Why the scare tactics?

[katerkat]

I signed up for Baby Center's weekly updates on my pregnancy. Since then, I've been getting an email or so each week encouraging me to sign up for Baby Center Plus...for $25, of course!

But, what bothers me, is the email content. The most recent one is titled:
Is it safe? 100 top pregnancy questions answered
The content is more of the same - 46% of pregnant women are not sleeping on their backs, etc. Join Baby Center Plus and find out what experts say about these potential dangers!

On the homepage of the site, the encouragement to join Baby Center Plus is more "scary" stuff - Find out why pregnant women are avoiding diet soda! What are the five common household chores pregnant women shouldn't do? Join and find out!

Why do companies do this?? Are scare tactics really the best way to get people to buy your product (or vote a particular way?)

 

[Beauty]

Wow, I see nothing has changed, it was the same way when I was pregnant with John-Cole 14 years ago. Of course everything you see scares you more, or at least it did me

The only thing I ever signed up for was a company who sent free coupons for things like diapers, wipes, lotion, baby shampoo etc.

Oh and by the way CONGRATULATIONS Those two kitties are going to be mighty jealous!!

Oh and THANK GOD you won't be raising that child in Mississippi

 

[leahannpen]

Originally posted by katerkat
Why do companies do this?? Are scare tactics really the best way to get people to buy your product (or vote a particular way?)

I hate when companies (or whatever) do this! It makes me do the opposite in most cases! It's just such clever marketing . I imagine it does work, or they wouldn't do it.

When are you due, if you don't mind my asking?

 

[katerkat]

Beauty - we planned for the baby to be born here instead of Mississippi.

leahannpen - I'm due March 27, Easter Sunday.

 

[WilmaBud]

I think that's how magazines, etc. try to sell things to women - they feed on fear. I've stopped reading women's magazines because they're so alarmist. There's always a "disease of the month," or something like that. Like a "silent killer," or "what every woman doesn't know that can kill her," and things to that effect. I got too neurotic when I read those things. They always drive home the point that "no one's safe!" too. It's really annoying, IMO.

P.S. Congrats on the coming attraction!

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

Kate-

I missed the announcement of your pergnancy, so CONGRATS!!!

Don't worry about the "scare tactics." As long as your dr says you are doing the right things that is all that matters. Compared to the amount of information available these days, our parents must have gone through our pregnancies in a black hole! LOL

Any word on gender?!?

Oh yeah, March 25th would be a good date too. DH and I celebrate 10 yuears of marriage then.

 

[Bichon Barb]

Well congratulations, Katerkat! I'm so happy for you!

Ya know, I used to subscribe to those baby magazines after my first was born. Article after article made me feel like I wasn't mothering correctly and that I was going to end up with a damaged child. Then I started wondering if these "experts" were actually parents themselves, and if they were, how much time they were actually spending with their infants. That's when I decided to cancel my subscriptions and wing it.

I'm happy to say that following the instinct that nature has kindly provided me has been working pretty well.

I suggest that you burn anything that starts with "Recent studies have shown..." Because next month, they'll change their minds anyway.

I hope this helps.

 

[katerkat]

Originally posted by jwsqrdplus2
Don't worry about the "scare tactics." As long as your dr says you are doing the right things that is all that matters. Compared to the amount of information available these days, our parents must have gone through our pregnancies in a black hole! LOL

Any word on gender?!?

Oh yeah, March 25th would be a good date too. DH and I celebrate 10 yuears of marriage then.

Oh, I'm not worried. I had an insurance meeting early on and they explained a lot of the stuff. It just bothers me that, well, they do this to (other) nervous pregnant women just to make money off them!

We find out the gender in November. And March 25 would be OK! I'm hoping to NOT have it April 1!

 

[katerkat]

Originally posted by Bichon Barb
Well congratulations, Katerkat! I'm so happy for you!

Ya know, I used to subscribe to those baby magazines after my first was born. Article after article made me feel like I wasn't mothering correctly and that I was going to end up with a damaged child. Then I started wondering if these "experts" were actually parents themselves, and if they were, how much time they were actually spending with their infants. That's when I decided to cancel my subscriptions and wing it.

I'm happy to say that following the instinct that nature has kindly provided me has been working pretty well.

I suggest that you burn anything that starts with "Recent studies have shown..." Because next month, they'll change their minds anyway.

I hope this helps.

So it keeps up after birth, too? I've been avoiding the magazines anyway, but now I have even more reason to do so!

Heck, I'm already a bad mother for keeping the kitties...and emptying their litterbox! Don't worry, I wear a mask and gloves, plus the boys have been tested for toxio-whatever. Being the laziest indoor kitties ever, they're not really at risk.

 

[Lisa F]

In the case of pregnancy, it makes ordinarily intelligent and down to earth women into paranoid nutjobs and they are taking advantage of that BIGTIME. I say that with love as all of my friends have been pregnant in the last couple of years and they are normally extremely rational and not prone to this kind of stuff but I think the hormones put a voice in the back of your head that says "but this is your CHILD. What if some of that info can actually save my child from something? Is it worth $25 to risk it?"

I've been told that you learn to ignore the little voice. Whew, there is hope. Congrats!

 

[ThAnswr]

Originally posted by katerkat
I signed up for Baby Center's weekly updates on my pregnancy. Since then, I've been getting an email or so each week encouraging me to sign up for Baby Center Plus...for $25, of course!

But, what bothers me, is the email content. The most recent one is titled:
Is it safe? 100 top pregnancy questions answered
The content is more of the same - 46% of pregnant women are not sleeping on their backs, etc. Join Baby Center Plus and find out what experts say about these potential dangers!

On the homepage of the site, the encouragement to join Baby Center Plus is more "scary" stuff - Find out why pregnant women are avoiding diet soda! What are the five common household chores pregnant women shouldn't do? Join and find out!

Why do companies do this?? Are scare tactics really the best way to get people to buy your product (or vote a particular way?)

I don't mean to scare you, but has anyone warned you about the cats?

 

[tiggerdog]

Originally posted by ThAnswr
I don't mean to scare you, but has anyone warned you about the cats?

What about the cats?

 

[leahannpen]

Originally posted by katerkat
leahannpen - I'm due March 27, Easter Sunday.

Guess what day my water broke? Yep, Easter Sunday... late that night. I think it was the ham and polish sausage I ate that day LOL!

He didn't come that day though... almost 2 days later infact, the little stinker. This was almost 4 years ago, and Easter was later. He was born in April!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

 

[ThAnswr]

Originally posted by tiggerdog
What about the cats?

When I was pregnant, they warned me about staying away from cat feces (eg. cleaning the litter box).

Here's an article:

http://www.petplace.com/articles/artShow.asp?artID=2809

Nothing to go into a panic over, but something you should be aware of.

 

[AdventurerKat]

Originally posted by katerkat


But, what bothers me, is the email content. The most recent one is titled:
Is it safe? 100 top pregnancy questions answered
The content is more of the same - 46% of pregnant women are not sleeping on their backs, etc.

If it said that 46% of women are not sleeping on their backs, that scares me becuase it sounds like they are encouraging people TO sleep on their backs. You SHOULD NOT sleep on your back when pregnant, but on your side. Maybe misreading that and if I am, I'm sorry but it is dangerous to the baby to sleep on your back later in pregnancy.

And yes, you should probably turn over the cat litter duties while PG. My OB had told me that since i had had the cats for so long, I probably would not be affected but just in case to have DH do it. Better to be safe.

 

[Lewski709]

The more you read, the worse it gets. Yep, the scare tactics work, so people subscribe. Some people just don't know you can google anything.

Good luck and IMHO, drink what you want, just limit it and get a lot of water (not advocationg alcohol, but I had a glass of wine now and again). Clean the same way you did before, SMART.

You are going to hear so many wives tales, have so many strangers wanting to talk to you, touch your belly and all kinds of wonderfully wierd things. The best part is everyone doing any of this loves babies. Just wait, you'll see.

 

[briannesmom]

I didn't pay the $25 either and my now 14 month old is doing just fine without BabyCenter. One free site that I really like that sends the weekly email about your pregnancy is sheknows.com
I still got the BabyCenter emails too and if I wanted to find out why I should avoid diet soda or whatever the weekly scare tactic might be I would go to Sheknows and look it up for free.

Congratulations and good luck!

Amy

 

[skuttle]

I can't tell you the number of times my DH would tell me to stop reading things online while pregnant! Any little thing I would look up online, and of course only the worst case scenarios would pop up.

For example, I didn't have morning sickness. I looked that up and found that that meant my baby wasn't growing properly.

Another one...DH and I are both short. I'm 5'5" and DH isn't 6'0. So, it makes sense that DS will be short, right? Well, at an ultrasound, the tech asked me my height and my DH's height because she noticed that DS's femur wasn't as long as it should be. I look that up online...that's a sign of Down's. I was a nervous wreck...all for nothing! DS is just a shorty. *sigh*

 

[katerkat]

Originally posted by AdventurerKat
If it said that 46% of women are not sleeping on their backs, that scares me becuase it sounds like they are encouraging people TO sleep on their backs. You SHOULD NOT sleep on your back when pregnant, but on your side. Maybe misreading that and if I am, I'm sorry but it is dangerous to the baby to sleep on your back later in pregnancy.

And yes, you should probably turn over the cat litter duties while PG. My OB had told me that since i had had the cats for so long, I probably would not be affected but just in case to have DH do it. Better to be safe.

I think they meant that because of the life-saving efforts of BabyCenter Plus, 46% of pregnant women know why it's bad to sleep on their backs. (And, techincally, it's not a problem in the first tri. I'm 15 weeks and just starting to notice a problem. And yes, I generally sleep on my side!)

I have DH do the cat duties when he's here, but since he's deployed... Seriously, though, I'm not worried. I knew about toxio-whatever long before I got pregnant and the risk of my cats actually catching it is slim to none. They'd actually have to be awake for part of the day to catch a mouse or go through my trash!

 

[katerkat]

Originally posted by skuttle
I can't tell you the number of times my DH would tell me to stop reading things online while pregnant! Any little thing I would look up online, and of course only the worst case scenarios would pop up.

For example, I didn't have morning sickness. I looked that up and found that that meant my baby wasn't growing properly.

Another one...DH and I are both short. I'm 5'5" and DH isn't 6'0. So, it makes sense that DS will be short, right? Well, at an ultrasound, the tech asked me my height and my DH's height because she noticed that DS's femur wasn't as long as it should be. I look that up online...that's a sign of Down's. I was a nervous wreck...all for nothing! DS is just a shorty. *sigh*

Hee! I had no morning sickness either, and decided to count it as being lucky. Of course, none of my aunts or female cousins had morning sickness, so I think it's partially genetics.

The only thing that really worries me is DH has a cousin with hydrocelphalus. Scientists don't really know if it's genetic. So DH banned me from reading about it any further.