# Does a woman retain traces of her male partner after giving birth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 30, 2002, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-woman-retain-traces-of-her-male-partner-after-giving-birth/111616 "2002-05-30T21:38:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-woman-retain-traces-of-her-male-partner-after-giving-birth/111616/1 "2002-05-30T21:38:56Z")
[Today’s Classic Column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_062a.html) - a classic, indeed. “If ignorance were cornflakes, John, you’d be General Mills.” Best Cecil Slam Ever. This line most assuredly deserves to be enshrined in _Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations_. “Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate, Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?” - Samuel Johnson - ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-woman-retain-traces-of-her-male-partner-after-giving-birth/111616/2 "2002-05-30T22:06:38Z")
Oh yeah? Well, if moderators were relatives of mine named after alcoholic beverages, you’d be … wait a minute… Hey! ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-woman-retain-traces-of-her-male-partner-after-giving-birth/111616/3 "2002-05-30T23:31:03Z")
And if administrators were Swiss heroes… ---
**Author:** ![polymur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7993a0/32.png) [@polymur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/polymur)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-woman-retain-traces-of-her-male-partner-after-giving-birth/111616/4 "2002-05-31T03:52:09Z")
I remember reading an article some number of years ago which stated that the mother retains the dna of her children after birth. I have no cite and I googled it for it a while to no avail, but has anyone heard of that observation to which I’m referring? Not to say that this would cause a pregnancy … ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-woman-retain-traces-of-her-male-partner-after-giving-birth/111616/5 "2002-05-31T05:34:22Z")
Why and how would the mother retain the DNA of her children? I would, however, like further information on the original question. The source of the confusion (besides John S. being a dolt) is this sentence: > [@](#): > > She sued the owner of the stud service, saying that the pedigree was irretrievable, and that therefore the bitch was no good as a source of purebred dogs. John has apparently taken this to mean that the female dog has been corrupted. What is the cause of the loss of pedigree? Is this really a rule? My _guess_ is that because she was a registered pedigree and gave birth to a litter of mutts _after breeding with another registered pedigree_, that calls into question her own status. That’s why the pedigree was violated, not because she retained some feature of the male dog. But is this only the rule because the father was also supposed to be pedigreed, or is there some more subtle AKC rule about breeding purebreds and if she ever has a non-purebred litter, she’s off the rolls? And what about the stud dog?