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old wives tales covered many aspects of life, a woman's pregnancy and the baby's birth being one popular area! Many of these probably due to help the child's health. Large families were common in the past due to the illnesses or accidents that could easily claim a child. It would not been a rarity for a woman to give birth to eight children but only one or two live into adulthood. So large families were not out of love for children or lack of birth control but to beat the odds and hope that one child survived to tended to your needs when you were older.
This thought, of having many children, naturally helps explain why a man would be particular in his choice of a mate. Cringe as we females may in today's time, in another time period a woman took it as a compliment when described as having good hips for childbearing purposes. A man would also seek out a healthy woman, for if she was healthy before pregnancy then she would likely be healthy during pregnancy and childbirth. Many of today's women watch their weight and so did our ancestors but in a different way and reasons.
Now before you go "pshaw, that was a long, long time ago," I have to point out that it was not all that long ago. I would not be here now if my father's mother had not been thought to be able to have a child or two. Call it chauvanistic. Decree it asinine. That does not change the past or the fact that my grandfather wanted a child and thought my grandmother's healthy appearance and hips would help him have that dream come true.
One tradition of the past changed in many areas. Nowadays, women do not marry until in their 20's and some wait longer before marrying. In some countries, there are laws that govern marrying age. Yet it was not that long ago that a woman would be married as young as 13 years in age or been regarded an old maid, in some areas, by the time she was only 18.
This was not due to the man wanting a child bride, but for child bearing reasons. Along with health, which we already discussed, was if the woman could produce children. Unknowingly, our ancestors stumbled upon a scientific thought about women . . . They just awkwardly carried it out.
A woman only produces so many eggs, around 40, in her lifetime for a man's sperm hopefully fertilize. The older the woman, the fewer eggs remaining. So when a young girl started menustrating, she became potential marriage material. The left over residue that exists in today's society of that old thought is when a daughter starts her monthly cycles, we say that she has become a woman or a "little lady."
one method of spacing out children was by prolonging nursing. It was thought that a woman would not produce eggs, only earlier ancestors did not know about the eggs themself but based this on the fact that the woman may not menustrate, had lesser chances of becoming pregnant. Partially true but also partially untrue at the same time. Modern science has revealed that there is a time period affter childbirth that a woman is likely to get pregnant but that nursing does not wholly prevent pregnancy from occuring.
Another old wives tale was that a woman could expect to lose a tooth for each child born. Today's hygiene and dietary thoughts help to forestall this possible dental problem. Yet even today, it is known that pregnancy does affect and weakens women's teeth and so this old wives tale is not mere child's play but truth.
The famed "eating for two" likely stems back to the healthy woman image and perhaps felt to help produce a robust sized babe. Today we know that birth weight of a child is not affected by the pregnant woman's overall weight gain. She can gain 35 pounds, today's recommended average weight gain, or 100 pounds and still have a 7 pound baby due to hereditary playing a larger role on the child's birth size.
One peculiar superstitious thought was that a pregnant woman should not look at a hare. This chance meeting could have the child risk being born with a deformity. Yes, it is not a pun but hair lip was felt to be one of the deformities that could result. The elephant man's grossly deformed body had originally been diagnosed to been a result of his mother being frightened by an elephant at a zoo during her pregnancy; hence his nickname.
These are just a few of the pregnancy superstitions and old wives tales.
