Ever since the dawn of man, women have been getting pregnant and having babies and for many centuries, pregnancy was a time of great difficulty and high mortality rates for both mothers and their babies.

During those centuries, most of the advice to pregnant moms was passed down from their mother and grandmother. Moms and grandmoms also served as midwives to help with the delivery of the baby and care of the newborn and new mom. Even so, the complications associated with giving birth, usually heavy bleeding, led to the deaths of many new moms.

Over the years, modern medicine has discovered that much of the advice handed down to pregnant moms was not helpful and in some cases harmful. Additionally, doctors today can monitor both mom and baby for many possible problems and treat them early.

Many areas of the United States have special programs to help with problem pregnancies as we know firsthand. When my wife’s water broke 5 weeks early, we were immediately transferred to a newborn transport program at a major hospital in the area. They closely monitored my wife and the baby and ended up having to induce labor when the contractions had stopped. Fortunately, there were no complications for my wife, but our new daughter spent nearly a week in the newborn intensive care unit.

When my wife was pregnant, she received most of her advice from her mom and from our doctor, as many do these days.

In a new report from Fox News, they discuss some of the best and worst advice for pregnant moms:

“Eighty-four percent of expectant mothers doubted the health choices they made during pregnancy, according to a new survey.”

“In fact, despite many making modifications such as changing what they ate (49 percent), what household cleaning supplies they used (27 percent) and which skin care products they used (22 percent), pregnant mothers were still regularly unsure of themselves.”

“The study of 2,000 mothers found that the “rules” of pregnancy have changed over time, which leaves soon-to-be moms having to decode the latest news and advice to determine how to best manage their health.”…

“In fact, more than a third (36 percent) of expectant mothers felt there was an overabundance of information shared during pregnancy.”

“A further 84 percent of expectant mothers admit to getting unsolicited advice from family and friends.”

“The number one nugget of advice that surprised older mothers that modern expectant women get is to avoid cutting your hair — with 42 percent of those surveyed revealing this was advice they were given while pregnant.”

“While 33 percent were told to eliminate cold cuts from their diets another 33 percent were told to avoid eating a new vegetable that they’ve never tried.”

“Other things that pregnant women were told to avoid include touching cats (32 percent), laying flat on their backs (29 percent), dying their hair (25 percent) and eating sweets (23 percent).”

“One health decision that many pregnant women had to face was how to treat a yeast infection, which is as much as 10 times more likely to occur during pregnancy.”

“Shockingly, the survey revealed that 54 percent of women were not aware that there was a potential health risk when taking the leading prescription pill (fluconazole) to treat yeast infections during pregnancy, and nearly half of these women actually took the pill to treat their yeast infections while pregnant.”

There is more in the Fox News post and I recommend you click here to read the rest. Be it said, pregnant women need to know that information is changing on a regular basis and the advice their moms were given may not be the best advice after all and yet, some of it may be spot on.