Mozart Makes Babies Smarter And Other Medical Myths

We’ve all heard them – those medical myths that we all believe, even though we don’t have any basis for them.

This article in USA Today examines some of those myths, plus has a nifty little quiz that I scored so badly on, it appears my children are lucky to be alive.

Here’s one fact I really like: That larger-headed babies are smarter. I clicked no, but it turns out? They do in fact score higher on intelligence tests. I should have known, because my daughter has an enormous head and is also clearly a supergenius.

Here are some other ones – there’s no clinical evidence that sugar makes kids any more hyper (these researchers clearly have not seen my kids after a birthday party or visit to the grandparents’), and teething doesn’t cause a fever. And playing Mozart for babies does not make them smarter — sorry, all you suckers who fell for the belly headphones. That belief comes from a study that was done on college students, the effect only lasted fifteen minutes and it’s never been able to be replicated.

And of course for many of these myths, they come courtesy of the paediatrician. Many of the long held beliefs about what you should and shouldn’t do have never been clinically tested in any sort of rigorous study, so doctors fall back on what their mentors told them whether it’s true or not.

Basically, if you question something the doctor is telling you (or your aunt or best friend or coworker, for that matter) it’s okay to ask them where they got their data. Or, do what I do – smile, thank them, and ignore.