Heartburn and Hair

Filed in archive Pregnancy on February 24, 2007

Moth myths have arisen from a grain of truth, like the one about a woman losing a tooth for every pregnancy. Well, here's another myth for you. If a woman suffers from a lot of heartburn during her pregnancy, she'll have a baby with lots of hair.

Could that be true? According to an article in the New York Times Health section, this myth, too has some truth to it. The article reports:

In December, researchers at Johns Hopkins University conducted a study intending to put the claim to rest. To their surprise, they ended up confirming it. The study, published in the current issue of the journal Birth, followed 64 pregnant women, about 78 percent of whom reported having some heartburn. After the women gave birth, two outside observers looked at pictures of their infants and rated their levels of hair.

Of the 28 women who reported moderate to severe heartburn, 23 had babies with average or above-average amounts of hair. Conversely, 10 of the 12 women who reported no heartburn had babies with little or no hair.

Ezine artciles carries a story on pregnancy myths. They give the myth and then the truth. They refute most of the myths, including the heartburn/hair one.

Myth: Heartburn during pregnancy means your baby will have hair.

The Truth: Heartburn is very common throughout pregnancy and it is not an accurate predictor of whether your baby will be born with lots of hair.