London, May 17 (Inditop.com) Pregnant women tend to heed mother’s and grandmother’s wisdom more than medical advice, says a new study.
Paula Nicolson, professor and Rebekah Fox from the Department of Health and Social Care at Royal Holloway, University of London, explored three generations of women’s experiences, questioning those who gave birth in the 1970s, 1980s and 2000s.
The women who were interviewed said they knew their mothers and grandmothers had their best interests at heart when they offered them advice.
For the older women questioned, the advice from their female relations was their main source of information.
The 1980s and 2000s group, however, had to reconcile what they heard from older generations with direct advice from their doctors, midwives and health visitors as well as the numerous health messages on the web and self-help books, said a University of London release.
Nicolson says: “It is much to the credit of contemporary women that despite the unprecedented pressures from the media, medicine and the ‘pregnancy police’ that they are still able to filter-in the advice that really suits them from all these sources.”
“Each of the three generations found ways to ‘resist’ what they considered inappropriate pressures from advisors and were more likely to follow advice given to them from their mothers and grandmothers even if it went against the medical professions advice.”
