AIBU to be surprised at advice on Boots Web MD website?

[MakeTeaNotWar]

As a new parent, been reading through "10 Mistakes New Parents Make" www.webmd.boots.com/children/baby/features/10-new-parent-mistakes

and am really surprised at numbers 2 & 3. In fact, I think they are misguided at best and irresponsible at worst as neither makes reference to what age baby they refer to.

I agree - is iffy at best

The crying it out - I think they mean sometimes babies will cry even when you are doing everything right, it doesn't mean they hate you but IMHO it infers you should leave a small baby to scream itself to sleep if you want?

And the BF one I think is misleading - it is very unusually for any (BF or FF) young/new baby to sleep through and would often be a warning sign if they do sleep for long periods (newborn I mean).

link redone

Ds1 slep for hours as a newborn. It wasn't because bf was sustaining him, it was because he was too tired to wake/cry. He lost a lot of weight before I realised the issue and although I tried to get bf established by waking him up more frequently it didn't work out and I ended up switching to ff. yes some babies can sleep through at an early age with bf fully established, but for advice like this there needs to be lots if provisos like plenty of wet nappies/baby thriving etc.

That's bad, really bad. God knows where they've got their advice from.

That is awful advice - I have been to visit new parents who greeted me with a beaming smile about their fantastic new baby who slept through the night - in reality the baby was too tired to wake to feed and needed feeding immediately - thankfully they were one of my early visits...........

I feel I need to complain about that website - shall investigate

Number 10 is the only one you need here In reckon.

Stupid article. Probably took all of 5 minutes for someone to scribble that down.

ive emailed them to explain my concerns over their misguided advice and stated theres a thread about it here hopefully theyll take notice !!

The BF one is terribly misleading, it happened to my sister. I went to visit and she was proudly saying that her few-days-old DS had been sleeping for seven hours. I was and she had friends round who had five DC saying, "oh no NEVER wake the baby".

Luckily the HV arrived and told them but he ended up jaundiced.

I wouldn't say it's wrong so much as incomplete, or inadequate.

Breastfed babies can sleep through the night safely but usually only once they're of an age where it would be considered reasonable to do so.

The title for 'crying it out' is misleading more so than the content. Babies DO cry and many parents think their baby is abnormal if they do, despite being fed, warm, dry, cuddled etc.

Really disagree with number 3. Some babies do need waking to feed in the first few weeks. And the wording "should sleep through the night" could be setting unrealistic expectations for new parents. My dd is 10 months and has only started sleeping through recently, and this is completely normal.
Would expect better from boots.

Number 10 made me splutter with hilarity.

Number 10 .

My baby is breastfed...he SHOULD be sleeping through the night. Oh dear!!

Sounds like something spouted by "she who must not be named".

at 3.

No 10 - Is MN a reliable source of parenting advice?

Interested in this as I struggled to get 10 day old 10lber ds to feed much last night, what is a suitable age for them to start sleeping longer than 4 hours? He fed a lot before bed wondering if the fact that he's so big means he has reached that point sooner than normal?

katienana The whole problem with advice of this nature is that BABIES ARE DIFFERENT. Sleeping 7 hours at 10 days might be fine for your baby but might be a serious problem for a different baby.

Look out for signs of lethargy and dehydration that might imply extra feeds are needed....

I think No 2 is badly worded. I know with DS1 that I reacted to every whimper and winge instantly whereas with DS2 I was probably a bit more chilled out. So if I was dying for a wee and DS2 was having a winge (you know by the sound of their cry if its something more serious) I would nip to the loo whereas with DS1 I would be trying to soothe him whilst getting more stressed and desparate myself.

I think the advice should be something along the lines of "its ok if you can't get to your baby the moment they start a bit of normal crying"

No 10!! All the HV's I've visited have been pretty much useless and in some cases gave out dangerous information.

at 3!

babies do cry sometimes they are just grumpy they can't say oh fgs mother I am so pissed off , so they wail instead, I know parents and myself included did get in such a state thinking there was something 'wrong' with them crying

I saw this on AA on FB. I really didnt like it. I dont have to leave my baby to cry and whatever else it spouted. They should sleep through the night? Fuck off.

I was annoyed with the advice from my HV to wake my breastfed DS in the night...from 4 weeks he has slept 10-12 hours at night (although until 6 months I did wake him at midnight for a feed). The HV tried her best to scare me into feeding him again at 4am even though he is on the 98th centile for weight and was putting on 11oz a week minimum back then....so I think all the advice is too generic and rigid and you should just go with what your baby needs. If I have another baby I won't expect them to feed the same as my DS so why do boots think all babies will?!

And to advise to leave a baby to cry is just awful

Of course you don't need to leave your baby to cry but babies do cry , I have known parents who were very upset they were doing it 'wrong' because the baby was crying,