Hands Off My Belly: The Pregnant Woman's Survival Guide to Myths, Mothers, and Moods

by Shawn A. Tassone, Kathryn Landherr

Expectant mothers are virtual magnets for unsolicited advice. Mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, sisters-in-law, new mothers, friends, and even strangers offer what seems to be an endless supply of supposedly authoritative opinions on every aspect of A craving for spicy food denotes a boy. Carrying the baby low denotes a girl. Besides gender predictions, a pregnant woman is also apt to acquire an earful of advice about miscarriage, dietary habits and cravings, hair growth, weight gain, and childbirth. And, of course, everyone wants to touch her belly. In this engaging, humorous, and very informative book, Drs Shawn A Tassone and Kathryn Landherr - experienced gynecologists, a husband-and-wife team of physicians, and parents of four children - explore the most common superstitions and myths surrounding pregnancy. From their combined twenty years of work in a clinic, as well as their own parenting experience, the authors review the anecdotes and beliefs, from the slightly unusual to the stranger-than-fiction, and compare them with the scientific evidence. Moving through each stage, from the early weeks of pregnancy to delivery, they examine the legends about diet, gender identification, pre-term labour, the umbilical cord, initiating labour, and the size and movement of the foetus. As they detail the scientific perspective on these varied and often amusing beliefs, the authors not only entertain but provide a great deal of practical information, which will ease the fears and anxieties of expectant parents as well as clear up many confusing notions. If you are pregnant, you owe it to yourself to get this book. Better yet, suggest it as the perfect gift to all those well-meaning advice givers.
Hands Off My Belly! has won Gold for the Mom's Choice Award : Adult Books Pregnancy & Childbirth. The Mom's Choice Awards® is known for establishing the benchmark of excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. This annual competition recognizes authors, inventors, companies, parents and others for their efforts in creating quality family-friendly media products and services.
MomsChoiceAwards.com Hands Off My Belly!  is an Arizona Book Publisher's Award Winner 2010 in Parenting/Family

Genres: Nonfiction, Parenting

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2009

Reviews

[Charity · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn't overly impressed with this book. Here are some of the things I found lacking:

1) It wasn't well researched. They basically seemed to rely on whatever knowledge they actually had and a few web searches. I was not impressed with the fact that more than once they said "A Web site says..." without saying which Web site. Seriously, they could have found the primary reference if they'd put in a little work. Another example, they mentioned that there might be health risks to eating one's placenta. You don't need to look far to find that eating one's own placenta is unlikely to carry any risks (that the risks come in when you consume someone else's placenta). And yet another example: they gave incomplete information about using lactational amenhorrea as birth control. One of the very important factors is to have all of baby's suckling be at the breast. Any thumb sucking, finger sucking, bottles, or pacifiers decrease the effectiveness of this method. And they recommended moms contact "their local La Leche League office." Had they even bothered to talk to a live Leader, they would know this is not how LLL is set up. Although I appreciate that they pointed moms to LLL. Oh, and another one: they talk about "good nutrition" but nothing about how protein intake can actually reverse preeclampsia.

2) They made fairly strong recommendations to avoid a practice even if they admitted to having inadequate information about it (eg, placentophagy. They said, we don't know about this, but we think you shouldn't do it.)

3) What's the point of this book anyway? These myths aren't hurting anyone. Who cares if someone thinks I'm having a girl because I'm wide all over, or that I'm having a boy because I'm carrying out in front? It seemed to me the point was "ask your doctor. They'll tell you all the truth behind these myths." The myths that really should have been addressed are the myths that exist in the routine practice of obstetrics. But there's already a book about that by Henci Goer.

4) The tone is patronizing and the book is poorly written. They leave sentences hanging so they don't make any sense. They say at the beginning of the infertility section that infertility is just as often caused by the man as it is by the woman, then they go on to explain in detail, page after page, all of the things that affect women's fertility and none of the causes of male infertility.

5) They express too many opinions. They say "don't eat your placenta," but then they go on and on about how great an idea it is to plant your placenta under a tree.

6) What the heck is up with the section about how the 7 deadly sins relate to pregnant women? I actually found that kind of offensive.

So, I just wasn't impressed. I think it was a totally unnecessary book. Now, if they had endeavored to explain the cultural and psychological reasons these myths continue to exist, I might have been interested. But they didn't. They just gave a very incomplete version of a "doctor-knows-best" pregnancy and birth book, including the obligatory "here's someone who planned a natural birth and look how I saved her with surgery" anecdote. It would have been better had they done more research, talked to actual people, and got off their high horse about how awesome they are that they let moms try for natural birth while lying in their hospital beds.

[Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I probably could've read this a year ago & it would've helped me a bit. One thing I learned from it is that the actor Andy Garcia had a parasitic twin removed from his shoulder - I wonder if that's anything like that guy from The Dark Half who ate his twin in utero & they found an eye & some other body parts in his brain? If Andy Garcia hadn't had this twin removed, would it've come to life in his adulthood & started killing people?

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Is it possible to give this book 0 stars? It was not wel researched and I actually feel a little bit dumber from reading it.

I just couldn't get myself to finish it....

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring, bland, and nothing of use here. I would recommend to people who generally don't believe in science and instead think every old wive's tale they hear is gospel. For example, a co-worker who spent a lot of money on a Hello Kitty-themed nursery and then had a boy. Even though the ultrasound technician was "nearly 100% sure" it was a boy, she was convinced she was having a girl because a necklace dangled over her tummy spun a certain direction.

Might also be great for very young first-time mothers, as it does tackle some basic "what happens when you're pregnant" type things, and conception myths. Doesn't cut it for the college-educated common-sense person.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Research seems to be mostly their observations and geared toward the less educated. Doesn't present enough pros and cons for both sides of a lot of what they talk about. Flows oddly. 7 deadly sins part was weird. I did find the global myths/fertility deities part interesting. Title doesn't have anything to do with the book. Subtitle is OK though.

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Someone recommended I read this... let's see what it is all about.

[Asher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in the beginning of my second pregnancy. It was a little too simplistic, but there was some good information, too. A couple of things that I hadn't realized were myths.

[Eshaneh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book informative and balanced.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Kinda boring, had it's funny moments, but didn't really learn anything.