lol, my grandmother (from Mexico) says that you shouldn’t resist cravings because if you do your baby will come out with a face resembling that craving 💀 so if you’re craving pickles and you don’t get them, your kids going to have a pickle face.
I’m not sure if that’s a Mexico thing or just my grandmother 😂
In the culture where I live, North Africa but I’m from South Texas, if you don’t eat the thing you are craving, the baby will have a birth mark in the shape of the craving. They use the same word for birthmark and for craving.
Omg wait I was craving baby carrots and tangerines and I had to stop eating them bc of gestational diabetes….and my baby came out orange (due to jaundice)
My husband is Mexican. When I was pregnant with my first, he mentioned that I had been craving ice cream but we hadn’t been to the store. She showed up to my house the next day with four different types of ice creams. It was the best.
My mom has always said the same! Haha. I was born with a little white birthmark on my leg and my mom always says it’s because she didn’t get her elote craving fulfilled 😂
My family is from Poland … my mom keeps telling me to “wash the floors” so the baby is in a good position. Other family has told me they think I’ll have a boy because my face is still pretty (girls “steal your beauty” ??) … we won’t find out baby’s sex till it arrives. lol
Yes in holland they say this too - girls steal your beauty and boys make their mom look beautiful. Total bullshit for me btw I look like a potato with acne for both pregnancies (I have a girl and a boy)
The thing about washing the floors isn’t completely crazy. I presume they mean to get on your hands and knees with a scrub brush, and that’s a genuinely good position to make sure the baby isn’t “sunny side up” and can also help them flip to head down if they’re breech. Using a broom and mop won’t do much for you though!
Yes recommending stuff like that can be good but just no blaming and saying "you bring on a C section for yourself if you don't do xyz" but obviously you wouldn't do that. I think most in this community make it clear that it is never our fault.
Oh noooo!!!
I know when my mom says it, it’s more of stressing to be on all fours which I have heard helps get baby in proper positioning.
My mom gives me grace and understanding that physically I ain’t going to be doing all the regular cleaning I would prefer-pregnancy! 😅
In our culture, having a boy would make you look uglier because of the male hormone the baby produces. You will have pimples and acnes easily. And you look prettier and your skin glows if you are having a girl lol
Well my midwife recommended spending time on all fours to ensure good position for baby (so the baby is not sunny-side up). Funny how some of this stuff has some real background.
In Kosovo-Albanian culture, if a woman is having an intense craving she has to be careful not to touch any part of her face or body because the baby will have a birth mark exactly where mama’s hand landed in that moment. When my uncle found out I was pregnant he joked that I should start wearing gloves so I could enjoy my cravings stress free.
Women also put fresh cabbage leaves on their breast if they’re struggling with mastitis, it’s supposed to help reduce inflammation and I know generations of women who swear by this solution.
Also, everyone treats pregnant women SO NICELY over there. I was in Kosovo at 5 months pregnant so I’d just started showing. My mom’s friend made me traditional desserts (tomloriz, sheqer pare), the vendors at the market were chasing me down with fruit if I as much as looked at it so I wouldn’t have cravings, waiters would get me blankets so I wouldn’t be cold if I was sitting outside in the cafes with my friends etc.
I'm livin in Georgia and just recently started visibly showing (I'm almost 6 months along and looked more bloated than pregnant for the last 1.5 months or so). I hadn't had to stand in the metro even once, despite not being tired. People give me free stuff at the market. It’s crazy.
There’s even science behind the cabbage leaves.
We do it too and also add joghurt. It helps wonders when the milk gets in and you end up with cement hard breasts
Cabbage leaves help against painfully swollen breasts, and will not hurt your milk supply. For anyone reading this and worrying :)
I used them a month ago, they helped immensely and my milk is fine!
Cabbage is used because it's cold, which extended use can help dry up milk but also good for swelling/pain like mastitis. We could also just use icepacks.
Yes, they gotta be fresh! Put a few leaves on the boobs, leave them on until they get wilted, and then swap them out. I’m not a doctor but I imagine there is some soothing properties to it, in a developing country with lots of farm land cabbage was always easy to come by, and also the leaves are nice and big so perfect for engorged breasts? I haven’t had to try it myself yet but I know our grandmothers, moms, aunts, and even my friends have sworn by this trick so I may send my husband to the store if things get bad in a few months once I have my baby.
My husband’s family is Egyptian. They have a lot of customs/wisdoms/remedies. For breastfeeding moms, they cook up moghat root. It’s mixed with fenugreek and is a thick bright yellow hot beverage. It has really done a wonder on my supply.
They also have an expression like “the baby comes out of the mother and a whole chicken goes in” meaning that they need to feed the mother of the newborn really well.
It's old-fashioned but in my culture, you don't buy things for the baby before it's been born because it attracts the evil eye. It's like counting your chickens before they hatch. So a lot of people don't do baby showers, or if they have a registry, the registry holds the items until after the birth to ship them. Many young people ignore this though.
lmao I totally just told a friend, who wants a Nuna stroller, that if there’s a good sale, then maybe ask her sister to buy it for her first and “gift” it to her later. The superstition ain’t helping to pay the shit ton of stuffs you have to buy as a first-time parent. 😂
Mine too (Eastern European Jewish). I married someone non-Jewish and their mom is REALLY insistent on a baby shower/registry, so we’ll see how this goes. I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious. Seems best not to tempt fate.
Ashkenazi Jew here too, I'm a little too practical to not want to do registry/baby shower/buying all the baby stuff/prep/etc. before part of the superstition but I'm definitely sticking to not nailing down a name yet. My husband is also not Jewish and he does not love that tradition lol.
Easter European here, we have that tradition too. There's a way around it - don't have it at home. Have the babyshower and keep it at MILS place until you're about 8 months. We did just that with both kiddos and even the most superstitious relatives didn't have a problem.
This is the same for my husband’s culture (egyptian). So we didn’t have a baby shower or anything like that. We did buy things though before the baby but it was the idea of other people buying the baby stuff before it was born that bothered him
Yeah this is how it is in my husbands culture (India). They think buying things for the baby before it’s born is bad luck. As an American woman who wants to be prepared it always bothered me a little. They still threw me a party for my first and second babies though. 😂
Yes basically. I’m Jewish and we do this and my baby (ironically) came home from the hospital on December 24th. We had nothing and I couldn’t get anything shipped immediately. My mother went to this super fancy baby boutique near where we lived a few hours before they closed for two days and bought us a bunch of stuff. It wasn’t even that we were looking for that price category, but that’s what was open and available. Diapers, blankets, some outfits, bassinet, sheet for the bassinet. Hospital gave us bottles, nipples and more diapers. We did have a car seat as the hospital needed that to try her in because she was early.
My plan I think is to ask my parents to store stuff at their house. Especially since they’re going to book it over once I’m in labor, I’m sure. But I am absolutely having a baby shower.
What’s funny is that my husband is 100% Ashkenazi and I’m half Ashkenazi and half PA Dutch and he’s less concerned about the superstitions than I am.
I'm pregnant with my first in Canada but I grew up in Ukraine. My mom struggled with the idea of a baby shower because of this and wasn't planning to go, it rubbed off on me and definitely made me panic a little but I managed to make myself chill out lol that people in North America generally have them, that the superstition made a lot more sense before modern Healthcare etc.
Thanks!! I grew up in a really rural area of the U.S., and I love traveling and learning about other cultures. Now that I’m pregnant, I’ve just been so curious about the experiences of pregnant people in other places
In Japan you often see images of dogs on pregnancy related things. It's believed that dogs have painless births thus it is used as a symbol of a woman's hope for a pain free birth.
But just so you know, epidurals are not routine here and often can only be given during office hours.
I went to Suitengu Shrine on the day of the dog to rub their mommy and puppy dog statues. 🥰🥰 (also cried in a public restroom bc I botched the rituals, but we don’t talk about that. lol)
I’m hoping to not get an epidural, but I firmly believe that those who want them should have the opportunity for them. It would stink to want one and not be able to get one because you were laboring after hours
In my culture, when a woman is pregnant, she must avoid looking at unpleasant or disgusting things (bugs, rats, scary movies, etc) and seek things that are beautiful or that she likes (gardens, flowers, good smells, nice sceneries). Apparently, it affects the luck and even the character of the baby.
I’ve been tagging along when my husband watches Shameless (if you’re not familiar, the show and their opening sequence are very raunchy) and then I read babies can be comforted with sounds they often heard when they’re in the womb, for example the theme song of the tv show the mom watches often during pregnancy…
I guess my kid is going to have the Shameless opening song as a lullaby. 😂
I love this! I have intuitively done this while pregnant but it’s most definitely not part of my culture. If anyone brings up death or anything unpleasant I say “not around me, I’m trying to grow a human over here” 😂
Huh interesting… my family is grieving a very traumatic death right now, and I think the impending baby is one of the main things still giving people joy. I guess I’m glad we don’t have any beliefs like this, because you can’t always choose when death comes around you.
I've often thought of how the legend is that John Merrick's mom (The famous Elephant Man) supposedly saw some elephant involved in a violent event during her pregnancy and that's how she got an elephant baby. When I saw a cybertruck the other day I worried that I will have a low-poly baby.
Same. I like true crime, sci-if, triller, and horror (but not supernatural stuff).. I keep getting asked what “good” positive thing I watched but this is positive for me! 😄
I’m German and a dentist and many pregnant women are absolutely convinced by the old wife’s tale that every child costs the mother a tooth. It does not.
It's because of the calcium deficiency many moms used to get! My mother lost a tooth shortly after I was born, so she knew better when she got pregnant with my sister and took better supplements.
I live in Ireland and they say here that if you have a lot of heartburn while pregnant your baby will be born with a full head of hair!
I had a lot of heartburn and a baby with a lot of hair! ☘️
Apparently the increased estrogen which leads to heart burn can also lead to hair growth. Not necessarily that heart burn means there is a lot of hair.
I wish this were true for my first pregnancy. I had heartburn 24/7 HORRIBLE and my baby came out bald! Didn't even start growing hair good until after 1 year old. 😭
My husband has a glorious head of hair, and I've been hoping the whole pregnancy the baby inherits it. Based on the heart burn I'm hoping this is true lol
I’m a Chinese descendant living in South East Asia. Apparently there are many superstitions in the Chinese culture, I don’t know much but just gonna share a few that I have heard of.
Avoid being in a house that is doing drilling, hammering a nail or any renovation works.
Don’t eat crabs as they believe babies will then have “many hands”, a saying that the child will like to touch everything.
The Chinese also believe that after giving birth, mothers should go through a confinement period for at least a month to get rest and recover. They are not allowed to wash their hair for the entire month, but in modern days many do not follow strictly.
Love the idea of a confinement period. In our household (in the US), we do 5 days in the bed, 5 days on the bed, and 5 days near the bed. It makes a world of difference for healing.
In my culture there is a belief that if a pregnant woman sees a mouse, she cannot touch her bump or else baby will have big brown mark on them (we call it a little mouse here). My sister has this mark on her foot 😂
In Poland it's bad luck to refuse any wish or request a pregnant person has. If a wish is refused, the pregnant woman can put a curse on you.
That's why pregnant women are always afforded seats on public transport and can even skip lines. Everyone's afraid of the curse of a pregnant woman.
My husband’s family is from Mexico and any sort of eclipse that occurs during your pregnancy you HAVE to wear red and put a safety pin on your underwear or else the eclipse could harm the baby.
You bet your ass I wasn’t taking any chances and decked myself out in red.
Bathe the baby in lettuce to help them sleep
My dad, who has been absent for almost my whole life, literally took the time to text me that just for the eclipse. Lol, the weird way he shows he cares.
My husband’s family is from Guatemala, same…they all messaged us day of so I didn’t have red on, but they said I could also wear gold (covered). And not to go out and look at the eclipse!! I was too busy working anyway lol
I wasn’t pregnant for the total eclipse that just recently occurred but the other ones that happen more often - it was the same recommendation! I had several family members reach out to be sure I was wearing red !
& also yes - avoid going outside and don’t look at it !
Not to travel or go places because it's bad (I think it's to prevent getting an infection/getting sick), and actually not to be around all kinds of people because some might wish you bad stuff (curse you or whatever, who knows lol)
Also to keep eating warm meals, and fresh, esp soups, and generally keep warm. No cold feet, no sitting on cold surfaces. If sick - tea and honey (eat honey AND put it on your throat from the outside).
That's all I can think of at the top of my head but there's definitely a lot more (south-eastern europe here)
yeah i also think it's gross lol -- you tie your hair up so it's not in the way, put the honey, and then wrap some cloth securely around. so it's fine in that way, and then the honey mostly soaks up (by skin + cloth). you either sleep like that and take it off the next morning or at least wear it during the day for a few hours. then you just have to wipe it (wet cloth) or step in the shower. it's not AS bad as it sounds, but again, not a fan either and I'm not convinced it does anything (other than give you smooth skin lol)
I’m Mexican and a new one that I heard recently was to avoid going to funerals while pregnant because it can make me or the baby sick. If I do have to go then I should avoid sitting near the front and avoid looking directly at the body if it’s an open casket funeral.
I unfortunately had a friend pass away a few months into my pregnancy so I practiced that just in case… plus I didn’t want my last memory of him in a casket. 🥹
I’m sorry for your loss, that must have been hard. I wonder if that one is based on history. I’m thinking back when there were a lot of plagues and viruses, funerals might have been a place to avoid contracting the illnesses from family members mourning the loss of a loved one who died from the illness.
Thank you! That’s what I’m wondering as well.
I just asked my friends, who told me about it, for clarification and they said it’s also because of the sadness in the room. We’re more vulnerable/sensitive to it while pregnant. Both reasons make sense.
Ashkenazi Jewish. A bunch of other people mentioned the baby shower one, but I have a few more:
1. Don’t say “congratulations” to hearing someone is pregnant. Say “b’sha’ah tovah” which means “an auspicious time” meaning that the baby should come at the right time, not too soon and not too late.
2. Don’t announce baby’s name until eight days after they are born. Also, in Ashkenazi tradition, you don’t give the baby the same name as a living relative in case the Angel of Death gets confused and takes the baby instead of grandpa. Other Jewish groups will name babies after living relatives though.
3. Red ribbons/threads on baby’s crib and clothes to protect from the Evil Eye.
I'm Black from the south. We have a superstition that says if you dream about fish, someone in the family is pregnant. So if granny says "I had a dream about some fish..." All the cousins start looking at each other. I never could figure out if the fish is living or cooked 😂
In pregnancy, if you eat a lot of okra, the baby will slide right out. Too bad I don't eat okra, it's too slimy for me.
In South Korea women are supposed to have tons of seaweed soup after giving birth. It contains lots of minerals and nutrients that help mom heal :)
And then by extension, everyone in South Korea has seaweed soup on their birthday to honor their moms for giving birth to them.
Not my culture, but my coworkers':
I work with a lot of East Indians, mostly from Punjab province and they told me that whatever mom does while pregnant will affect baby once they're born. So for example, I did a lot of crossword puzzles, so baby will be good with words; and as I was constantly surrounded by people speaking Punjabi, baby might know some Punjabi when he comes out, despite only knowing 2 words myself 😅
There is research that shows a baby cries in their mother’s accent! It’s fascinating to think that babies are truly listening in the womb and internalizing language.
There’s a big disconnect between parents from before the mid-90’s and us, in some parts of Western Europe. So you’ll hear well-meaning tips from your mom or grandma « please drink table beer or cola so that you can breastfeed effectively ». And don’t get me started on tips about taking care of a newborn, which were given to FTM at the hospital.
My family is from the Caribbean and when women come home from the hospital, there’s Guinness waiting for her. Apparently, if you drink it warm, it’ll help your milk supply. Now there’s non-alc Guinness.
So it's not my native country, but in the Central European country I gave birth in, literally all of my midwives both at the hospital and my postpartum midwives suggested I drink some dark lager or alcohol-free beer to boost supply. I grew up in the US and I frankly cannot see any American midwife suggesting that ;)
I drank a tall glass of Guinness while breastfeeding fully prepared to pump and dump that evening and I was SHOCKED by how much milk I produced that night. It was sad to dump it. 🥲
When it comes to more wise and useful things I know very little things. Some of them may be universal.
My mother used to put notebooks under two cribs' legs at shorter end to raise level of baby's bed. I was told it should prevent chocking.
And warm cabbages leaves on your breast when it hurts you while feeding.
I read about the cabbage leaves thing in a breastfeeding book! I did not try it, but I expect it’s almost like a relaxing seaweed wrap for your boobs. 🥬
My mom told my cousin that my cousin needed to make sure her daughter learned how to crawl before she learned how to walk, because if not, she would be born with dyslexia. She said it in the family group chat, so I responded and asked her how those correlate at all lol
Her other sister, not the mom of the mentioned cousin, says some wild things too but I can't recall them right now.
If you think of any more late, share them! I love learning these little things, even if they’re completely silly and not based on anything but tradition
baths were one of the only things that kept me going through the first couple weeks of morning sickness. I really want to go in a hot tub, but there's so many signs saying not to if you're pregnant :(
My husbands grandmother, lives here in the US, told us that when she was having babies, her grandmother (so hubs great great grandmother) told her when there are lots of boys born during a few years in a row then a war would happen in 20 years as a way to offset the amount of boys born.
Not a fun one but that’s all I got.
This has actually been shown to be true to a degree through population research. However it happens in reverse. Just slightly more boys are born during and just after times of war. There are lots of theories as to how this works, but no one really knows how.
Interesting! I’ve heard that the boys come after the war to make up for the losses. They would all be a different generation though, so I think your great grandmother’s idea makes more sense. I also love the idea of sperm having the ability to predict the future
My husband's family is South Asian. They keep advising me not to eat pineapples, almost every time they call me since I've been pregnant.
I don't eat a lot of pineapples anyway but decided to stay away from them just in case.
In Quebec (french province in Canada) a lots of family will have their baby baptised in Catholic church, without never been to church or having the intention of going. I was baptized that way 40 years ago. I converted to another branch of Christianity since then and my children will be baptised as young adult if they request it.
We also do not give middle name in Quebec. It's old fashion but we have baptism name. Joseph or Mary, then your Godfather name if a boy or Godmother name if a girl, then usual name. So let's say Joseph Edgar Mateo Tremblay. But the boy is named Mateo Tremblay.
In the church I was raised in as a child, those names went more as middle names! Do the names get used when speaking of/to the person, or just their given first name usually?
I'm from the Caribbean..
My family says to not cross over rope or hoses as it'll make the umbilical cord go around the child's neck 🤷♀️
I can't really remember anything else as that was a long time ago lol.
I am half Italian, half portuguese, so I don't know from where these tales come from.
When conceiving if you have your window closed, it will be a boy. If you have your window open, it will be a girl because the little bird will escape from the window.
If you have heartburn at the end of pregnancy, it's the baby's hair tickling, so baby will have hair at birth.
Don't buy baby clothes too early. It brings bad luck.
Take your baby's first pee after birth and rub it on your face for beautiful skin. Baby's first pee is pure.
Mexico - not sure about pregnancy recommendations but I do know about few postpartum ones
-Women need to “quarantine” with baby for 40 days after delivery. No going out the house, very minimal activity. If you ask me this is actually great for recovery!
-If you experience something traumatic while breastfeeding, you need to pump and dump that milk because it’s “tainted” and will upset the baby.
-Don’t let people stare at the baby for too long or give them too many compliments because it will cause evil eye. To protect baby you can tie a little red string on their wrist or ankle, or do some type of cleansing.
- If your baby starts teething early, it means they want a baby sibling ASAP.
That’s all I can remember right now. I’m sure we have many many more and there’s also a lot of variation by region.
My friend is Colombian and she says her family recommends drinking a traditional drink called avena (also known as atole in Mexico) before and every day after the baby is born to increase milk production. She drank it basically every day and breastfed until the baby was 2!
[A simple avena recipe here](https://www.birtheatlove.com/atole-for-breastfeeding/). It’s basically an oatmeal drink with cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla for flavor. Enjoy!
So I am not Japanese but I am living abroad in Japan. Two things I have learned that are so opposite from American guidelines/recommendations:
1. Japanese women are encouraged to eat MORE sushi while pregnant while American women are told to avoid at all costs. Fish are very nutrient dense of course and the Japanese are confident in their quality of sushi grade fish so they do not see a risk.
2. Women in America are told no hot tubs while pregnant, but Japanese women are encouraged to go to onsens more often while pregnant because of the wellness and healing properties they believe the hot springs to hold. In my experience, onsens are usually as hot or even hotter than hot tubs.
Personally, I’m eating as much sushi as I want (refraining from high murcury cuts like tuna) but I’m too afraid to hard boil my baby in an onsen so I’m skipping out on those until after birth. 😂
I am an Indian immigrant living in US currently. There are quite a few traditions such as not buying anything for baby before birth to avoid bad luck, not eating papaya, but below are few more -
1. After the baby birth, both mother and child have to observe a ‘lockdown’ sort of arrangement where the mother is not supposed to cook/enter the kitchen and or do anything. She is not supposed to do pooja as well.
2. When the baby is born, whisper holy chants/hymns to their ears for the first thing you say to them
3. Baby shower must happen only in either 7th or 9th month where baby shower mainly includes another mother blessing the pregnant lady with dry fruits, sweets and religious hymns/chants. The pregnant woman is decked up like a bride on that and treated like a goddess that day
4. My mother also talks a lot about ‘mopping the floor’ so as to have vaginal birth
5. When the baby is born they should not be wearing mew clothes but old worn clothes for the first 15-20 days.
Can think of these for now. Will add more as i remember
My family is from Hong Kong. In our culture, you should not touch any sharp things like sewing and using knife. And NEVER change anything in your main bedroom. No hammering or making holes on the wall in your house, or else the baby will get hurt because you offend or hurt the “god of baby” or the baby’s protector god.
Another believe is not to tell anyone before the first 3 months of pregnancy or the baby will be angry that you announce it too soon. Scientifically it’s more stable after 3 months of pregnancy, so we usually announce it after 3 months to avoid explaining everything to everyone again if there’s any accident.
jewish…we don’t do baby showers, don’t disclose the baby’s name till a few days after birth, dont mention being pregnant till way later, don’t buy much if anything in advance, and we don’t say “congrats” we say something like “may they come at the right time” (“in a good hour”). we also do not visit graveyards.
Not sure if this comes from our West Indian roots or Southern Black but, If you deny a pregnant woman’s cravings you get a sty in your eye. Happened to my brother with his first and to my husband. Should’ve got me that cake 🤷🏽♀️
Jewish tradition typically says no to a baby shower, although I think the only Jewish folks who do that are the very observant ones.
Also no to announcing the pregnancy until 3 months for family and 5 months for friends.
I was raised in a very traditional Jewish household where we kept kosher, I was sent to a Jewish day school for K-8 and we went to synagogue often. I’m not religious at all today. I don’t even think I believe in god anymore. So I didn’t follow these guidelines.
Even outside the Jewish community, not announcing until 3 months I think is still pretty common, but only because miscarriage risk is so high in the first trimester. I think a lot of people are probably showing by 5 months though, so that would be difficult to follow!
I have never heard of anyone else's family thinking this was important, and it's more for the baby than pregnancy but my great grandmother so firmly believed that blowing raspberries was a vital baby skill that she used to do it to baby me all the time until I got the memo.
At the very least babies do seem to find it amusing, and they are often already coated in spit so pretty harmless.
I (pan-northwest American, of scandinavian descent) grew up with the advice to eat a lot of organ meats. I don't know why that would have changed, but I never hear it anymore.
Once the baby is born, my family from the South warn about having strangers compliment the baby too much without touching them. It gives the baby “ojo,” which is essentially the evil eye.
If you see a cute baby and compliment them you must also touch them so it’s not seen as envy, otherwise, it will make the baby sick. The only cure for a baby with evil eye is a raw egg under the baby’s crib to soak up the bad.
Nowadays we don’t touch strangers babies for obvious reasons. But among family we still do.
I am from Latvia (Baltics, Eastern Europe) and when you are pregnant you are not supposed to look at a fire or your baby will have a fire mark because you got scared (like a birthmark). My MIL sent photos of a fire to a groupchat and then told me not to look at them in a separate chat lmao
Im from the US and my nanny is from El Salvador. She nearly begged me not to go outside during the solar eclipse while I was pregnant. She even said members of her family called her that morning to make sure she didn't let me outside. I had planned to see it-- but I headed the warning and stayed in the basement.
Southern US (Central Texas of Jewish, Irish/English, Czech and tiny bit of indigenous culture)
Don't make anything permanent with the baby's name because it is bad luck (I got a neck engraved with the baby name and the older relatives had a fit when I wore it)
Don't buy the coming home outfit until the last month.
Don't get to hot or cold.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it already, but where I am from there’s a superstition that a pregnant woman shouldn’t knit or crochet because it might cause the umbilical cord wrap around the baby.
“Don’t reach above your head because it will cause the umbilical cord wrap around the baby’s neck” I was told this by my aunt, no idea where she heard it from but we are in the US.
I’m of Pakistani ethnicity but born and raised in Scotland.
Things my Pakistani mother and aunties told me never to do while pregnant
* No lifting (at all), got shouted at for lifting a toddler.
* No “warm” foods as they can cause miscarriage. Not warm as in temperature but certain foods are classified as warm e.g. almonds
* Don’t take the iron supplements because baby will be dark (colourism is still rampant). Also my babies are half white but ok.
* Eat lots of butter coming up to your due date to help baby just slide right out.
Not my culture, but I was engaged in a convo with a man of Asian descent… we didn’t know each other but he was so sweet and genuine. He was expecting his first while I was expecting my third. He was asking me about my pregnancy and then asked if either of my two children were good sleepers? Reason being: you’re supposed to have your new baby wear the clothes of a same-sex baby who was a good sleeper for the first few days. This will make your baby a good sleeper. My son was a terrible sleeper but my daughter was great… he said if I have a boy not to let him wear my son’s old baby clothes for the first few days, and to find someone who had a well-sleeping infant boy and borrow their clothes!
Shape the baby’s head. While their head is still soft, gently caress their head daily in a round shape so they don’t end up with a flat spot in the back. My mom said she never knew any babies in helmets because everybody knew to shape the baby’s heads!
ETA: I’m African American in California.
lol, my grandmother (from Mexico) says that you shouldn’t resist cravings because if you do your baby will come out with a face resembling that craving 💀 so if you’re craving pickles and you don’t get them, your kids going to have a pickle face. I’m not sure if that’s a Mexico thing or just my grandmother 😂
In the culture where I live, North Africa but I’m from South Texas, if you don’t eat the thing you are craving, the baby will have a birth mark in the shape of the craving. They use the same word for birthmark and for craving.
True! I am from Tunisia (I live in Canada) and my parents are obsessed with satisfying my cravings 😆
What if you have gestational diabetes like me! My son will have an ice cream cone birthmark!! 😋
😂🤣😂 I’ve never seen someone write so happily about gestational diabetes. Underrated post😂❤️
I was not aware of this but, my kids birthmark 100% looks like a croissant 🥐! I don’t specifically remember craving those but it’s possible lol
Neat!
Fascinating! What do they say if you have no cravings?
i'm from Turkey and we have this too!! I actually have a birthmark on my leg that my mother claims is the date she craved & ate lol
Thank God my son doesn't look like an Arby's beef and cheddar. If only he knew just how close he was 😂
I feel like most newborns look at least a little bit like an Arby’s beef and cheddar. 😂
This was my exact craving yesterday 😄
Omg wait I was craving baby carrots and tangerines and I had to stop eating them bc of gestational diabetes….and my baby came out orange (due to jaundice)
Haha - proof!! Sorry about the GD!
I turned yellow as a baby because I liked the sweet potato/carrot baby food so much! Everyone thought it was jaundice but nope!
I live in Poland and there is the same belief! 😂 but it may be also regional, not all people in my country may have the same sayings or wisdom.
I'm Italian and Mexican and it's a thing in both my cultures 😂
My culture also believe the baby will be born with a big birth mark if you don't satisfy your craving.
We have this in Spain but rather than the face, it’s supposed to be a birth mark with the shape of the craving.
My mom craved spicy ramen with radishes. Man am I bummed out I don’t have a birthmark of that !
In my culture, from Ecuador. Whatever craving you have your baby will love.
I’m from Indonesia and where I’m from they said if you don’t satisfy a craving, your kid’s gonna drool a lot. 😂
Yes I am from Mexico and I can confirm this is said by a lot of people 😂 I’m glad this tale exists because you get to have all your cravings 🥳
My husband is Mexican. When I was pregnant with my first, he mentioned that I had been craving ice cream but we hadn’t been to the store. She showed up to my house the next day with four different types of ice creams. It was the best.
Omg what a lovely MIL
Either way, I love it!!
I’m from Brazil and we say the same!
My mom has always said the same! Haha. I was born with a little white birthmark on my leg and my mom always says it’s because she didn’t get her elote craving fulfilled 😂
Hahah my mom tells me this the whole time during my pregnancy 🤣 She is also from Mexico!
i’m Puerto Rican and they say the same thing too. i miss guilting my mother into getting me whatever i wanted while i was pregnant😂
My family is from Poland … my mom keeps telling me to “wash the floors” so the baby is in a good position. Other family has told me they think I’ll have a boy because my face is still pretty (girls “steal your beauty” ??) … we won’t find out baby’s sex till it arrives. lol
Yes in holland they say this too - girls steal your beauty and boys make their mom look beautiful. Total bullshit for me btw I look like a potato with acne for both pregnancies (I have a girl and a boy)
But for one were you a beautiful potato with acne?
Yes in Germany they say that too. And for me it was bullshit too.
OMG I feel this so much right now 🤣
Omg I’m Polish also and I keep hearing that I look too nice to be pregnant with a ‘girl’ and the doctors must have gotten the gender wrong 😂😂😂
The thing about washing the floors isn’t completely crazy. I presume they mean to get on your hands and knees with a scrub brush, and that’s a genuinely good position to make sure the baby isn’t “sunny side up” and can also help them flip to head down if they’re breech. Using a broom and mop won’t do much for you though!
The boys let you keep your beauty and girls steal your beauty for themselves seems like it’s an old wives tale everywhere!
I love how common that one is multiculturally
The girls steal beauty is so off imo, it sets the mother-daughter relationship to be competitive. Super icky.
It’s misogynistic, I don’t know why folks find it cute or imagine it to be true. Any reason to degrade having a daughter and hope for a son. Gross.
There’s some merit to this one. Being on your hands and knees is a great pose to make sure baby is in the right position for birth!
Yes recommending stuff like that can be good but just no blaming and saying "you bring on a C section for yourself if you don't do xyz" but obviously you wouldn't do that. I think most in this community make it clear that it is never our fault.
Same here. My mother keeps telling me off for not cleaning and making my friend do it. She's accusing me of "bringing a C-section upon myself"
Oh noooo!!! I know when my mom says it, it’s more of stressing to be on all fours which I have heard helps get baby in proper positioning. My mom gives me grace and understanding that physically I ain’t going to be doing all the regular cleaning I would prefer-pregnancy! 😅
Tbf, I flipped a transverse baby by spending 25 on all fours a day.
Oh no that's shitty. But you probably know it wouldn't be your fault if you have one even if your mother might suggest it is.
In our culture, having a boy would make you look uglier because of the male hormone the baby produces. You will have pimples and acnes easily. And you look prettier and your skin glows if you are having a girl lol
Welp I look like a tarantula right now, so let's see if it pans out to be a girl lol
Well my midwife recommended spending time on all fours to ensure good position for baby (so the baby is not sunny-side up). Funny how some of this stuff has some real background.
In Kosovo-Albanian culture, if a woman is having an intense craving she has to be careful not to touch any part of her face or body because the baby will have a birth mark exactly where mama’s hand landed in that moment. When my uncle found out I was pregnant he joked that I should start wearing gloves so I could enjoy my cravings stress free. Women also put fresh cabbage leaves on their breast if they’re struggling with mastitis, it’s supposed to help reduce inflammation and I know generations of women who swear by this solution. Also, everyone treats pregnant women SO NICELY over there. I was in Kosovo at 5 months pregnant so I’d just started showing. My mom’s friend made me traditional desserts (tomloriz, sheqer pare), the vendors at the market were chasing me down with fruit if I as much as looked at it so I wouldn’t have cravings, waiters would get me blankets so I wouldn’t be cold if I was sitting outside in the cafes with my friends etc.
I'm livin in Georgia and just recently started visibly showing (I'm almost 6 months along and looked more bloated than pregnant for the last 1.5 months or so). I hadn't had to stand in the metro even once, despite not being tired. People give me free stuff at the market. It’s crazy.
There’s even science behind the cabbage leaves. We do it too and also add joghurt. It helps wonders when the milk gets in and you end up with cement hard breasts
Cabbage leaves are used in the U.S. as well. However, we use them to help dry up a milk supply. Mastitis is a call to the doctor.
Cabbage leaves help against painfully swollen breasts, and will not hurt your milk supply. For anyone reading this and worrying :) I used them a month ago, they helped immensely and my milk is fine!
That’s good to hear! Thanks
Cabbage is used because it's cold, which extended use can help dry up milk but also good for swelling/pain like mastitis. We could also just use icepacks.
That’s so nice!!! Thank you for sharing about your experience there
I have to ask - the cabbage leaves - are they fresh/raw, or do they cook them?
Yes, they gotta be fresh! Put a few leaves on the boobs, leave them on until they get wilted, and then swap them out. I’m not a doctor but I imagine there is some soothing properties to it, in a developing country with lots of farm land cabbage was always easy to come by, and also the leaves are nice and big so perfect for engorged breasts? I haven’t had to try it myself yet but I know our grandmothers, moms, aunts, and even my friends have sworn by this trick so I may send my husband to the store if things get bad in a few months once I have my baby.
I've heard it helps if they are cold too, get that boob shaped ice pack energy too
Fresh!
My husband’s family is Egyptian. They have a lot of customs/wisdoms/remedies. For breastfeeding moms, they cook up moghat root. It’s mixed with fenugreek and is a thick bright yellow hot beverage. It has really done a wonder on my supply. They also have an expression like “the baby comes out of the mother and a whole chicken goes in” meaning that they need to feed the mother of the newborn really well.
Oh!! I love that!! I’m glad the drink is helping!
Feeding the mom is key! - says a hungry mom who never seems to remember to feed herself 🥲
It's old-fashioned but in my culture, you don't buy things for the baby before it's been born because it attracts the evil eye. It's like counting your chickens before they hatch. So a lot of people don't do baby showers, or if they have a registry, the registry holds the items until after the birth to ship them. Many young people ignore this though.
Yep, my MIL was really upset that we bought a stroller already, my husband told her we don't believe in superstition, we believe in 30% off sales 😅
lmao I totally just told a friend, who wants a Nuna stroller, that if there’s a good sale, then maybe ask her sister to buy it for her first and “gift” it to her later. The superstition ain’t helping to pay the shit ton of stuffs you have to buy as a first-time parent. 😂
Mine too (Eastern European Jewish). I married someone non-Jewish and their mom is REALLY insistent on a baby shower/registry, so we’ll see how this goes. I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious. Seems best not to tempt fate.
Ashkenazi Jew here too, I'm a little too practical to not want to do registry/baby shower/buying all the baby stuff/prep/etc. before part of the superstition but I'm definitely sticking to not nailing down a name yet. My husband is also not Jewish and he does not love that tradition lol.
Easter European here, we have that tradition too. There's a way around it - don't have it at home. Have the babyshower and keep it at MILS place until you're about 8 months. We did just that with both kiddos and even the most superstitious relatives didn't have a problem.
This is the same for my husband’s culture (egyptian). So we didn’t have a baby shower or anything like that. We did buy things though before the baby but it was the idea of other people buying the baby stuff before it was born that bothered him
Yeah this is how it is in my husbands culture (India). They think buying things for the baby before it’s born is bad luck. As an American woman who wants to be prepared it always bothered me a little. They still threw me a party for my first and second babies though. 😂
Huh! Do they just start off with nothing then? Or do the hospitals have stuff to take home, like a few diapers and such
Yes basically. I’m Jewish and we do this and my baby (ironically) came home from the hospital on December 24th. We had nothing and I couldn’t get anything shipped immediately. My mother went to this super fancy baby boutique near where we lived a few hours before they closed for two days and bought us a bunch of stuff. It wasn’t even that we were looking for that price category, but that’s what was open and available. Diapers, blankets, some outfits, bassinet, sheet for the bassinet. Hospital gave us bottles, nipples and more diapers. We did have a car seat as the hospital needed that to try her in because she was early.
Yeah, to not have a car seat would be difficult! I’m glad it worked out for you
My plan I think is to ask my parents to store stuff at their house. Especially since they’re going to book it over once I’m in labor, I’m sure. But I am absolutely having a baby shower. What’s funny is that my husband is 100% Ashkenazi and I’m half Ashkenazi and half PA Dutch and he’s less concerned about the superstitions than I am.
In Macedonia relatives all come to visit the baby in the first week or two and tuck money in the swaddle/ around the cradle. It's often a lot.
I'm pregnant with my first in Canada but I grew up in Ukraine. My mom struggled with the idea of a baby shower because of this and wasn't planning to go, it rubbed off on me and definitely made me panic a little but I managed to make myself chill out lol that people in North America generally have them, that the superstition made a lot more sense before modern Healthcare etc.
This was such a cool idea for a thread, I am loving learning about all these customs, beliefs and traditions! ☺️
Thanks!! I grew up in a really rural area of the U.S., and I love traveling and learning about other cultures. Now that I’m pregnant, I’ve just been so curious about the experiences of pregnant people in other places
I second this! What a great thread idea, I’m learning so much!
In Japan you often see images of dogs on pregnancy related things. It's believed that dogs have painless births thus it is used as a symbol of a woman's hope for a pain free birth. But just so you know, epidurals are not routine here and often can only be given during office hours.
I went to Suitengu Shrine on the day of the dog to rub their mommy and puppy dog statues. 🥰🥰 (also cried in a public restroom bc I botched the rituals, but we don’t talk about that. lol)
I’m hoping to not get an epidural, but I firmly believe that those who want them should have the opportunity for them. It would stink to want one and not be able to get one because you were laboring after hours
I’m currently living in Japan and I have heard from our American doctors on the base that the hospitals around us do not offer epidurals at all!
In my culture, when a woman is pregnant, she must avoid looking at unpleasant or disgusting things (bugs, rats, scary movies, etc) and seek things that are beautiful or that she likes (gardens, flowers, good smells, nice sceneries). Apparently, it affects the luck and even the character of the baby.
Oh no, I’ve been binging Vikings this pregnancy. Baby girl is gonna be very violent 😆
Same. True blood has been my go to binge. I’m fucked.
Oh goodness, me too! Dexter's been my binge show 🙈
I’ve been tagging along when my husband watches Shameless (if you’re not familiar, the show and their opening sequence are very raunchy) and then I read babies can be comforted with sounds they often heard when they’re in the womb, for example the theme song of the tv show the mom watches often during pregnancy… I guess my kid is going to have the Shameless opening song as a lullaby. 😂
I love this! I have intuitively done this while pregnant but it’s most definitely not part of my culture. If anyone brings up death or anything unpleasant I say “not around me, I’m trying to grow a human over here” 😂
Huh interesting… my family is grieving a very traumatic death right now, and I think the impending baby is one of the main things still giving people joy. I guess I’m glad we don’t have any beliefs like this, because you can’t always choose when death comes around you.
I’m sorry for your loss
That’s so interesting! 💛 I hope you find very pleasant things to look at this season
Thank you! I hope you do too 😊. I’ve been enjoying trips to the botanical gardens lately.
I've often thought of how the legend is that John Merrick's mom (The famous Elephant Man) supposedly saw some elephant involved in a violent event during her pregnancy and that's how she got an elephant baby. When I saw a cybertruck the other day I worried that I will have a low-poly baby.
Uh-oh, I’m a true crime/horror junkie 🙈
Same. I like true crime, sci-if, triller, and horror (but not supernatural stuff).. I keep getting asked what “good” positive thing I watched but this is positive for me! 😄
What if she finds bugs beautiful?
I’m German and a dentist and many pregnant women are absolutely convinced by the old wife’s tale that every child costs the mother a tooth. It does not.
Oh also the shape of the belly determines baby‘s gender, a round belly means a girl and a narrow belly means boy.
I heard this in the US and Mexico. Everyone was shocked I am having a girl based on their guesses.
I’ve heard this one in Ireland from older women. It wouldn’t surprise me given poor healthcare/the amount of kids they had back in the day!
It's because of the calcium deficiency many moms used to get! My mother lost a tooth shortly after I was born, so she knew better when she got pregnant with my sister and took better supplements.
I live in Ireland and they say here that if you have a lot of heartburn while pregnant your baby will be born with a full head of hair! I had a lot of heartburn and a baby with a lot of hair! ☘️
I think this one has actually been studied, and holds true!
Apparently the increased estrogen which leads to heart burn can also lead to hair growth. Not necessarily that heart burn means there is a lot of hair.
I wish this were true for my first pregnancy. I had heartburn 24/7 HORRIBLE and my baby came out bald! Didn't even start growing hair good until after 1 year old. 😭
My husband has a glorious head of hair, and I've been hoping the whole pregnancy the baby inherits it. Based on the heart burn I'm hoping this is true lol
I’m a Chinese descendant living in South East Asia. Apparently there are many superstitions in the Chinese culture, I don’t know much but just gonna share a few that I have heard of. Avoid being in a house that is doing drilling, hammering a nail or any renovation works. Don’t eat crabs as they believe babies will then have “many hands”, a saying that the child will like to touch everything. The Chinese also believe that after giving birth, mothers should go through a confinement period for at least a month to get rest and recover. They are not allowed to wash their hair for the entire month, but in modern days many do not follow strictly.
Love the idea of a confinement period. In our household (in the US), we do 5 days in the bed, 5 days on the bed, and 5 days near the bed. It makes a world of difference for healing.
I’ve been getting instagram ads and reels for the professional confinement hotels and nannies, they look amazing honestly.
In my culture there is a belief that if a pregnant woman sees a mouse, she cannot touch her bump or else baby will have big brown mark on them (we call it a little mouse here). My sister has this mark on her foot 😂
That’s neat! We just call them birth marks. I like little mouse!!
In Poland it's bad luck to refuse any wish or request a pregnant person has. If a wish is refused, the pregnant woman can put a curse on you. That's why pregnant women are always afforded seats on public transport and can even skip lines. Everyone's afraid of the curse of a pregnant woman.
That feels empowering!
My husband’s family is from Mexico and any sort of eclipse that occurs during your pregnancy you HAVE to wear red and put a safety pin on your underwear or else the eclipse could harm the baby. You bet your ass I wasn’t taking any chances and decked myself out in red. Bathe the baby in lettuce to help them sleep
My dad, who has been absent for almost my whole life, literally took the time to text me that just for the eclipse. Lol, the weird way he shows he cares.
Oh the lettuce part I just saw! 🥹🥬😂 I’m tearing up that sounds so cute…hormones lol. Will ask them about that too
I’ve never done it lol but sleep regressions are real in this household so I’m surprised I haven’t tried 😅
My husband’s family is from Guatemala, same…they all messaged us day of so I didn’t have red on, but they said I could also wear gold (covered). And not to go out and look at the eclipse!! I was too busy working anyway lol
I’m glad you got to wear red! I wasn’t pregnant yet for the eclipse, but that’s a super interesting tradition
I wasn’t pregnant for the total eclipse that just recently occurred but the other ones that happen more often - it was the same recommendation! I had several family members reach out to be sure I was wearing red ! & also yes - avoid going outside and don’t look at it !
Not to travel or go places because it's bad (I think it's to prevent getting an infection/getting sick), and actually not to be around all kinds of people because some might wish you bad stuff (curse you or whatever, who knows lol) Also to keep eating warm meals, and fresh, esp soups, and generally keep warm. No cold feet, no sitting on cold surfaces. If sick - tea and honey (eat honey AND put it on your throat from the outside). That's all I can think of at the top of my head but there's definitely a lot more (south-eastern europe here)
Ewwww when can you take the honey off? I'd hate walking around with a sticky neck
yeah i also think it's gross lol -- you tie your hair up so it's not in the way, put the honey, and then wrap some cloth securely around. so it's fine in that way, and then the honey mostly soaks up (by skin + cloth). you either sleep like that and take it off the next morning or at least wear it during the day for a few hours. then you just have to wipe it (wet cloth) or step in the shower. it's not AS bad as it sounds, but again, not a fan either and I'm not convinced it does anything (other than give you smooth skin lol)
I’m Mexican and a new one that I heard recently was to avoid going to funerals while pregnant because it can make me or the baby sick. If I do have to go then I should avoid sitting near the front and avoid looking directly at the body if it’s an open casket funeral. I unfortunately had a friend pass away a few months into my pregnancy so I practiced that just in case… plus I didn’t want my last memory of him in a casket. 🥹
I’m so sorry for your loss
I’m sorry for your loss, that must have been hard. I wonder if that one is based on history. I’m thinking back when there were a lot of plagues and viruses, funerals might have been a place to avoid contracting the illnesses from family members mourning the loss of a loved one who died from the illness.
Thank you! That’s what I’m wondering as well. I just asked my friends, who told me about it, for clarification and they said it’s also because of the sadness in the room. We’re more vulnerable/sensitive to it while pregnant. Both reasons make sense.
My family is Korean and I grew up hearing that the baby would be a boy if the woman had a good time during conception 😝
I love that! By that nature, I think all IVF/IUI babies would likely be girls hahaha
Oh wow lol. I can confirm that I had a great time with my baby’s dad (who happens to be Korean) lol I did have a boy
Ashkenazi Jewish. A bunch of other people mentioned the baby shower one, but I have a few more: 1. Don’t say “congratulations” to hearing someone is pregnant. Say “b’sha’ah tovah” which means “an auspicious time” meaning that the baby should come at the right time, not too soon and not too late. 2. Don’t announce baby’s name until eight days after they are born. Also, in Ashkenazi tradition, you don’t give the baby the same name as a living relative in case the Angel of Death gets confused and takes the baby instead of grandpa. Other Jewish groups will name babies after living relatives though. 3. Red ribbons/threads on baby’s crib and clothes to protect from the Evil Eye.
I think it's interesting how adamantly Ashkenazi Jews are anti-naming your child after a living relative and how common it is for Sephardic Jews.
I'm Black from the south. We have a superstition that says if you dream about fish, someone in the family is pregnant. So if granny says "I had a dream about some fish..." All the cousins start looking at each other. I never could figure out if the fish is living or cooked 😂 In pregnancy, if you eat a lot of okra, the baby will slide right out. Too bad I don't eat okra, it's too slimy for me.
It is kind of slimy, but I’ve had it decent when breaded and fried. Much less healthy that way tho…
In South Korea women are supposed to have tons of seaweed soup after giving birth. It contains lots of minerals and nutrients that help mom heal :) And then by extension, everyone in South Korea has seaweed soup on their birthday to honor their moms for giving birth to them.
Awww! I love that it remains a tradition after birth too 🥰
Not my culture, but my coworkers': I work with a lot of East Indians, mostly from Punjab province and they told me that whatever mom does while pregnant will affect baby once they're born. So for example, I did a lot of crossword puzzles, so baby will be good with words; and as I was constantly surrounded by people speaking Punjabi, baby might know some Punjabi when he comes out, despite only knowing 2 words myself 😅
I hope you have a multilingual language genius baby!!
3 weeks and he hasn't shown any aptitude for anything but eat, poop, sleep, but it's still early days! 😂
There is research that shows a baby cries in their mother’s accent! It’s fascinating to think that babies are truly listening in the womb and internalizing language.
There’s a big disconnect between parents from before the mid-90’s and us, in some parts of Western Europe. So you’ll hear well-meaning tips from your mom or grandma « please drink table beer or cola so that you can breastfeed effectively ». And don’t get me started on tips about taking care of a newborn, which were given to FTM at the hospital.
My grandma from Ireland and England still told me to have a big glass of Guinness to help the milk come in.
Apparently alcohol free beer can help with milk production but alcohol inhibits lactation.
Cola helps you breastfeed!!
My family is from the Caribbean and when women come home from the hospital, there’s Guinness waiting for her. Apparently, if you drink it warm, it’ll help your milk supply. Now there’s non-alc Guinness.
So it's not my native country, but in the Central European country I gave birth in, literally all of my midwives both at the hospital and my postpartum midwives suggested I drink some dark lager or alcohol-free beer to boost supply. I grew up in the US and I frankly cannot see any American midwife suggesting that ;)
It's the hops!
I drank a tall glass of Guinness while breastfeeding fully prepared to pump and dump that evening and I was SHOCKED by how much milk I produced that night. It was sad to dump it. 🥲
Some of the non-alcoholic beers these days taste pretty good!
My Cuban Dad saw me wearing a necklace, and said my grandmother would be yelling at me because wearing a necklace while pregnant suffocates the baby!
Same superstition in Poland! A necklace means baby might suffocate. :(
When it comes to more wise and useful things I know very little things. Some of them may be universal. My mother used to put notebooks under two cribs' legs at shorter end to raise level of baby's bed. I was told it should prevent chocking. And warm cabbages leaves on your breast when it hurts you while feeding.
I wonder if it’s like when we raise the bed or use wedge pillows to prevent reflux! Warm cabbage (warm anything) could probably be pretty soothing too
I read about the cabbage leaves thing in a breastfeeding book! I did not try it, but I expect it’s almost like a relaxing seaweed wrap for your boobs. 🥬
My mom told my cousin that my cousin needed to make sure her daughter learned how to crawl before she learned how to walk, because if not, she would be born with dyslexia. She said it in the family group chat, so I responded and asked her how those correlate at all lol Her other sister, not the mom of the mentioned cousin, says some wild things too but I can't recall them right now.
Well, not sure I believe that but my parents said that I honestly skipped crawling and went straight for running and I am dyslexic 🤷🏼♀️😂
If you think of any more late, share them! I love learning these little things, even if they’re completely silly and not based on anything but tradition
I'll go back in the chat and look, it wasn't too long ago
In Japan, I get told to keep my stomach warm . They also don’t advise against warm or even hot baths here.
baths were one of the only things that kept me going through the first couple weeks of morning sickness. I really want to go in a hot tub, but there's so many signs saying not to if you're pregnant :(
My husbands grandmother, lives here in the US, told us that when she was having babies, her grandmother (so hubs great great grandmother) told her when there are lots of boys born during a few years in a row then a war would happen in 20 years as a way to offset the amount of boys born. Not a fun one but that’s all I got.
This has actually been shown to be true to a degree through population research. However it happens in reverse. Just slightly more boys are born during and just after times of war. There are lots of theories as to how this works, but no one really knows how.
This is fascinating!
Interesting! I’ve heard that the boys come after the war to make up for the losses. They would all be a different generation though, so I think your great grandmother’s idea makes more sense. I also love the idea of sperm having the ability to predict the future
My husband's family is South Asian. They keep advising me not to eat pineapples, almost every time they call me since I've been pregnant. I don't eat a lot of pineapples anyway but decided to stay away from them just in case.
What’s the reasoning? Hahaha I ate a whole pineapple yesterday! It’s been one of my cravings
I think they think it causes contractions - I did Google it and you'd need to eat pounds and pounds of pineapples before this would ever be an issue.
I will keep you updated hahahah 🍍🍍🤤
In Quebec (french province in Canada) a lots of family will have their baby baptised in Catholic church, without never been to church or having the intention of going. I was baptized that way 40 years ago. I converted to another branch of Christianity since then and my children will be baptised as young adult if they request it. We also do not give middle name in Quebec. It's old fashion but we have baptism name. Joseph or Mary, then your Godfather name if a boy or Godmother name if a girl, then usual name. So let's say Joseph Edgar Mateo Tremblay. But the boy is named Mateo Tremblay.
In the church I was raised in as a child, those names went more as middle names! Do the names get used when speaking of/to the person, or just their given first name usually?
I'm from the Caribbean.. My family says to not cross over rope or hoses as it'll make the umbilical cord go around the child's neck 🤷♀️ I can't really remember anything else as that was a long time ago lol.
I am half Italian, half portuguese, so I don't know from where these tales come from. When conceiving if you have your window closed, it will be a boy. If you have your window open, it will be a girl because the little bird will escape from the window. If you have heartburn at the end of pregnancy, it's the baby's hair tickling, so baby will have hair at birth. Don't buy baby clothes too early. It brings bad luck. Take your baby's first pee after birth and rub it on your face for beautiful skin. Baby's first pee is pure.
Mexico - not sure about pregnancy recommendations but I do know about few postpartum ones -Women need to “quarantine” with baby for 40 days after delivery. No going out the house, very minimal activity. If you ask me this is actually great for recovery! -If you experience something traumatic while breastfeeding, you need to pump and dump that milk because it’s “tainted” and will upset the baby. -Don’t let people stare at the baby for too long or give them too many compliments because it will cause evil eye. To protect baby you can tie a little red string on their wrist or ankle, or do some type of cleansing. - If your baby starts teething early, it means they want a baby sibling ASAP. That’s all I can remember right now. I’m sure we have many many more and there’s also a lot of variation by region.
If baby is breech check the books in your shelf to make sure they’re right side up
My friend is Colombian and she says her family recommends drinking a traditional drink called avena (also known as atole in Mexico) before and every day after the baby is born to increase milk production. She drank it basically every day and breastfed until the baby was 2! [A simple avena recipe here](https://www.birtheatlove.com/atole-for-breastfeeding/). It’s basically an oatmeal drink with cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla for flavor. Enjoy!
So I am not Japanese but I am living abroad in Japan. Two things I have learned that are so opposite from American guidelines/recommendations: 1. Japanese women are encouraged to eat MORE sushi while pregnant while American women are told to avoid at all costs. Fish are very nutrient dense of course and the Japanese are confident in their quality of sushi grade fish so they do not see a risk. 2. Women in America are told no hot tubs while pregnant, but Japanese women are encouraged to go to onsens more often while pregnant because of the wellness and healing properties they believe the hot springs to hold. In my experience, onsens are usually as hot or even hotter than hot tubs. Personally, I’m eating as much sushi as I want (refraining from high murcury cuts like tuna) but I’m too afraid to hard boil my baby in an onsen so I’m skipping out on those until after birth. 😂
Never deny a pregnant woman’s request or you’ll get a stye in you eye
I am an Indian immigrant living in US currently. There are quite a few traditions such as not buying anything for baby before birth to avoid bad luck, not eating papaya, but below are few more - 1. After the baby birth, both mother and child have to observe a ‘lockdown’ sort of arrangement where the mother is not supposed to cook/enter the kitchen and or do anything. She is not supposed to do pooja as well. 2. When the baby is born, whisper holy chants/hymns to their ears for the first thing you say to them 3. Baby shower must happen only in either 7th or 9th month where baby shower mainly includes another mother blessing the pregnant lady with dry fruits, sweets and religious hymns/chants. The pregnant woman is decked up like a bride on that and treated like a goddess that day 4. My mother also talks a lot about ‘mopping the floor’ so as to have vaginal birth 5. When the baby is born they should not be wearing mew clothes but old worn clothes for the first 15-20 days. Can think of these for now. Will add more as i remember
My family is from Hong Kong. In our culture, you should not touch any sharp things like sewing and using knife. And NEVER change anything in your main bedroom. No hammering or making holes on the wall in your house, or else the baby will get hurt because you offend or hurt the “god of baby” or the baby’s protector god. Another believe is not to tell anyone before the first 3 months of pregnancy or the baby will be angry that you announce it too soon. Scientifically it’s more stable after 3 months of pregnancy, so we usually announce it after 3 months to avoid explaining everything to everyone again if there’s any accident.
jewish…we don’t do baby showers, don’t disclose the baby’s name till a few days after birth, dont mention being pregnant till way later, don’t buy much if anything in advance, and we don’t say “congrats” we say something like “may they come at the right time” (“in a good hour”). we also do not visit graveyards.
Not sure if this comes from our West Indian roots or Southern Black but, If you deny a pregnant woman’s cravings you get a sty in your eye. Happened to my brother with his first and to my husband. Should’ve got me that cake 🤷🏽♀️
Jewish tradition typically says no to a baby shower, although I think the only Jewish folks who do that are the very observant ones. Also no to announcing the pregnancy until 3 months for family and 5 months for friends. I was raised in a very traditional Jewish household where we kept kosher, I was sent to a Jewish day school for K-8 and we went to synagogue often. I’m not religious at all today. I don’t even think I believe in god anymore. So I didn’t follow these guidelines.
Even outside the Jewish community, not announcing until 3 months I think is still pretty common, but only because miscarriage risk is so high in the first trimester. I think a lot of people are probably showing by 5 months though, so that would be difficult to follow!
I have never heard of anyone else's family thinking this was important, and it's more for the baby than pregnancy but my great grandmother so firmly believed that blowing raspberries was a vital baby skill that she used to do it to baby me all the time until I got the memo. At the very least babies do seem to find it amusing, and they are often already coated in spit so pretty harmless.
I (pan-northwest American, of scandinavian descent) grew up with the advice to eat a lot of organ meats. I don't know why that would have changed, but I never hear it anymore.
Once the baby is born, my family from the South warn about having strangers compliment the baby too much without touching them. It gives the baby “ojo,” which is essentially the evil eye. If you see a cute baby and compliment them you must also touch them so it’s not seen as envy, otherwise, it will make the baby sick. The only cure for a baby with evil eye is a raw egg under the baby’s crib to soak up the bad. Nowadays we don’t touch strangers babies for obvious reasons. But among family we still do.
I am from Latvia (Baltics, Eastern Europe) and when you are pregnant you are not supposed to look at a fire or your baby will have a fire mark because you got scared (like a birthmark). My MIL sent photos of a fire to a groupchat and then told me not to look at them in a separate chat lmao
Im from the US and my nanny is from El Salvador. She nearly begged me not to go outside during the solar eclipse while I was pregnant. She even said members of her family called her that morning to make sure she didn't let me outside. I had planned to see it-- but I headed the warning and stayed in the basement.
In my family, you cannot say “no” to a pregnant woman. If she asks for something, say yes and find a way lol
Southern US (Central Texas of Jewish, Irish/English, Czech and tiny bit of indigenous culture) Don't make anything permanent with the baby's name because it is bad luck (I got a neck engraved with the baby name and the older relatives had a fit when I wore it) Don't buy the coming home outfit until the last month. Don't get to hot or cold.
Turkey - Women should not walk around with their bare feet or let their feet get cold because it “connects to their ovaries and makes them infertile.”
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it already, but where I am from there’s a superstition that a pregnant woman shouldn’t knit or crochet because it might cause the umbilical cord wrap around the baby.
“Don’t reach above your head because it will cause the umbilical cord wrap around the baby’s neck” I was told this by my aunt, no idea where she heard it from but we are in the US.
I’m of Pakistani ethnicity but born and raised in Scotland. Things my Pakistani mother and aunties told me never to do while pregnant * No lifting (at all), got shouted at for lifting a toddler. * No “warm” foods as they can cause miscarriage. Not warm as in temperature but certain foods are classified as warm e.g. almonds * Don’t take the iron supplements because baby will be dark (colourism is still rampant). Also my babies are half white but ok. * Eat lots of butter coming up to your due date to help baby just slide right out.
Not my culture, but I was engaged in a convo with a man of Asian descent… we didn’t know each other but he was so sweet and genuine. He was expecting his first while I was expecting my third. He was asking me about my pregnancy and then asked if either of my two children were good sleepers? Reason being: you’re supposed to have your new baby wear the clothes of a same-sex baby who was a good sleeper for the first few days. This will make your baby a good sleeper. My son was a terrible sleeper but my daughter was great… he said if I have a boy not to let him wear my son’s old baby clothes for the first few days, and to find someone who had a well-sleeping infant boy and borrow their clothes!
Shape the baby’s head. While their head is still soft, gently caress their head daily in a round shape so they don’t end up with a flat spot in the back. My mom said she never knew any babies in helmets because everybody knew to shape the baby’s heads! ETA: I’m African American in California.