Why do some parents give bad advice to daughters that are pregnant?

As mothers we should know some of the better things to tell our daughters when they are pregnant. Why tell one to eat fatty foods in last month of prenancy when the mother knows that the fatty foods arent healthy for anyone?Why do some parents give bad advice to daughters that are pregnant?
Parents are far from being the only ones to give bad advice to pregnant women! At least parents are usually truly concerned and want the best for their daughters and grandchildren. In these cases the problem is generally a very real lack of knowledge, and simply passing on the same bad information that they were given during their pregnancies.





Pregnant women get bad advice from parents, friends, complete strangers, books, and (yes) their doctors.





Examples:1. Don't eat salt


2. Don't gain so much weight


3. It doesn't matter what you eat as long as you


are gaining weight


4. Small babies are easier to give birth to


5. It's safer to have your baby in a hospital


6. Vaginal birth is dangerous for babies


7. Cesareans are risk free


8. Cesareans prevent urinary incontinence


9. Drugs given during labor are harmless


10. Formula is better than breast milk


11. Babies need ';solid'; foods prior to age 6 months


12. It doesn't matter what you eat during pregnancy


as long as you take your vitamins





Knowledge of the science, the emotions, and the psychology pertaining to human pregnancy, prenatal nutrition, childbirth, newborns, etc. is constantly growing, evolving, and expanding. If a person's knowledge base is old, out-of-date, based on fears and/or ';old wives tales';, then chances are the information being passed on MIGHT be A) worthless, or B) dangerous. Knowing that will NEVER stop people from passing on advice though, so it is up to women to study and learn TRUTH vs. non-truths. Never believe anything blindly!Why do some parents give bad advice to daughters that are pregnant?
Well actually, the mother may really believe that eating such foods could help during labor. She was likely told the same thing by her mother and then had an easy labor which she attributed to the foods she had eaten. So I think what we need to do is educate the women who are having children right now, and let them know that technology and medecine have changed so much in the last century that what was normal during their mother's and grandmother's pregnancies isn't what's considered normal or healthy any more. Old Wives Tales exist by word of mouth, passed on because people think there is truth in them. We need to counter them by encouraging women to discover the truth. One way is for women to ask their drs these questions, but these days its hard to get more than 15 minutes at an apppointment, so another way is to encourage this kind of discussion on message boards such as the Webmd pregnancy boards and even Yahoo Answers. I love the Webmd pregnancy boards because besides being moderated by individuals who won't hesitate to point out inaccuracies and untruths and provide the research to debunk myths, there's also a great sense of camraderie among the pregnant women which is great for support and understanding. So we should all just try to educate ourselves as much as possible, and steer others towards places where they can get the information they need.
You have to remember that we are talking about a whole other generation. Maybe the advice theses parents were given was good advice back then. Times change %26amp; it is better to get advice from a midwife, nurse or doctor. But do be polite with parents when they give advice. There is no point in hurting their feelings.
1) Most advice is likely to be bad, just as most art and books and music are likely to be bad. Good stuff in any category is hard to find; you have to dig through a mile of rock to find diamonds.





2) Most bad advice is just stuff that gets passed on from someone else who also didn't know what the **** they were talking about.





3) Being a mother doesn't make you an expert in anything, not even pregnancy. It doesn't even make you any smarter than you were before you got pregnant.
Most often they are telling them either facts as they were understood 20 years earlier or cultural expectations from their own culture.





In some ways pregnancy can be a scary time. You don't know anything concrete about the baby until she/he is born! (Even prenatal tests aren't always accurate, and they are less than a generation old!!)





So, different cultures came up with various superstitions to reassure the mother-to-be that everything is okay or actions she can take to help her unborn baby. Things like ';you should eat ____'; ';you shouldn't eat ____'; ';you should wear loose clothes'; ';you shouldn't tell anyone you're pregnant because it attracts the evil eye';. Wouldn't you be happy if you *knew* all you had to do was one simple thing, and you'd have a happy, healthy baby and an easy labor?!
Just like everyone in life mothers dont always give the best advice. Or maybe they still believe in the old wives tails they were told. Who knows but mother does not always know best.