Mum Knows Best? Research Suggests Pregnant Women Are More Likely to Follow Their Mothers' Wisdom Than Medical Advice

ScienceDaily (May 17, 2010) — Researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London have found that pregnant and postnatal women, while wanting to do the best for their baby, do not follow medical advice without question and are more likely to adopt practices their mothers and grandmothers carried out during their pregnancies.

The study by Professor Paula Nicolson and Dr Rebekah Fox from the Department of Health and Social Care at Royal Holloway is published in the Journal of Health Psychology and explores three recent generations of women's experiences of pregnancy, questioning those who gave birth in the 1970s, 1980s and 2000s.