LIFESTYLE : Don't be fooled by these pregnancy superstitions

You’re eating for two, you can have a little wine,
don’t drink coffee, and other myths explored.
You’re pregnant — and bulging with questions. For
better or worse, strangers may feel free to pat your
belly and offer advice and folklore, some of it
completely untrue. Here’s our guide through the
confusion and controversy.

Claim: A normal pregnancy lasts 9 months.
Response: Actually, your “due date” is just an
estimate. One study of 125 pregnancies concluded
that the length of a pregnancy naturally varies by
37 days, excluding babies born pre-term. Obesity
and age may contribute to early births. Your
current pregnancy may last about as long as any
previous ones. It doesn’t seem to matter whether
your baby is a boy or girl, or how heavy you are,
but your own weight at birth is a factor.
Claim: The shape of your belly indicates whether
you’re carrying a boy or girl. Response: There are a
myriad of so-called signs of the sex of your baby.
In fact, “the only way to identify gender before
birth is through an ultrasound,” says Kate Connors,
a spokeswoman for the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). “Anything
else is truly an old wives’ tale.” Don’t trust over-
the-counter tests, either.
Claim: If you’re at risk of a pre-term labor, you
need therapeutic bed rest. Response: Not so.
There’s no evidence that bed rest is effective,
according to the ACOG, and it could cause harm.
Claim: You shouldn’t do aerobic exercise while
pregnant. Response: Exercising while pregnant
leads to leaner, lighter babies, who may have less
risk of obesity later on. Exercising throughout your
pregnancy can help you stay health and feel your
best. In one study that came to this conclusion,
women who were 20 weeks into their pregnancy
began using stationary bikes for up to five
moderately vigorous 40-minute sessions a week, for
as long as possible during their pregnancy.
Claim: You’re eating for two. Response: That’s a
recipe for too much weight gain. The Institute of
Medicine and the ACOG recommend that women
who begin pregnancy with a normal body mass
index of 18.5 to 24.9 gain from 25 to 35 pounds. If
you're of normal weight before pregnancy, you
need only about 300 extra calories a day for your
baby to grow. Women who are overweight or obese
can safely gain as little as 15 or 11 pounds. Some
doctors think even these targets are high, the
ACOG acknowledges.
Claim: Coffee will bring on a miscarriage.
Response: The ACOG weighed the research and
concluded in 2010 that up to 200 mg of caffeine a
day isn’t a risk factor for miscarriage or pre-term
birth. So it’s okay to drink an 8-ounce cup of
brewed, drip coffee, which has about 137
milligrams of caffeine.
Claim: It’s fine to have a nightly glass of wine
throughout pregnancy. Response: When she was
pregnant, health economist Emily Oster looked at
the data herself and decided it was okay to have a
glass of wine a day in the later trimesters, as she
wrote in “ Expecting Better: How to Fight the
Pregnancy Establishment with Facts.” But in the
first 16 weeks of pregnancy, even as little as two
to three and a half drinks a week increased the
chances of fetal death, in one large study. The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says,
“There is no known safe amount of alcohol during
pregnancy or when trying to get pregnant. There is
also no safe time to drink during pregnancy.
Alcohol can cause problems for a developing baby
throughout pregnancy, including before a woman
knows she’s pregnant. All types of alcohol are
equally harmful, including all wines and beer.”
Claim: If you have a big baby, you have to have a
C-section . Response: Doctors can’t reliably judge
how big a baby will be, research shows. If you’d
rather deliver naturally, ask more questions.
Whether a C-section or vaginal birth is better for
you and the baby is a matter of dispute, but public
health officials have been trying to keep down the
increasing rate of C-sections for some time. Carol
Sakala, director of programs for Childbirth
Connection programs at the nonprofit National
Partnership for Women & Families, argues that
vaginal births are substantially safer for both babies
and mothers.
Claim: Once you have a C-section, you can’t have
a natural birth. Response: Mothers who have had
C-sections should be evaluated for natural
childbirth if they want it. The big risk is a ruptured
uterus. Plus factors include a previous natural
delivery, if you had a “low traverse” incision, and if
the C-section was because the baby was in the
wrong position, which needn’t occur again. Even
women who have had more than one C-section
may be candidates for natural childbirth.