Chinese pregnancy beliefs

[heifeng]

fear of radiation and wearing stuff like this

there also must be a belief associated w/ hair (or just that now the ladies don't need to entice men anymore with their flowing locks) because it seems like many pregnant ladies seem to like to take a weed wacker to their hair and chop it alll off.....but in all honesty maybe this is more of just a random observation...

[kdavid]

No sex during first and last 3 months of pregnancy - we will/are not follow(ing) this

No showering for 1 month after giving birth - we will not follow this

No leaving house for 1 month after giving birth - are you serious?!

Has she agreed to the "we're not doing this"? If so, you're pretty lucky as I've yet to come across a Chinese woman, board and raised in China, who won't do this.

As for the not leaving the house for 1 month after giving birth, did she forget to tell you that she also can't get out of bed for that one month?

[imron]

Has she agreed to the "we're not doing this"? If so, you're pretty lucky as I've yet to come across a Chinese woman, board and raised in China, who won't do this.

I'm surprised you've managed to discuss this topic with all the Chinese women you've come across

[flameproof]

As for the not leaving the house for 1 month after giving birth, did she forget to tell you that she also can't get out of bed for that one month?

That is not observed by ALL Chinese women. Until recently here in Hong Kong we had a HUGE problem with PRC women giving birth in HK and leaving the hospital soon after child birth in such as a rush that they even forgot to pay.

[newyorkeric]

Looking at posters of cute babies will ensure that your baby is cute.

Sitting on the bed of a woman who has had a boy will ensure that you have a boy.

Dreaming about the sex of the baby means the baby will actually be of the opposite sex. (No one has been able to explain to me what happens if you dream of a girl one night and a boy the next).

You should have the baby wear the clothes of another baby that is healthy.

There is also a long list of foods you should/shouldn't eat while pregnant...usually cold stuff I think.

[YuehanHao]

I was told that my sister-in-law in China stopped brushing her teeth around the time of giving birth - either right before or after. It was said that there was some superstitious reason behind this change - maybe it was even that some nurses' assistants or workers at the hospital encouraged her in this behavior, but I don't remember the details for sure.

As for dreaming about babies, I don't know if it is different for pregnant women, but I heard from one Chinese person that such a dream bodes poorly for the following day, since babies can be considered small people, or 小人.

约翰好

[ipsi()]

Temperature is perfectly capable of killing all by itself, or doing serious damage to your body if you continue to remain in an extremely cold environment for any length of time without sufficient protection. Might not make you sick in the strictest sense, but being dead is rather a lot worse than having a cold.

[adrianlondon]

The thinking is that in cold weather it can weaken your immune system slightly (as the body is spending some energy keeping warm) and it also affects the efficienty of your nasal passage in filtering out the bad stuff, as it doesn't work so well when breathing really cold air.

[roddy]

Merged the two threads, don't think we need two pregnancy discussions.

[liuzhou]

don't think we need two pregnancy discussions

It might be twins!

[Lugubert]

The concept of foodstuffs being hot or cold exists in India as well. It would be interesting to compare the lists. I wouldn't be surprised if they will be very different. What is the Chinese view on these: many Brahmins think that they should avoid foods that will excite the passions (i.e. hot food, including onions and garlic).

Too much nitrite isn't healthy. Nitrite can be formed from nitrate present in food. It has been said that you shouldn't re-heat for example spinach pie (spinach has a rather high level of nitrates). But the Swedish National Food Administration says that it is no problem if you heat such leftovers thoroughly. I highly doubt that normal warming of suitable stored vegetable juice would increase nitrite to levels dangerous for a child old enough for such juice.

[Lu]

there also must be a belief associated w/ hair (or just that now the ladies don't need to entice men anymore with their flowing locks) because it seems like many pregnant ladies seem to like to take a weed wacker to their hair and chop it alll off.....but in all honesty maybe this is more of just a random observation...

A friend of mine recently became a father, and told me some time later that his wife had cut her hair short because it was falling out after giving birth. I also have the impression that a lot of women cut off their hair after having a baby, and I think this might be why. After all, having a baby is hard on a woman's body, and that might impact her hair too.