just feel it! Unfortunately for her, she was wrong!
Kisha Floren says:
The craziest pregnancy advice I ever received was regarding the sex of the baby-a little old lady in the store stopped me to ask me what position was used for conception! OMG. A-I’m not going to tell you. B-you’re insane.
Kisha Floren says:
I signed up for Text4Baby!
Carrie says:
As I was nearing the end of my pregnancy, my aunt very seriously told me to start rubbing my nipples with sandpaper to start “toughening them up” for breastfeeding…
Leah B says:
I think the best & the strangest part is that you are creating another person…in your body!
Cassandra says:
When I would watch movies with pregnant women in them, and the camera would zoom to the belly to the baby moving. I always thought “That’s ridiculous. You can’t see it that clearly.” Then, when my sister was pregnant for the first time, her baby would move around, and he would push his little feet so hard that he pushed her stomach out seriously three inches. Needless to say, I was a liiittle bit freaked out! : )
Audrey Hill says:
My husband’s grandmother told me to not let our cat in the baby’s room–it would suck his breath away!
Tanya says:
The weirdest thing about pregnancy?? GROWING ANOTHER HUMAN BEING INSIDE YOUR OWN BODY! It’s amazing, whether I’m looking at pictures of my childrens’ birth mother or at a friend holding her three-month old– you ladies take my breath away!! Weird and entirely amazing.
Annie says:
The strangest pregnancy advice was actually post-birth advice.
1) My discharge nurse told me to not vacuum without wearing a really good bra or my boobs would forever sag; and
2) My sister in law said don’t take your new baby for a walk in a stroller the first 6 weeks… the bumps in the pavement can scramble their brains (I asked the pediatrician and he said that was a first).
Amber says:
I never really had any strange pregnancy advice, I have heard of the “don’t put your arms above your head” myth though!
Jessica Anderson says:
Coca Cola for morning sickness….worked great!!
Barbara T. says:
My supervisor told me to take a shot of dr. pepper, castor oil, whiskey and pepper to induce labor… I gracefully declined and let nature take its course.
Beth says:
It’s totally feasible to only gain 10 pounds.
NOT.
Rachel says:
I don’t know if it counts as a pregnancy thing, but I’ve always been really freaked out by the razor sharp nails babies have and the whole…clawing their face off thing. Eep!
Alaina @ Three Ladies and a Dad says:
No crazy advice that I can remember! I do remember the weirdest thing about being pregnant though…getting so far along and actually seeing the baby move in you! Freaky!
Hazel says:
The craziest thing about my pregnancy was that I was expecting twins. They were seven pounds a piece. My stomach was soooo stretched and I could feel movement at any given time all over. It was alot of fun though!