To ask for the most inappropriate unsolicited advice you received from a random person about your child?

[Adviceagains]

I’m feeling sensitive today. Stood in a queue and dd asleep in her pram. Women behind me starts talking to her husband/partner saying that baby looks too hot, how ridiculous she is in a hat indoors in this weather… obviously I could hear. I didn’t say anything. She then taps me on the shoulder and shows me an NHS page on clothing/temperatures for babies and said I might need it. What the fuck? I am a new mum and already stressing over making the right decisions. Am I alone in this? I actually cried when I got in the car.

Ha ha ha @Keepyournoseout we now measure our 6'2" DS food consumption in loaves per day and litres of milk, not the odd half sandwich 🥪

I had a similar one with none sleeping 2nd DS. Someone at baby swimming said, well we just give DC a bottle put him in the cot and he goes to asleep! If only I'd thought of trying that!

Same DS once at about 18 months kept trying to stand up in supermarket trolley seat. I was pushing him round and wrestling him back down each time. Random woman - you should stop him doing that he's going to fall out! Well no shit, thanks for that 😂

He's 16 now - sleeps through the night and hasn't fallen out of a trolley though he did fall off his bike and break his arm recently!

Oh man. I'm laughing but these examples are bringing back memories!

Parents of great sleeping babies who think it's down to something they've done are usually a) naive and b) annoying!

I have a child with special needs. I'm given lots of unwanted and unsolicited advice the worst one being he just needs a good hiding!!

Ignore the idiots op you sound like a fab mum xx

I was walking through town heavily pregnant when a homeless man stopped me and said he hoped I was going to breastfeed the baby. Umm, WTF?!

I had the hood down on the pram because dd was asleep and a bloke said, ‘How’s he supposed to see out with the hood down?’

Some people automatically assume that you are an idiot if you have had a child. I think they maybe think you are a baby because you associate with a baby.

Hahaha haha this is brilliant. What did you say?

I can related to most of these, especially the autism denial from family.
I was told to make sure my littlest autism ate brocoli to cure him because some shiterag newspaper did a piece on it being a viable cure.

Even though I love her dearly, mother was the worst offender when I became a mother.
Even now, DS1 is 16 and some of the comments still cut deep.

From strangers, the best comment I ever got was a lad about 19 coming out the pub pissed when I was walking toddler DS from the beach home, he took one look at DS and I, asked me, "does he have a dad on the scene?" I replied honestly, no. So the lad says, "look girl, he looks like me, (he actually did) let's us just go back to yours, get him a chippy tea, watch xfactor and make him a sister!" 😂
Kindly declined but 15 years later I still go bright red! Not advice, but definitely a comment that I'll never forget.
(No love story BTW, as kind as he was offering to impregnate me within seconds of us meeting for the first and only time)

🤣🤣 This is priceless!

" never mind dear, at least you know he will never be sent to war" old lady on bus about visibly disabled child

when my girls were about 5 and 6 years of age happened to say to a family member I was tired oh have a nap when you need to long as you put the teapot away kids will be fine😳

When discussing my non verbal child: "Have you tried talking to him?"

Umm.... yeah.... I guess I'm kookie that way 🙄

My DS was born with 2 holes in his heart and needed heart surgery ASAP, but to make it safer we needed to get his weight up really quickly. He was obviously very lethargic due to his heart, so he was tube fed high calorie formula but he was on a timetable of restricted fluids as his heart wouldn't be able to cope with his body processing large amounts of fluids.

Anyway, obviously his feeding was very regimented and planned by some of the top Cardiac consultants in the country. One day a neighbour knocked on our door as he was delivering firewood (that he sold), probably mid 60s, and he saw DS and asked if I was nursing. I said 'no, he's awaiting heart surgery and needs a special formula' and he responded 'you need to get him off the formula and onto the breast, you can see he' s suffering for it look at his weight!' 🤦‍♀️ Beggars belief!

It was how to interact with my child .
I was visiting a Steiner school and another mother must have noticed that I was finding parenting hard ..
She came over and said "Think of yourself as a tree " Then she walked on .

At the time I was gobsmacked .But TBF having given it much thought I suppose it's fair advice - think of yourself as rooted ,strong but flexible and growing .Or something .
Probably not best delivered as a one liner ,in passing to a stressed mother .

Family member when discussing wedding a year away where we don't know if it's child-friendly.

"Baby will be six months old by then, of course you can leave him with us. Don't be silly."

All we said was that we can't rsvp to accommodation for two nights not knowing what the rules are with kids! And he's not even born yet, and I plan to BF. No idea how he'll take an expressed bottle etc.

But I was getting glowers as if I'd said they couldn't see him til a year old.

Old man in Newcastle city centre when DD was 10 months old: you shouldn’t dress a girl like that. (For the record, she was wearing blue joggers and a floral blue top. I’ve always assumed he objected to the colour blue on a girl but maybe it was the trousers?)

Lots and lots and lots of old people during DS1s babyhood: you should put shoes and socks on that baby, he’s cold. Me: he was wearing them when he left the house. If you can think of a way to keep them on him, short of supergluing his feet, lay it on me!

parenting is hard! 😂

About 6 months ago I had my son who was 3 months in a sling and my other son 8 years old walking with me around a supermarket. 8 yo was yapping away trying to get me to “guess the song” he was humming.

I was trying to focus on what I needed to pick up, my 3 month old baby was starting to gurgle for milk and 8 was going what is it what song guess! Have you got it yet? I turned to him and shook his shoulders in a jokey way saying - I can’t get it!! Sushhhhh with your yapping! I can’t think!! Just tell me what it is!

we were both vocally laughing and talking about the game when some woman came like a bat out of hell from the other end of the aisle full pelt - laying into me about hitting my son and how could I do that with a newborn strapped to me!! She was so loud everyone was looking to see the drama.

my 8yo and I looked at each other confused and then burst out laughing - she didn’t find it funny at all and it took some convincing that whatever she thought she’d seen from the other end of the aisle was completely innocent.

Never did find out what he was humming!

Not advice but a comment I heard every time I went out for about three years. I had my twins when my eldest was not quite 2, so essentially three babies then three toddlers.

It is not possible to go out with a triple buggy without every other person you pass doing a sharp intake of breath as saying 'you've got your hands full!'

Thanks, stranger on the street. I had almost forgotten.

I had six under ten, "Is the telly in your house broken or summat?" Cue laughter.
Give it over, if I had a fiver for everytime I ever heard that old chestnut.

I was bottle feeding tiny DS in a cafe once and the two women next to me struck up a loud conversation next to me about lazy neglectful mothers who can’t be arsed to breastfeed and the untold damage they’re doing to their babies. They went on and on.

I had my back to them and sat silently crying until DS had fed and I could leave.

Bitches.

Sorry you were upset OP, sounds like you are doing a brilliant job I know I worried about everything when I was a new mum.

I was “told off” when my second baby was in the double buggy, with my toddler, not wearing socks, shock horror, two elderly ladies gave me a dressing down excuse the pun. It was summer and he had pulled his socks off for the millionth time, we were nearly home so I put his socks in the flap of the pram. I don’t think they expected me to reply whilst holding up his socks, here are his socks, that he keeps taking off, what do you suggest I do? super glue them on? 😂

Oh I often get unsolicited advice as a disabled person, I used to get it when DS was a baby- one woman literally plucked his dummy out his mouth on a bus telling me it was bad for his speech development... I felt bad for other passengers but delighted when he showed her just how loud his screams were without that dummy on public transport

Lately re my disability I have a lot of "you should try X" thank you, if only my drs knew that X was the cure. I'll get back to work and sign up for a marathon now 🙄

X = cutting out/adding in various food groups or supplements or meditating under waterfalls next to organic goats 🐐

I had a woman come over in a restaurant when dc3 was tiny and tell me you need to support the head of a newborn as she had been watching me and had convinced herself I wasn’t supporting his head. He was wearing a cardigan with a collar and it’s possible she couldn’t see my hands underneath the collar. I most certainly WAS supporting his head but she was drunk and very insistent and refused to believe me 🙄
Even though she was obviously being ridiculous it really upset me and ruined what would have been a lovely lunch out.

I once took a nephew on holiday as well as my 3 kids and got that one 3 times in 5 days so goodness only knows how often you must have heard it 😂

When I was pregnant with number 4 my df asked if I knew what caused it yet. Hilarious df.. But he honestly was shocked dc 4 was wide awake.

Don't they have their eyes shut for like a few weeks?
That's dkittens df...
He is my biological df too.

No wonder dm left him.