To be so sick of all these so called studies telling us how to mother

[boglach]

I didn't co-sleep beyond a few months

I use a forward facing pram

I let my under two watch TV

I weaned both of mine before six months

Apparently this makes me a crap mum and means my kids will grow up with under developed brains. Just so bloody sick of being made to feel guilty

Baby rice in the bottle! You bad, bad mother!

There are plenty of things I don't necessarily like, but they exist nonetheless, the same goes for parenting and child development research... One of the problems I think in regards to a lot of studies is that they have to be so limited in their scope, after all, it is just unrealistic to be able to follow test subjects for the 80+years they may have on this earth to really understand they long term effects that their parenting had on them.

In the end there are only two people you need to justify your decisions to, your partner/child's other parent and your child, no-one else should have the power to make you feel guilty.

I resent being told how to bring up my children by some academic because half of the things they suggest are just so impractical.

The research about the co-sleeping is complete pants because the risk of a 3 year old rolling over and falling out of a bed and permanently hurting themselves is far higher than some possible future problem and in amongst everything else you have to take in the practicalities of your family (which I discovered with DS2 last night). Also, at what point is it reasonable for a woman to have a little of her life back and actually get some sleep herself?

I started weaning DS1 at 4 months because he had really bad reflux and would just puke loads of horrible, half digested milk all over the place - the introduction of solids stopped the puking (mostly) and DS2 never faced me because I needed a twin buggy, having only a 17 month age gap.

I sometimes think it's amazing that actually the human race has survived so long, given that for centuries, these 'studies' and research didn't exist; people didn't read, and still we keep going.

One wonders how medieval kids survived, and some evidently did...

You also find AliGrylls that if you ever see their own DCs they are not half as well adjusted as you own!

I pay no attention. They're done with a random sample of people and applied to everyone. They don't paint a picture that I would trust as true beacsue 2000 people said so.

They argue that since they use a variety of people from many backgrounds to justify applying it to everyone but IMO people are just too individual for this to be accurate.

It's guesswork based on limited questioning of a relatively small group. Nothing more.

If you're that bothered, it's a good idea to find out who commissioned the study. It's amazing how often the findings of 'independent' studies reflect the ideologies of those paying for them.

If you're that bothered, it's a good idea to find out who commissioned the study. It's amazing how often the findings of 'independent' studies reflect the ideologies of those paying for them

Words of great wisdom.

Excellent point Tenant

I don't have much faith in many studies precisely because I work in academia/policy research.