What’s the most bizarre parenting advice you’ve received from your in-laws? Get involved with Hotel Transylvania 2 for a chance to win a £300 voucher! NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

Hotel Transylvania 2 have asked us to find out what the most bizarre advice is Mumsnetters have ever received from their parents in law….

In Hotel Transylvania 2, Drac is worried that his adorable half-human, half-vampire grandson, Dennis, isn’t showing signs of being a vampire. So while his mother Mavis is busy visiting her human in-laws with Johnny – and in for a major cultural shock of her own – “Vampa” Drac enlists his friends Frank, Murray, Wayne and Griffin to put Dennis through a “monster-in-training” boot camp. Mumsnetters everywhere will be familiar with differences in opinion with their in-laws although perhaps not quite on this scale…!

You can watch a clip from the film below

So, what’s the most bizarre piece of parenting advice you have ever received from your in laws? Maybe they they’ve got some peculiar natural remedies they suggested you use? Have they told you that they’ve found a fool proof way of getting your DC to sleep by just singing them a particular lullaby? Perhaps they think they’ve somehow come up with a way to make your DC do everything you tell them? Whatever it is, we’d love to hear it!

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 Love2Shop voucher! Runners up can also win 1 of 3 exclusive Hotel Transylvania 2 goody bags!

#HotelT2 is At Cinemas October 16 in 3D.

Thanks
MNHQ

[QOD]

Let her play with your wedding ring and you'll stay married


Er alrighty then

[CopperPan]

A work colleague told me I had to move the cot around in our bedroom to ensure DD's head pointed north . Think it was a tradition from her home country, but I couldn't be bothered to move any furniture around at that stage and she doesn't seem to have suffered for it!

[InMySpareTime]

My aunt visited DS when he was a baby, rummaged in her handbag and pulled out a handful of straw.
Apparently she took it from the manger at the cathedral, and I was to rub it on the baby's head for good luck .
I nodded politely and as soon as she left I binned the straw. I was not going to expose my tiny baby to whatever bacteria might be lurking in the straw, and had no wish to be a party to the fact she stole from a church! How is that supposed to be "lucky"?

[JustMeAnon]

To always microwave yoghurt so it wouldn't be so cold to eat. Yum!

[Wilberforce2]

When my ds was a tiny baby he was very colicky so my mil told me to wrap him up warm (it's late September), put him in his pram, push him down to the shed and let him scream it out! Apparently the fresh air would have done him the world of good and then he would have a big sleep I didn't take her advice!

[Anononooo]

'Break their spirit early' - hmmmmmh

[DinosaursRoar]

put crying baby in the kitchen so we can't hear him.

But generally, it's my parents who come out with the crazy shit, PIL are far more sane!

[EasterRobin]

When baby is crying inconsolably, switch the vacuum on. In theory the sound should soothe her. If not, the sound will drown her out... Alternatively, at the very least, you can finally get the vacuuming done.

Our house was a little messy at the time...hmmmm.

[Alohamora]

When my son was about 18 months old we bought him a paddling pool. It was a glorious summer and the pool was small and shallow.

When I told MiL we had the pool she looked utterly horrified and advised me that 'you can't leave him out there alone in the pool!'. Ummm thanks for that, I was going to fill the pool, put my 18 month old PFB in it then go inside for a cuppa but now I know better .

[Rainbowlou1]

Mine called when my baby was 2 days old and offered to come over and 'teach' me how to wrap him up in a blanket in a way that guaranteed he would then sleep all through the night from then on!

[Theimpossiblegirl]

Brandy or whisky rubbed onto the gums to help teething and in the baby's milk to help them sleep. I know it used to be a thing years ago but I'm not giving my baby alcohol. I might have some brandy myself to get through the teething stage though...

[CishAndFips]

When DS was teething he would sometimes chomp down on my shoulder. MIL told me to bite him back and he wouldn't do it again.

[secondhoneymoon]

From FIL.... Stopping breastfeeding would 'fix' my baby's colic

[Cosmia]

To hang a bulb of garlic on the baby's cot to stop her catching coughs and colds. Admittedly my MIL is from France but even so!

[TheSpottedZebra]

Don't let the cat look her in the eye.

It will let the devil in, appara!

You'll all be received to know that I did ask the cat to not do this.

[AnyoneButAndre]

I loved the vacuum cleaner advice above.

DMIL wouldn't have dreamed of giving me any advice. My DM OTOH....

In particular she favoured the classic "rub brandy on their gums" for teething. I clutched my pearls in true MN form and squealed "I'm not going to give alcohol to my PFB! I'm going to run Bonjela on her gums as my GP advised. Away with you DM with your dangerously irresponsible outmoded advice!"

Some time later I read the contents list on my tube of Bonjela. It read "Ethanol 40%", by comparison with the mere 37.5%alcohol in the brandy my DM had recommended

[MakeTeaNotWar]

When DD was a bitey 2 year old, MIL told me to bite her back!!

[TopsyRose]

Mine told me not to waste money on toys for my DS but to spend my money on bird feeders to hang on the balcony of our top floor flat. Apparently birds are a lot more interesting than toys

[sleeponeday]

To only ever allow bottled water past their lips, because fluoride is a killer.

The advice against all vaccination was handy, though. My husband had no clue prior that he'd never been vaccinated in childhood, and promptly called the surgery.

[DrSausagedog]

To dress my baby in about a thousand layers, including a wool coat, on a 30 degree day in August. Poor baby, luckily for him I didn't listen to them!

[Roomba]

Half a Nytol in the baby's bottle and they'll sleep right through, apparently

[Joopy]

Lemon juice for hiccups
Wean the baby on brain
Weigh the baby before and after every feed

[spondulix]

Wean the baby on BRAIN?!

I got the classic let her cry, it'll help her lungs develop.

[scrivette]

My DB said that bottle fed babies sleep through the night - so I should give expressed milk in a bottle for the last feed of the evening and DS would sleep better. Hmmm!