Baby on Board! (Part 3) –Things not to do during pregnancy

The list of things that pregnant lady should not do is listed as below. Again, listed in the form of ‘real advice’ and medical reason.

1. Chinese beliefs we should not move our house furniture during the pregnancy period. This is because moving the furniture (especially your bed) might ‘move’ the foetus position a.k.a. miscarriage.

Medical explanation: During our pregnancy, our back is very important as it will need to support our body weight (plus the growing belly). Moving things, if not careful enough will result in backache. Always keep in mind that our centre of gravity also changes when our belly is growing. This is also why they always say pregnant woman have got no balance when walking :P

2.   Do not renovate the house during pregnancy. As again, it will result in miscarriage.

Medical explanation: Pregnant women should avoid paint, thinner, dust and other subtances because inhaling too much of them can cause in miscarriage, birth defect and learning problem in child. For more information please click here.

3. Pregnant ladies are also advised not to announce to people (other than immediate family members) that they pregnant until she is at least on her 12th week. This is because they belief that baby might be angry or they call it ‘siu hei’ in Cantonese thus having the risk of losing the baby.
Medical explanation: or more towards logical explanation, the foetal is not stable in the first trimester and the risk of miscarriage is high during the first trimester. So to avoid disappointment, it is better not to inform anyone about the good news until the foetus is stable.

4. I found this new thing from this particular site where I think is quite interesting. It says that a pregnant lady should avoid sitting on a newly wedded couple’s bed if she attends their wedding. As this will make the couple not able to have child as much year as how many months the pregnant lady is. For example, if the pregnant lady is 5 months pregnant, then the couple will not be able to have child for 5 years. For more information, you may read here.
Medical Explanation: could not find anything scientific to back this one up though. And of course I did not try this, I do not want to get the blame if the couple really are not able to have baby for years, do I? :P

5. Please also take note that smoking is a big NO NO during pregnancy. Cigarettes increase the risk of babies having a low birth weight, being born prematurely and/or with respiratory problems, and maternal smoking is linked to miscarriage and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).


p/s: if you did notice, I did not put any Indian’s believe for pregnant women in my post because I have NO IDEA anything about it. LOL!