Things to never say to a pregnant woman

Pregnancy is one of the most special moments in a woman’s life but is also a time when women experience many physical and emotional changes. According to medical website Healthline, these changes can vary “from common and expected changes, such as swelling and fluid retention, to less familiar ones such as vision changes”. 

As many pregnant women have experienced, being pregnant can be the topic of a lot of conversations that people have with you.

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Here’s what you should never say to a pregnant woman:

You look so different

Yes, she looks different, her body is creating a whole human being and going through major changes to be able to enable this process.

You’re eating… again?

Saying this implies that you are keeping a schedule of the frequency of someone else’s eating and secondly that they, according to you, are having too much food. This is unfair as again, no one should prescribe to another when and how they should eat- pregnant or not.

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Your nose sure has grown

Yes, it’s hard to believe but there are people who make it a point to point out if a woman’s nose has changed because of pregnancy. This is a normal effect of pregnancy that most women experience and shouldn’t be used to shame a pregnant woman.

Why is your neck so dark?

This is a particular favourite for people who body shame women and its unfair. The darkening of the neck is what is actually referred to as the ‘mask of pregnancy’ that women experience in their skin during this time.

The physical changes that women experience during pregnancy include changes in hair, skin and nails:

According to Healthline, these changes are caused by hormones and, “the vast majority of pregnant women experience some type of hyperpigmentation during pregnancy”.

“This consists of darkening in skin tone on body parts such as the areolas, genitals, scars, and the linea alba (a dark line) down the middle of the abdomen.”

In addition, up to 70% of pregnant women experience this condition which is known as melasma, or the “mask” of pregnancy”. Other changes experienced by pregnant women include stretch marks and pregnancy rashes.