People have told me of a Taiwanese superstition that says it’s bad luck if things in a pregnant woman’s home are moved around. The saying goes that if they are, the result will be that the woman will give birth to a deformed baby.
Which is all prologue to this brief story about a German study in the May 22nd edition of the China Post. (Sorry, no link available).
Women advised not to renovate during pregnancy
Bonn, dpa
Women should not have their homes renovated while they are pregnant or in the first two years of a newborn’s life because the baby’s immune system is not resistant enough to deal with the dust, and fumes from construction materials and paint.
[…]
It’s also advisable [for such families] to allow new furniture and construction materials to air out outside the home for two to four weeks before using them in the apartment.
Interesting that there might be a rational basis behind this particular superstition. (Though the article doesn’t actually mention anything about deformities, per se.)