AIBU to ask about bizarre parenting advice you've received?

[squeakyballs]

It's been a long week with a teething DS and I though this would be a lighthearted way to get to the end of today!

I'll start. I'm British but live in Australia. We took our 7mo DS to a daytime birthday party recently. It was sunny and although mostly in the shade, I was putting sun cream on him to be extra cautious. A friend's mother who was there (native Aussie) advised us to put him in the sun for 30 minutes without sun cream to 'toughen up' his skin to the climate. She had done it with her children. She was being deadly serious, definitely not joking .

What whacky advice have you been given?

@MollyBloomYes God that magic sugar syrup saved all of our sanity in NICU! I personally wish someone would give me sugar every time they put a needle in me too 😂

Not given to.me directly but I watched a dad in the park try to toughen up his ca 5yo boy by telling him that if his sister hit him with a stick he should take it once and then hit back. Sister hit him once, he cried, bloke sent him back to play with her. Sister hit him again, he cried again, bloke was like "what's wrong with you, hit her back"! Sister hit him again, mum walks back into the park from the shop across the road, takes the stick off of DD, breaks it and throws it on the ground, picks up the DS for a cuddle and starts telling the DD off while shooting daggers at her DH.

@SeasonallySnowyPeasant this is the funniest thing I've ever read im sorry

That if I didn't leave my newborn outside in the garden alone, I would make a rod for my own back and spoil them

From my mother ‘you can love your kids too much you know ‘

That I would 100% have to rehome my dog because they had to themselves, or knows somebody who did. Got this advice from 3 people, one being a stranger in the street when she spotted I was pregnant & walking him.
Needless to say my dog adjusted easily to babys arrival, as we had done lots of prep whilst pregnant, and is still a very much loved part of our family.

My own Grandma used to hate me showing the babies their faces in the mirror as apparently they'll cut their teeth on the cross???

Babies shouldn't see themselves in a mirror until they have teeth. I don't remember why

I was advised t6i keep my 3-month baby "awake" until say 10pm, then they would sleep through until 6am so I'd get a full night's sleep. This was from someone who didn't have children.

I was advised to stick a coin on my newborn's belly button to prevent an outie

I was told to give birth doing sit-ups, following a pregnancy doing hundreds of sit-ups daily, because then I'd have a flat stomach. Because apparently my auntie's colleague did this and it was successful.

Said (child free) auntie was also horrified to find out (from me, her many decades younger neice) that you have to give birth to the placenta separately from the baby - I didn't put much stock in her advice!!!

Riding calcium can be leached from the mother’s bones. If someone had already thinning bones for instance, it would be wise advise. Most women don’t have a problem and build their bones back up so to speak.

Don't ever praise your child for doing well or they'll act like Americans and be big-headed with that arrogant, over confident attitude. Children need to know their place!

My DS did develop a Flat patch on his head as we had him in a moses basket next to a fish tank and he used to turn to the side to watch the fish. The flat bit gradually went as he became more mobile.

Mil: too much milk was bad for babies over 3 months and I needed to start him on a bottle of water.

Mil: I should give him tea on a spoon to get him used to the taste, otherwise he might grow up like me, not drinking caffeine (grievous social deficit)

HV: problem with latch was entirely due to whatever I had last eaten. I should stick to a diet of plain boiled rice, boiled chicken and water. And he was grinding on my nipple because he had a mischievous personality.

Locum GP: babies are instinctively wary of men. (to explain why he was speaking in a weird falsetto throughout the consultation) although to be fair he was an excellent GP.

Regular GP: there was no medical reason that a toddler would have disrupted sleep but be fine all day, and I was obviously being a very silly girl. She even repeated this to the receptionist who came in, because it was all so hilarious. He had sleep apnea.

Same GP: toddler couldn’t have autism because he made eye contact and was babbling, and anyway autism doesn’t develop until they’re five.

I was told not to hold my newborn all the time because he'd turn into a clingy, spoilt Mummy's boy. MIL and SIL both told me I should lie him in his cot after feeding and let him cry. I told them I'll do what I want with my baby but thanks your advice which I disagree with. My now four year old is not a spoilt, clingy Mummy's boy.

A paediatrician in China once told my 5 year old DD and I that if she continued to part her hair to one side her face would grow lopsided due to the extra weight of hair. We didn't go back to her.

When I was out with the kids one lovely summer day having a picnic and playing, a woman told me that I should consider giving the youngest ones to a childless couple. It was selfish when I have all those and some poor woman had none. 😮

This reminds me of my HV who told me the reason DS had so much wind wasn't due to my strong let down or reflux (confirmed by paediatrician) but because I was drinking fizzy water.

"So the fizz I'm drinking is making the baby burp?"

"Yes, it's making bubbles in his tummy."

"So the bubbles are coming through in my milk?"

Look at me like I'm clearly very thick "yes"

I discounted anything she said after that

Not parenting advice but during pregnancy my SIL wrote to me begging me to stop eating poppyseed bread because otherwise my baby would be born with a heroin addiction

Maybe she got confused with the fact that eating poppy seeds before a drugs test can give a false positive.

There is a bit of science to the sun cream thing. Thick childrens sun creams can stop vitamin D absorption.... although a bit of sun exposure on a pleasant spring day is different to the middle of an aussie summer

I was told by a friend that under no circumstances should I fly while pregnant. Apparently, it is bad for the baby: "Have you seen what happens to crisp packets on the plane?"
My mum was horrified that I didn't put a hat on my 7 month daughter in the summer. The baby should always have a hat on, even inside, otherwise she will get an ear infection from the draft!

Regarding cats possibly suffocating babies, when mine were tiny, more than 30 years ago you could buy cat nets to put over the pram. I assume this is no longer possible and it was an old wives’ tale anyway?

To carry on breastfeeding even though my underweight baby was losing further weight rapidly because the energy he was using up (relative to his tiny size) feeding was more than he was able to gain from my milk. Apparently I should have just let him starve rather than mix feed.

Not to respond to him immediately when he cried because he was “manipulating” me. At 5 days old

gingergiraffe Just did a quick google and you can still buy them on Amazon.

I also found a tragic case of a cat smothering a young baby from 2005 so not a complete old wives tale, but I have no idea if it used to be a widespread hazard.