Neo-natal / Post-partum (Old Wives') Tales

Isn't strange that only when you:
1) plan to get married / plan a wedding
2) get ready to have a baby / pregnant / on the verge of delivering a baby

that your social life (people you are supposed to know) get so incredibly big all of a sudden... And what exactly do I mean by that? Ever heard of the "They say" syndrome? When was the last time you heard your mother / aunty / neighbour /stranger come up to your face and say to you "They say....." If you are in my shoes now (aka, option 2, on the verge of delivering a baby) chances are you would have already have heard of "They say" about a million times over the course of 8+ months.

I can only wonder:
1) Who "they" are
2) What "they" do
3) Where "they" live
4) What else do "they" do besides tell you what "they" think you should do?

And here ranks the list of "They say" things that I have heard and (not) supposed to do while pregnant / delivering / post-partum
They say:
1) Don't drink any kind of cold drinks while pregnant - baby will be born with a bronchial condition / baby will develop colds very easily / baby will be chilled in the womb and will be born with a "cooling" body constitution (that is if you understand the fundamental of Chinese medicine)
2) Don't eat mutton during pregnancy - baby will have a higher chance of developing epilepsy / baby will be born hairy / makes the mother's body too heaty, no good for baby
3) Don't drink water after delivery - "They say it's not good for you". Instead, drink tea made with red dates and dried longan
4) Do eat more bird's nest (for the untrained eye, its dried up swallow's spit) - baby will be born with fair complexion
5) Don't eat dark coloured vegetables - baby will be born with dark complexion
6) Don't eat prawns / shrimps - baby will be born with ugly complexion
7) Don't drink chilled drinks post-partum - it will stop milk production
8) Do bath yourself with piping hot herbal stuff post-partum - drive "wind"from your body
9) Don't eat beef, mutton, lamb post-partum - too "heaty" (erm, whatever happened to the need for iron)
10) Don't shower or wash your hair post-partum - the mother will develop rheumatism
11) Do eat more fish post-partum - to increase milk production

So, here's the list of "they say" that I can remember, god only knows how much more I have heard and just forgot. But it is rather fascinating that "they" seem to know so much more about neo-natal / post-partum medicine rather than the obs in the hospital (whose only advice dispensed to me so far is no raw meat, drink more water and rest more).