Does Heartburn While You're Pregnant Really Make Your Baby's Hair Grow?

Sometimes it feels like the moment you announce you are pregnant, friends and family have all the advice in the world. As the pregnancy progresses and different symptoms and traits of gestation arise, the old wives' tales come out, too. One such tale suggests that, if you suffer from heartburn during pregnancy, your baby will be born with more hair. Sounds preposterous, right? Well, not necessarily.

A 2006 Johns Hopkins University study originally published by the National Library of Medicine found a correlation between heartburn and fetal hair growth by studying 64 pregnant women and ranking their heartburn severity. After they gave birth, newborn photos ranked hair volume.

"Contrary to expectations, it appears that an association between heartburn severity during pregnancy and newborn hair does exist. We propose a shared biologic mechanism involving a dual role of pregnancy hormones in both the relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter and the modulation of fetal hair growth," the study concluded. But surely there are other old wives' tales that don't hold up to science, right? Keep scrolling to learn more.

While the old wives' tale suggesting your heartburn severity and whether you will give birth to a baby with an adorable full head of hair appears to have some scientific standing, there are other old wives' tales or myths that have no truth to them whatsoever.

For example, some say that if you are carrying high, you are going to give birth to a little bundle of pink, while carrying low means a bundle of blue is on its way. That's just not true, according to Care.com.

Tiffany Pham, a doctor with OB/GYN Care at Texas Children's Pavilion for Women, told Care.com that it's more likely that the shape of a woman's abdominal muscles determine how low or high she carries her baby and has nothing to do with gender.

So, while pregnancy heartburn might truly give you an indication on whether your baby will be born with hair or not, other old wives' tales should usually be taken with a grain of salt — or maybe Saltine crackers if you're pregnant.