These are the gifts you want to avoid giving your pregnant loved one this Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, or winter solstice. 

In the last article, I mentioned some excellent gifts for pregnant women, including a gift certificate for a 3D ultrasound and a pregnancy massage.  Here, in this article, are the worst gifts you can give to someone who is pregnant and why these gifts are so horrible.

• Breast pump

Unless you know her very well and you know for a fact that she is planning on breastfeeding and pumping, this gift can be in poor taste.  Also, if she is not planning on breastfeeding, this gift can be considered overbearing or offensive if she feels like you are pressuring her to breastfeed.

What can be given instead:  A luxury baby bottle set, which can be used for storing pumped breastmilk or used for bottlefeeding, and is one step removed from the actual secretion of bodily fluids.

• Gomco circumcision clamp

In addition to requiring a physician license to purchase and use this equipment, a circumcision clamp will not be an appropriate gift for a pregnant woman unless you know that 1) she is having a boy and 2) she plans on having her baby boy circumcised and 3) you know that she is planning on performing the circumcision herself.  Unless she is a pediatrician or ob/gyn physician (or in some cases, a family practice physician), she is probably not qualified to perform her own baby’s circumcision.  Plus, if she is not religiously or culturally inclined towards circumcision, she may object to such a gift and may believe that you are subtly encouraging her towards having her baby boy get a circumcision.

What can be given instead:  A diaper cake makes a great gift regardless of whether your pregnant loved one is having a boy or a girl.  And if she is having a boy, whether her baby boy will be circumcised or not, he will still have to pee.  And for that, he will need diapers.  A diaper cake makes an excellent gift for a baby shower or for the holidays for your pregnant wife or girlfriend, and no blood will have to be lost with this gift.

• Explicit pregnancy sex book

This is probably not the best gift to get her if you don’t know the pregnant woman really well.  For example, if she is your employee, a friend of a friend, your postal carrier, your dentist, or your next-door neighbor.  This can be considered in poor taste, at best, and sexual harrassment, at worst.  Such books have titles such as, How to Have Orgasms During Pregnancy, and Your Orgasmic Pregnancy: Little Sex Secrets Every Hot Mama Should Know.

Unless you are giving this gift to a girlfriend, wife, partner, or significant other, you may be better off sticking with a safer alternative.

What can be given instead: What to Expect When You’re Expecting, now in its third edition, is still the best selling book among pregnant women.  Other great books for pregnant women are books of baby names and books showing the pregnancy week by week.

• Gift certificate for a sushi restaurant

If you know nothing about pregnancy, before you give a gift to a pregnant woman, you should find out which things are not generally allowed to be consumed during pregnancy.  The big ones are cigarettes, alcohol, coffee, and sushi.  Also, exotic fish and tuna in large quantities can also be harmful.  Belly creams and other cosmetics should be looked at to make sure they don’t contain vitamin A.  Giving a gift that could harm her fetus would be a major faux pas.

What can be given instead:  Instead of sushi, a gift certificate for ice cream will always be appreciated.  Instead of alcohol and coffee, there are non-alcoholic beverages that are specially designed for pregnant women, such as Preggatinis.  Here is a unique list of non-alcoholic beverages written by pregnant women themselves.

However, a gift certificate or gift card for sushi at Kamehachi or coffee at Starbucks can actually work very well for some pregnant women who can’t wait to splurge on sushi or coffee as soon as their baby is born.

What is the worst gift you received during your pregnancy?  Anything that was in very bad taste or even offensive? We would love to hear from you.

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