Parenting

5 Totally Unfair Pregnancy Myths About Baby Girls

ParentingPublished Mar 19, 2012
By Catherine Donaldson-Evans
pregnant women

I've always wanted a baby girl. I'd love to have one of each, but long before I got pregnant, I'd dreamed of a daughter. When I was four months along, I found out I was expecting that little girl of my dreams. (Actually, when I was four months along, the first results were inconclusive -- the doctor said, "It's a boy!" and then took it back and said that was probably the umbilical cord she was seeing, not the other thing.)

Anyway, even before the happy news came, people reveled in regaling me with nightmarish "it's a girl" myths. I'd call them old wives' tales, but that's just as sexist as what I heard about the horrors of being pregnant with a daughter. What amazes me is that they're still touted as truths, mainly by women. Is feminism dead? When it comes to unborn girl babies, yes. Yes, it is. Sorry, Gloria Steinem.

None of these totally unfair pregnancy myths about girls came true for me. So I thought I'd list some just for the pleasure of squarely debunking them.

You'll have much worse morning sickness with girls. Ridiculous? OMG, beyond. For one thing, I had only mild queasiness for a few weeks in the first trimester. And then at my doctor's suggestion, I stopped taking those horrible horse-pill prenatal vitamins packed with enough fish oil and iron to, well, feed a horse. I switched to an anti-nausea supplement, and magically, the seasick feeling disappeared. Also, I've known plenty of women who have had terrible morning sickness with boys. Bottom line: The sex of your baby doesn't affect whether your stomach will be doing flip flops. Your prenatal vitamin, on the other hand, might.

Girls make you gain more weight. This has no merit whatsoever. I've known women who put on 80 pounds when they were pregnant with boys and women who gained a measly 18 or 20 with girls. Me, I was on the low end of the 25-to-40 average. Just guessing, but I'll bet if I have a boy next, I'll put on the same amount as with my girl. Female babies are not in there plotting to make their mommies fat, I can assure you.

You'll be more tired with a girl. If by more tired, they mean more alert, then this one totally came true for me. I had so much energy during my pregnancy, I can't even tell you. I was going to the gym, doing prenatal yoga, snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, hanging out at the top of the Empire State Building, planning -- and then attending -- my own wedding, working like a madwoman, and generally buzzing about like nothing was different. Toward the end, I did get winded when I'd go up flights of stairs. But other than that, I was my same old energetic self for most of the nine months. 

You'll gain weight all over, not just in the stomach. This one is so widely believed that I had complete strangers stopping me on the street and guessing that I was carrying a boy because I was all stomach during my pregnancy. So I grew to relish telling them they were DEAD WRONG, and inwardly squealed with delight at their surprised faces. I'm only going to say this once. Every pregnancy is different. How you carry the baby has nothing to do with whether it's a girl or a boy. Trust me. 

Girls take away their mothers' looks. This has to be the worst, most sexist one of all, which is why I saved it for last. Who thinks of these things? If there were even an ounce of truth to this one, then all the moms of little girls would be going around looking like haggard shells of their former selves while all the moms of little boys would be skipping merrily along looking ravishing and perky. What this one is saying is, if you have a daughter, you must now be ugly. Thanks, myth-makers. You are really too kind. 

What ridiculous pregnancy myths did you hear about baby girls and boys?

Image via © iStock.com/Izabela Habur

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