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Original poster

Superstition - pram in the house?

31 replies

Samraves · 23/08/2010 11:45

Hi there,

This is a ridiculous question, can't believe I am asking it!

I am due in Nov, and my mum has found a second hand pram for me, and is driving down with it tonight and staying for a few days. Obviously I want to see it and play with it to check I am happy with it...

My neighbour just looked shocked when I told her and said - 'you're not going to keep it in the house are you - that is bad luck' God, I had never even heard of that... I haven't actually bought anything, not because I am super superstitious but wanted to make sure everything was looking ok. Does anyone have any qualms about buying a new pram and having it at home - or are people asking others to look after it till the baby is born?

Thanks :)

OP posts:
nunnie · 23/08/2010 11:48

With my first, My mum kept it at hers but this was mainly because we were decorating at the time and have no room to store it.

SagacityNell · 23/08/2010 11:49

Well i am not superstitious, i walk under ladders, let black cats walk in my path and never throw salt over my shoulder so having the buggy in the house was never an issue for me!

Filibear · 23/08/2010 11:50

This reply has been deleted

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ChoChoSan · 23/08/2010 11:53

Samraves It is clearly nonsense...in what way can the presence of a pram in your house affect anything but the spot that it sits in - as if you haven't got enough to worry about already.

People should keep their mouths shut about such utter nonsense...they are talking about your baby, FGS!

Having said that - I would be happy for someone else to store a load of big bulky items at their house for me, just to stop me tripping over them!

Filibear · 23/08/2010 11:56

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ChoChoSan · 23/08/2010 12:24

Hello Fili...somthing tells me you have found your niche!

KnitterNotTwitter · 23/08/2010 12:27

I'd never heard of the superstition and happily had our pram in the house before my lovely DS was born - didn't affect him adversly at all... :)

Ba8y1 · 23/08/2010 12:27

Does that mean you also can't buy nursery furniture, baby clothes or anything until baby is born? Or is is purely the pram that is supposed to be bad luck?! Confused

ChoChoSan · 23/08/2010 12:31

I assume that the pram is symbolic of all baby items, unless of course it is only prams that are possessed of the ability to have physical effects on things that they do not come into any contact with...I am not quite sure of the science behind it, but I am sure that Samraves neighbour has conducted double-blind trials into this sort of thing, so perhaps we should ask for a copy of the journal in which the study was presented for peer-review Grin

whatnolooroll · 23/08/2010 12:34

We bought our pram around 28 weeks I think. It was on a brilliant offer and saving a few hundred pounds was more important than superstition. I would have preferred to wait until a bit later purely from the storage point of view (we were also decorating).

If there was anything in the superstition then almost all second children would be screwed as most people I know have kept their prams!

Original poster
Samraves · 23/08/2010 12:38

Yeah, ok, I did know that it was ridiculous really... just feeling a bit hormonal... but thanks..

And yeah, for some stupid reason it is just the pram... don't know why....

OP posts:
SalaDo · 23/08/2010 12:39

I've about 5 prams in my house stashed in my "eBay room" so I really dont believe in it . . and I am kinda superstitious!

ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 23/08/2010 12:42

It is bad luck to have the pram in the house.

Because between now and the birth you will walk into it, bruise your shins and swear loudly at least twice a week.

But not for any other reason.

Original poster
Samraves · 23/08/2010 15:33

Lol, thanks prof! I am just going to stop worrying about this - so many other things to think about anyway!

OP posts:
Miffster · 23/08/2010 16:02

There is a magical spell you can do to dispell the bad luck of having a pram in the house.

You have to take off your clothes, rub olive oil on your nipples and smear honey on your bottom. Then you dance around the pram clockwise three times, chanting

'Bad luck bad luck let me be
Fly away across the sea'

You have to do this first thing in the morning and last thing at night for three days.

Alternatively, your neighbour can do it for you while you watch anc chant with her - if she takes the superstition seriously, you shoudl be more than happy to help out.

No, really, it works like a dream. Good luck.

Miffster · 23/08/2010 16:03

She should be more than happy to help out, I mean. I would insist she joins in.

turkeyboots · 23/08/2010 16:14

It is nonsense, but I got all superstitious while pg first time round. I decided that as long as pram was in a box and not set up I was in the clear. Same went for the cot. Of course my madness meant that when we got home from hospital with DD, wildly sleep deprived and overwhelmed, DH had to put up cot and pram with me in buckets of tears as I was the worst mother in the world as the cot wasn't up!

Dreemagurl · 23/08/2010 16:17

We bought our buggy when I was only 6 weeks pregnant! Even for a non superstitious person, that might have been seen as tempting fate. Nothing adverse happened at all (apart from constantly walking into it - ) and I'm now 32 weeks and being kicked under the ribs constantly by my healthy active little girl. We've actually now moved the buggy out to my mother's - but only because we're moving house, and it will be moved back as soon as we're settled in. Honestly, the amount of scaremongering around for pregnant ladies makes us terrified to do anything! I think it's great to be as prepared as early as possible.

lilmamma · 25/08/2010 09:24

With my 1st,i had the pram in the back bedroom with plastic covering it,and i would sneak in take off the plastic and practice pushing it round the room,then rewrap it haha,and i did have a healthy little boy and 3 more to follow..

its just a silly saying,i look at it this way,if you buy things you are welcoming this baby into your life,if you buy nothing its as if, well it might not work out so why bother,if you see what i mean,but at the end of the day its up to how each person personally feels, lol.. goood luck x

SkylineDrifter · 25/08/2010 09:31

My Mum bought me my Silver Cross coach built pram with some of the money she had through insurance, as my Dad died the same year my son (first baby) was born. He'll be 35 this year, and his three sisters followed him into the same pram.

It now sits proudly in the room I keep for the grandchildren visiting and has been used by four grandsons, and is now in use for my gorgeous little granddaughter. I can't bring myself to part with it, as my Mum is now gone as well. In fact, I'm kinda hoping that one day there'll be a great-grandchild in it!

So no - not bad luck at all.

WalkTheDog · 25/08/2010 12:51

OH's mum very superstitious, and her hubbie had to go out a buy pram after my OH was born! She initially told OH that we should have no baby stuff in the house but after I had a talk with her, she agreed it was pretty stupid once you had got to a certain stage in pg. Also who wants to have to go shopping or go pick everything up from someone elses house ater birth!

wouldliketoknow · 25/08/2010 12:58

i got everything ready 4 weeks before due date, pram, cot, everything, i didn't want any drama if the birth was early, if something bad happened (everything will be fine, don't worry), dh will take it all down quietly. my advise, be ready, so you know you'll be fine when you get home with lo, and... congrats!Grin

Liv77 · 25/08/2010 19:11

I bought my pram four months before due date as it was in a new year sale. I did take it out the box to make sure we knew how to put it up and then stored it away in the baby's room. I bought the cot a couple of months before the due date in case DS arrived early but we didn't put it up until about 4 weeks before he was due.
I bought lots of bits and pieces and as we knew the baby's sex enjoyed doing the shopping and the NCT sales before his arrival besides when you've got a newborn the last thing you want to do is be trapsing round the shops.

I've recently found out i'm expecting number 2. I originally only planned on having one child but kept all the stuff in the loft - just in case Smile then we decided a few months back that actually we quite liked the idea of two so now all being well two it will be. At least after this one I can definately sell on the baby stuff later, we'll need the space.

FessaEst · 25/08/2010 19:50

I hate people saying ridiculous things like that when you feel so worried all the time anyway.

Horrible things sometimes happen, they don't happen because you got excited about welcoming your baby! After my ectopic I decided I would not torture myself wondering what I had done "wrong", so when I was pg with DD, I bought everythign and had it in the house, and savoured unwrapping and washing and folding etc etc. As a friend of mine said, your baby would be more at risk from an unaired, plasticky smelling item that's damp from being in the garage etc than one that has been lovingly put together and made ready.

ILoveDonaldDraper · 25/08/2010 21:03

I know lots of people have reservations about getting baby stuff too early, but personally I had all of my shopping done before I hit 30 weeks, and quite a lot of it done well before then.
I always took the view that it was ridiculous to think that something bad might happen to the baby because we had bought things for her. Also, by the time you get to 30 or so weeks the prospect of losing the baby is so horrifying that having bought a few things which you then need to dispose of would be the least of your worries if something goes wrong. Plus, although I prefer not to think about it, I know from lots of very sad stories on MN that things can go wrong right up until the last minute, so unless you are going to buy nothing until you get home from hospital with a healthy baby, on one view you are tempting fate anyway.
I would get your baby shopping under way sooner rather than later - believe me, the bigger you get, the less you will want to shop!!!