gems from BabyCenter

[walkitout]

From their Is It Safe section:

...to drink tap water?

_Excuse me_?

What was really stunning was the variety of answers (especially since there was widespread consensus that _diet soda_ was _definitely_ safe to drink): some concerned about contaminants (but noting that bottled water wasn't any better -- helpful!), others worried about getting fluoride into those tooth buds right pronto (so no well water or Brita or cooler service for pregnant women! All mentioned specifically, no less).

The "expert" response on the ... caffeinated sodas? was priceless. An ob gyn guy gave an amount (oh, you so do not care, because it was) based on research done on _dairy cattle_. More than the amount specified and the cows had smaller baby cows. And we all know how good dairy cattle are as a proxy for humans. Ruminants = primates. I mean, duh.

Someone from the same group that called _tap water_ into question was game for pregnant women eating non-organic produce as long as it was washed as a precaution. Because, after all, we know that pesticides _never ever ever_ get incorporated into the cells of the plant, I mean, _that_ couldn't happen. I mention this because the likely source of the teratogens that group studies is the ag industry dousing everything with the nasties that then runs off into the water supply that makes the tap water questionable. But the stuff that got sprayed directly? Just rinse it off. With what, _tap water_? It is to laugh.

I should not _read_ this stuff. I just shouldn't.

Comments

[jinasphinx.livejournal.com]

Besides the aforementioned bad reasoning you've pointed out, BabyCenter has a real paranoid tone to it sometimes. I got the "your baby this week" emails when I was pregnant, and the developmental stuff was interesting; but there was always some Q&A included that was just stupid. The one I remember is "Is it safe to sleep on a waterbed when you're pregnant?" Jeez! It would never occur to me to worry about this stuff! (I think they were worried about the heater.)

With the caffeinated sodas, did anyone point out that caffeine makes acid reflux worse? Since so many pregnant women suffer from reflux, that seems like the #1 point that should be made. Although based on the cow research(!), I'm betting that they didn't.

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm betting that someone with a cud finds reflux a fairly normal phenomenon.