Old wives' tales have long been disproved medically. So why do we still believe in them?

Are you carrying high and sticking straight out? It's a girl. Or, medically speaking, you just have narrow hips.

Old wives' tales predict it all, from weather to marriage. And when those well-meaning chatty hacks get to yacking about babies, well, they seem to know just about everything. In some cases, old wives' tales might go so far as to predict the baby's proclivities to artistry, sexual orientation, and whether or not he or she will grow up to be a good driver.

Sound ridiculous? That's because it is. The proof is in the petri dish: old wives' tales have been medically disproved repeatedly. They are simply superstitious nonsense.

"Seriously? Not one old wives' tale is true medically and, you know, just ... please," jokes Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, an OB/GYN who delivers dozens of babies monthly. "I have a girl and a boy and both pregnancies were identical. Wives' tales are just old, and they're speaking to a cultural issue back when it was considered better to have boys."

Indeed, gender predictions tend to dominate the wives' predictable chatter. And like any wives' tale, it's all just superstition. For example, some women believe that wearing red during pregnancy is said to protect the fetus from evil. Evil? What evil? Like zombies?

Here are the most common old wives' tales:

It's a boy if ...
... you're carrying high and in front.
... your nipples turn dark.
... your belly gets hairy.

It's a girl if ...
... you're carrying low and wide.
... you get red highlights in your hair.
... you have morning sickness early in pregnancy.

If you want a boy ...
... eat more red meat.
... stick to salty snacks like pretzels and chips.

If you want a girl ...
... both mother and father should eat vegetables.
... eat lots of chocolate.

"The minute you conceive, that baby has its genetic makeup and sex and there's nothing you can do," says Dr. Gilberg-Lenz. "Wanting a boy, wanting a girl ... guess what? It knows what it is. You have an X and the father's sperm gave you an X or a Y. That's it. Done."

The weirdest wives' tale our research drummed up: Put Drano in the toilet and urinate. If it turns pink, you're having a girl; blue, it's a boy.

We don't know which wife it was who first suggested a pregnant woman get anywhere near a toxic product like Drano, or why peeing into it would reveal a baby's gender, but it's a perfect ending to this story, and to any lingering beliefs in wives' tales you might still have.

Wives' tales are superstition. They can be fun, but they're not true. End of story.

Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz completed her undergraduate education at Wesleyan University and post-baccalaureate pre-med studies at Mills College. She earned her medical degree from the USC School of Medicine and has been in private practice for 9 years. She is the co-founder of Cedar Sinai Medical Center's Green Committee and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.

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