Take 2

When it comes to pregnancy and child rearing, your mum will bet there’s a whole lot of wisdom in old wives’ tales. In the new year, we bring you a fresh take on traditional wisdom and how it holds its own with new-age parents

- SWATI CHOPRA VIKAMSEY

As an educated, progressive and modern woman, you may be too dismissive of all the advice that starts pouring on from well-meaning relatives and elderly acquaintances. But before you brush off all those words of wisdom, it may help to look at them differently.

SHHHH...

WHAT WAS THAT? Don’t tell anyone about your pregnancy until you complete the first trimester.

REALLY? It is believed in many communities that an expectant mum should keep the pregnancy hush hush, limiting the announcement to only close family lest the baby is jinxed.

HOW DOES IT EVEN MAKE SENSE? Though you may want to completely rubbish this belief, take a moment to dwell on how it can protect the interest of the mum-to-be. This one perhaps makes a lot of sense with high-risk pregnancies. In the old days, people did not know how to fight the threat of miscarriage, and if that happened, unnecessary questioning and intrusion additionally traumatised women. And today, even psychologists advise their patients that if there is a probability of a spontaneous miscarriage, it is better to keep their pregnancy secret as long as possible. Obstetrician-gynaecologist Dr Duru Shah, in her book Fetal Attraction mentions that it is for this very reason that North Americans and Indians avoid explicitly acknowledging the baby; some don’t buy baby clothes or have a baby shower until after the baby arrives.

DEAD AGAINST IT

WHAT WAS THAT? Expectant mums should stay clear of anything morbid.

REALLY? There is a very strong belief in a lot of Indian and other more conservative communities that pregnant women should not watch or hear anything morbid or gory. Besides, they are often barred from going close to a dead body, even if it’s of a close family member.