Mothers-to-be prefer their own mum to give them health advice.
Researchers say that mothers-to-be would much rather listen to their own mums than members of the medical profession
A team from The University of London talked to women who gave birth in the '70s, '80s and The Noughties. Although women today were more likely to take advice from a variety of sources, tips from their own family are taken the most seriously. The researchers talked about pregnancy and childbirth advice to seven women who gave birth in the 1970s and 12 of their daughters who had babies in the 2000s. They then also analysed interviews on the same topic which had been carried out with 24 women in the 1980s. It turned out that the 1970s women were most likely to take advice from family members.
But researchers found that women who had babies between 2000 and 2010 had access to a wider range of information as the internet has such a massive influence although advice from doctors, midwives, books, magazines was as important as that from their families. In these women, it tended to be family advice that won out - particularly if a mum-to-be was trying to handle a specific symptom.
One woman in the research group said she had tried to stop drinking tea because she had read on the internet that caffeine could cause miscarriages in the first trimester but as her grandmother had advised her that tea could help her with her morning sickness, it was Granny's advice that won the day.
Professor Paula Nicolson from Royal Holloway, University of London, who led the study, said: "When it comes to the crunch - if women feel sick for example - they will take their mother's or their grandmother's advice.....They wouldn't necessarily recognise how important it was to them, but it would override the science.... Taking all the guidelines too seriously leads to anxieties. Lack of self-confidence also can lead to worry about 'doing the wrong thing' which is potentially more harmful than taking the odd glass of wine or eating soft cheese."
Jane Brewin, chief executive of baby charity Tommy's, said women had to "strike a balance" about what advice they took.
"However we always stress that if any mum-to-be is worried about anything during their pregnancy they should seek medical advice without delay."
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