To ask what you've done in the past as a parent and now cringe about

[CherryChasingDotMuncher]

We've just celebrated our son's first birthday, he's our 2nd baby. We had a lovely chocolate cake made for him and of course plated him up a little slice. DH reminded me of our PFB DD's first birthday. We did the same - had a chocolate cake made for her 'party' (parents and siblings came round) which we dished out to everyone, except DD. Then we produced a sugar free disgusting muffin for the birthday girl herself as we didn't want her having any chocolate until she was much older what a pair of wankers. She's 4 now and today she had 3 Freddo's.

We also took her to the doctors when she was eight months old - because she shivered. It was January in northern England, and we'd just returned from living abroad, in the desert. Idiots

I did sign language with DD1. She was being looked after by a combination of SMIL and a nanny when I went back to work - I made a manual of all the signs she knew, complete with drawings of how I did them and what to look out for if it looked like she was doing a sign.

OMG. I am cringing just thinking about it.

Asked everyone not to wear perfume before holding Ds or dd as I hated little babies stinking of other peoples perfume! Gmil and dm were terrible for this, I would have to bath and change the dc as they smelled like old lady and I was convinced it would give them a terrible headache!

So I told everyone ds was allergic to perfume and made him cough and sneeze.....

Probably would have tho - it’s awful strong stuff they wear yuck!

OMG...the fridge story 😂😂😂

I'm Grandma (and mum of 5) and my lovely DIL left me a full A4 sheet of instructions when I babysat my (4th) DGC including the helpful tip 'if he gets upset when you change his nappy give him a toy to hold to distract him'
Blimey why I had never thought of that.

I know some of these stories sound funny down the line but I am slightly at the people leaving long instructions with parents/in laws looking after babies/toddlers. Surely a rough feed time/nap time/medication times if any are sufficient. As well as being unnecessary it's a little bit rude.

I remember one day MIL went for a walk with 6 month old DS and didn't take food but accidentally walked too far so literally ran back to feed him bless her. DS screamed when he got home but mainly because she was in such a big panic and was shaking when she tried to feed him. Makes me think that some people on here would be livid about something like that.

I can only guess that the people receiving these lists understood otherwise there could have been some big family rows

Remember reading on another thread like this about the dad who squirted baby shampoo in his own eye before using it on PFB to ensure it didn't sting

Remember when our own pfb new born was a little bit sick the day we brought her home from hospital DH turned to me and said "shall we put her in the recovery position" again.

I have 3 kids with eldest being 9 and I still don't let people take him to McDonalds and would be sad if someone thought giving him cola or fruit shoot is a 'treat'. Is that cringe?

Overdone on museums and 'educational' stuff when he was 1 and day wasn't good if nanny didn't report any of the above instead of letting him 'just running around'. Makes me chuckling headshake thinking about it.

I can't think of much as we have been easygoing about it all (lazy!) but cringe when I think that I wrote down detailed instructions for making bottles when my SIL looked after DS... she had two toddlers.

I absolutely love this thread
I'm still on my first only 5 months in and these are definitely giving me a reality check!

i told my pfb nursery teacher his nickname we all call him incase he gor upset and it was a comfort. he was 4, I cringe thinking about it

I’ve posted this before but anyway
I read somewhere that your baby should be wearing 1 more layer than you when you go out as a general rule.
I got us both ready but then noticed we both had the same number of layers on( horror). I couldn’t put anything else on Pfb or she would have been too warm so I did the only thing possible and took a layer off myself .
Off we went, me with a clear conscience ( but a bit chilly)

I recorded every activity (sleep, eat, feed) and times for every single day for ds.
And when he started solids I recorded every single meal and times and quantity. I did this religiously every single day for a year.

Yep, I’ve done pretty much all the above! Whilst on mat leave with PFB (now 3) the tv didn’t go on until about 6pm. Until then I listened to the radio. Even when I was doing night feeds and had a tv in the room I kept it off. He spent the first 20 months of his life eating organic food then we went to Portugal that summer and he discovered chips! He hasn’t looked back. Tbf I’ll do the same with DC2 (nearly 6 months) but the telly is on right now how else can I MN?

Ha ha hoppinggreen I remember you posting that before

I also remember getting very upset that the supplier I wanted to use for her first birthday cake didn’t use organic eggs.

@woolylane omg thought this was just a me thing. I hate it.....never say anything but it drives me up the wall. For both dd now 3 and ds 6 months!!

I took the 'feet to foot' rule a little bit too far, placing tiny newborn DD right at the bottom of her pram. It took a good few walks before I picked up on the confusion on people's faces when they'd stopped us for a look in the pram and there was barely a baby to be seen, just the top of her little head visible above the pram apron. I couldn't see her at all as we walked along, but hey, she couldn't slip under the blankets . I blame the sleep deprivation.

Another one
When I had Pfb my lovely down to earth Sil had number 3 at the same time.
We all went out for lunch and I left Sil with all 4 children while I nipped to the loo, think dd was about 2.
When I came back dd was happily munching on a chip Sil had given her.
I remember going wide eyed and stammering “is that a chip??!!” In horror
Absolute pillock ( me, not Sil)

I wouldn't let dd near fizzy drinks, I'm such a hypocrite as I drink loads.
Dd really wanted fizzy drinks all the time (she was 4 or 5) But i never let her, 'No fizzy drinks are bad for you'
Then she came back from a sleepover at MILs "mum I had fizzy vimto"
I lost my shit, compleatly and utterly went mad at poor DH, we are never sending her there again, how dare She, who does she think she is.
She's 8 now and very rarely drinks fizz, and because I now dont say no to it, It's not a forbidden mysterious drink.
I still laugh at my utter over reaction 😨😨

Well I felt like a Pillock at the time but fortunately DH backed me up on

-PIL please don't give DD 4 months apple juice to drink. She's still on milk
-PIL please wash your hands with soap after changing a nappy

We didnt have tv until 2. Now she's 3.5 - 11 hour flight spent largely watching tv.

This thread is hilarious!

I feel terrible and a little bit relieved that I can't relate to anything on this thread (other than the no junk food-I can understand that and my kids don't have crap until they have been weaned properly and I have made sure that they have a healthy balanced diet)

I have a big family with plenty experience of babies though so I think that's probably why I am relaxed and have feral kids.

I have come across some PFB mums though.

One changed her baby every wee. Literally every five minutes she would undo her DD's vest and check for the blue line.

A family friend used to take her newborn out of the room to hoover up. She now has a 4yo who is terrified of loud noises.

My friend spent hundreds on Clark's shoes when her son started walking, before realising that he had to have a few weeks to actually master the art of walking before she put big heavy shoes on him. Poor child used to cry and drag his legs on the floor.

Another friend of mine had a summer baby and would have the baby in a vest and babygrow at all times because she thought babies 'looked comfy' in them. I tried and tried to tell her the baby was too hot but she was having none of it, no child of hers 'would be seen dead parading around in just a nappy'. Ended up at the doctors for 'colic' when in reality she was overheating all the time!! Poor baby

Also my neighbour knocked on my door at 6am a few weeks after having her little boy and asked me to take a parcel in for her because she didn't want 'strangers' knocking on her door as it would upset her DS

I kept boiled water in a bottle on the changing table and used cotton wool soaked in that to wipe DD’s bum at ever nappy change.

I used a sponge to wash her face when she was a baby and still use it. DD is 7.

I cringe when I remember leaving a list of instructions for my mum when she looked after my PFB

I would also never disturb DC1's naps and schedule my day around them.

DC3 was dragged out of bed whenever it was necessary to do school runs etc., even if he had only just fallen asleep. Guess which kid is the most laid back to this day?!

Asking every single visitor to take their shoes off when visiting... because of the newborn baby

Running all the baby laundry washing with the "extra rinse" option

I have probably done a lot of other OTT things, but I don't regret them. It was either the advice at the time: like making all the feeds with evian, or there was a context and it worked!