Readers’ Weirdest Pregnancy Advice

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When I wrote a brief blog post about the three weirdest pieces of pregnancy advice I had gotten so far, I didn’t realize what a response it would provoke. Our generous (and humorous) readers gave us nuggets of wisdom they’d been offered while pregnant, everything from the merely bizarre to the downright dangerous. My three favorite reader submissions are below. Thanks to all who contributed. It’s been illuminating, and I certainly hope someday MythBusters will do an episode devoted to busting the most common falsehoods, like that a cat will “steal a baby’s breath.” Until then, MythBuster Kari Byron does a great job debunking some of them.

#1: “While pregnant with my first child, my great Aunt Myrtle told me that if I wanted to have ‘boy children’ I should douche with Tide… yes, Tide—the laundry detergent.” [MotherJones.com commenter K Trampus]

#2: I was told if I crave a certain food and didn’t eat it right away I had to touch my butt because the baby would get a birthmark in the place I would touch first…. so better to have a birthmark on the butt than the face.” [Facebook commenter Tricia Rudd] The craving/birthmark association was mentioned by more than one reader.

#3: “Don’t raise your arms above your head because the umbilical cord will get wrapped around the baby’s neck!” This myth was submitted by several readers.

Honorable mention: “My mother was told by her doctor ‘Don’t drink… because you might fall down and hurt the baby'” [Facebook commenter Carolyn Peace]

 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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