Jan 08 2008
Pregnancy Don’ts
There are bound to be a lot of pregnancy dos and don’ts that you have to endure while you are carrying your child for the 9 months. The dos are usually health and medical related but the pregnancy don’ts may not necessarily be so.
For the Chinese, there is actually quite a long list of pregnancy taboos that a woman should not break while she is carrying. No, I’m not pregnant at the moment to venture into this topic but I know of someone who is and she recently asked me about this issue.
Anyway, I’m no expert but I can share with you what I was told not to do by my mom-in-law and what I read while I was pregnant with my son.
- Don’t kill any animals - Killing one may result in your child resembling that animal that you killed, be it cat, dog, snake or whatever. Not too sure if it is ok to kill the roaches, though!
- Don’t embark on any renovation - Hammering and nailing things may result in your child having a pockmarked face.
- Don’t use glue - This may result in a difficult birth. Go figure!
- Don’t move place of residence - Not too sure what’s the story behind this. Perhaps my Chinese readers can enlighten us.
- Don’t swear - This may caused your child to be cursed.
- Don’t attend funerals - Something to do with evil spirits and ghosts?
Chinese superstitions can give you a few good laughs, sometimes. But then again, when you are pregnant, it’s kind of hard not to follow some of these rules either because a mother would always wants the best for her child.
By the way, do you have any pregnancy don’ts and superstitions to share?
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I have never been pregnant. And if I do, I would hate to follow those Chinese superstitions about the do’s and don’ts during pregnancy. I am thankful that my mom is not superstitions at all hence I wasn’t being brought up in such an environment. If I ever were told to follow to do this or don’t do that, I would most probably follow my own conscience and judge the logic behind it.
Amidrin’s last blog post..Neighbor’s Wedding Dinner ~~@ 6th Jan 2008
Oh this was fun to read. I did not have any do’s or dont’s (other than worrying entire 9 months).
Oh and I also have a little blog bling awaiting you over at my place.
MamaGeek’s last blog post..Paying It Forward
interesting post
jen’s last blog post..award from denise
sometimes, it’s hard to follow such tradition
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I would follow all of these - just in case! These were so interesting - thanks. Have a good Tuesday. Kellan
please claim your award ya…
kiasumum’s last blog post..Tag: Blogger of The World 2007/2008
Hey, Tot’s Mom! Finally stopping by to check out your new digs. Everything looks awesome, keep up the good work!
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Interesting! I don’t think there are Salvadorean superstitions re pregnancy but I can be wrong…I will ask my mom one of these days
Have a great day!
wendy’s last blog post..Schools and traffic
Don’t paint, don’t use scissor on bed, don’t color nails, don’t eat mutton,don’t….woo, just a lot!
huisia’s last blog post..Happy 6 months old
I agree with the first one. When i was pregnant, my mother also always remind me with this kind Chinese superstitions
And i tried to follow everything 
Don’t move your bed, don’t sew on the bed, don’t look at ugly animals else your bb will resemble these animals, etc etc.. No harm avoiding these pantang larangs but if cant avoid, then dont take it to heart. Just pray for a beautiful and healthy bb
shireen’s last blog post..Poor Alycia
how not to use glue when we need it for craft? hehe….
chinnee’s last blog post..Twin Pregnancy: 13weeks Scan
I was told by one lady while I was pregnant…that I shouldn’t reach over my head or I would tangle the cord…..(Rolls eyes….)
Well….I broke of the 6 superstitions while I was pregnant. I moved from Denmark back to the US, so that meant I had to set up a new house, I used glue and I swore quite a few times.
Jacki’s last blog post..Have Luggage, Will Travel
I think the glue one is pretty funny!
jenn’s last blog post..Heads Or Tails ~12
A lot lor…but I don’t follow, only follow the food pantang like cannot eat certain things..
Sue’s last blog post..Kris Dayanti And Jaclyn Victor
Chinese has superstitious not only during pregnancy but also the first month after the delivery which we call it confinement month. *sigh*
whoisbaby’s last blog post..Las Vegas Day 2 Part 2
I’ve always liked the ones that says not to raise your arms above your head or your child will get its cord wrapped around its neck - I heard that one a few times.
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MAN! I moved while pregnant BOTH times!
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My grand mother - in - law told me to not raise my arms above my head in fear of putting cord around the baby’s neck.
I smiled nodded and then high fived my hubby!
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Don’t get off the couch? Oh wait. That was just what I did.
As a Canadian I don’t know of any superstitions. Sorry.
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While I was pregnant with my first child, my grandmother always told me not to raise my arms above my head.
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Don’t use scissor…I did it when I preggie my first son, and the outcome: he has some cut in one of his ear…trust me!! I feel bad about it…but, luckily, when he grow up, it less visible liao…fhuiiii
Ya, they say no painting, otherwise baby will have birth mark. I didn’t do any painting for my 2 pregnancies, and both of them still have birthmarks until now.
They also say - Don’t tie any knots at home, or the cord will be tied around the baby’s neck. So, all the plastic bags including garbage cannot be tied with knots - must be left opened. That is another rubbish I’ve heard, but MIL believes 100% in it.
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Don’t get too close to another pregnant lady - the babies may do harm to each other or something. (???)
slavemom’s last blog post..The Storyteller
people said “don’t move bed”, but so coincidence when I was in 3 or 4 months pregnancy (could not remember), my bed’s frame was seriously bent. My hubby insisted to change the bed, he told me it would be better to change rather than I felt with the bed, hahaha…
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I can’t contribute to this one much…I am not superstitious at all.
Andrea’s last blog post..wordless wednesday ~ “i may be smaller…but i can still sit on you”
I just laughed because I read Tara R’s comment about the arms above the head. My grandmother told me that ALL the time.. something about the cord would be wrapped around his neck..
There are many pregnancy don’ts that my MIL told me but I didn’t really follow except for:
1. Don’t sew on bed.
2. Don’t hammer.
JO-N’s last blog post..Do You Regret Having Children?
Just make sure no drilling, hammering, knocking or home makeover is carried out in the house. Then again, it depends on your personal luck when these things happen. Some gets affected, some don’t.
When you end up in a labor room all alone at 2am with a 5 month old fetus dead in your doctor’s palm, husband still on his way rushing to the hospital … it’s hard not to wonder if that incident where the plumber knocked, drilled and screwed when fixing a faulty tap just 2 days ago has something to do with it.
MommaDiary.com’s last blog post..Wish my country would ban drivers from smoking with children in the car, like Nova Scotia
mommadiary: wah, Choi! Like that also can?
But that’s the reason why people follow all the don’ts, whether believe or not believe - just don’t want to be blamed on rules that they didn’t follow…
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Harr..regret reading the comments.. LOL… I will try to follow all the taboos I heard just to play safe.. My hubby did some slight hammering and painting during my first pregnancy. Then my girl was born with small round birthmark somewhere on her ankle and he kenna blamed from me..kekeke
But the glue thingy.. should be super glue lah.. art and craft glue should be ok.. LOL Scissors and needles can use lah but definetly not on the bed.. blah blah blah…
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