What's the most irritating piece of unsolicited parenting advice you've ever endured?

[HumphreyComfreyCushion]

One of mine was:
being told by a woman serving in a mobile fish and chip van that I was damaging my children's career prospects by home educating them.

Oh we had that classic Ghosty! It's grat fun telling the HV your DS is screaming in pain and starving and there shaking thier head sighing saying 'no no it's just posseting (tut tut)'

A mother always knows best

hijack - what was that called Ghosty, DH had it, but cant remember the name....

Californiafright...hm, am german, and gasp, have been known to use reigns (those backpack ones, and have never heard of them damaging their lil backs...lol!
Have however heard from english people that my child is not a dog (reallly??I never knew that)and therefore a leash should not be used...no, I rather let him run out on the road then and be knocked down by a car...much much better, lol...saying that, with ys I never needed those reigns...might be to do with him being the listening kind that doesn't run off....lol

is it Piloris stenosis, or somehting like that....I knw a friends lil one had soemthing like that and needed an op, basically the muscle of the stomach entrance won't let food in, i.e. closed up or something like that

thanks he has a whopping scar from it!

Inlaws gave es a chickenbone to chew on when he was teething....apparently the done thing in their days, lol!I was, of course not very impressed and snatched it away first chance I got, without coming across as rude!

Just checked it, and was almost right, lol...it's called pyloric stenosis!

Strangest piece of advice I had was from my mum who told me never to let ds sleep in a room with anything plugged into the power sockets. Apparently there were 'waves' (?) that coould affectr him.

As we lived with her she tried to enforce it at the time. However I insisted that the baby monitor and the lamp stayed.

ITs reading the daily mail that does it - she has a different health scare every week

A while ago my mother told me I could start weaning DS2 soon, as he would be 10 weeks. "Pardon?" says I, most politely. "Oh yes, 10 weeks or 10 pounds, whichever comes first" She says.

My mother. One in a million.................

When DS was small he had horrendous eczema and for about a year it ruled our lives. He was wet wrapped for much of this time and had steroid creams and a host of other treatments. Anyway MIL started comparing DS to his cousin and how his mum had him in a great bedtime routine. Our routine consisted in spending every waking moment by his side to stop him scratching to prevent hospitalization doe to infection. I used to have a shower with him in a chair and if he started scratching I would have to jump out and stop him.

I lost it and said that our lives were ruled by his eczema to which she said 'X down the road has a child with eczema and they got a cream from the gp that cleared it up' What sort of cream I said through gritted teeth. 'I don't know she said'. I have never felt more like hitting her.

After the death of my first baby at term and falling pregant 8 months later with twins.
"Oh that's nice one and one for the one you lost"
Fucking bitch I punched her

I had a friend ring me to ask if I had experienced problems breast feeding as I had blonde hair and her midwife had just informed her blonde haired women find breast feeding more difficult than dark hair women!!!!!!

Wow missy people are amazing!!!

less advice, and more comments:

1. "i cant wait to have babies, because i work so hard i think it'll be a nice rest" - said to me as i fell asleep in my supper when dd was 5 weeks. the commentee is preg now. ooh, i'm gonna laugh

1. "when i have a baby i'm just going to take her to all the parties and put her on the bed. its not going to change my life" as i declined a party invite because my dd was/is a terrible sleeper and any change like that just f*s us for days. comentee has a baby now, is getting no sleep and has a strict routine. she has sort of apologised

1. "how can you do controlled crying? its so wrong. youve just got to stick it out" - at which point hadnt had more than a couple of hours sleep on the trot for 2 1/2 years (i know, i know). comentee hasnt had a child yet. but when she does... and even if she did, why is it any of her damn business. and, ya know, thanks for the help and support. not

or, and my mums recent brilliant - "well i was a sahm of three, so i can understand what its like to be a single parent, and i know it can be done. youve just got to knuckle down and go out less in the day". right, yep, because staying at home with three kids while your husband brings in a good wage, while you live in a big house with an au pair and a cleaner absolutely does compare to parenting a child alone, paying for childcare before you can work, so earning the money to pay the bills by regulalry working through the night, and dealing with all the decisions and pressures and the loneiness of not sharing the hard bits and the joy with someone. of course it does. thanks mum, thanks for the frickin support.

"You must give the baby boiled cool water in this weather." After hours of insisting I mustn't "Well, it can't do any harm, can it. I always did it. He can get dehydrated otherwise." (Baby was exclusively breastfed at the time.)

SCC they are jsut showing their ignorance...and hm...wonder why a big part of us had been botteld fed due to unsuccesful bf...could it have been the water in bottles then...never, lol!

I had similar to maggiesmama this week when a colleague announced in a meeting that she has worked hard her whole life and has never had maternity leave or anything. This person works 3 days a week. I asked for it to be noted in the minutes that there is nothing restful about maternity leave

I was also at a relatives house when ds was 8mo and was given some extremely sympathetic looks and comments when I started to b/feed him. "Won't he let you stop?" said my SIL. Mind you, this is the same woman who asked me if the pregnancy was an accident!

Wow maggiesmama, at the risk of sounding very rude, your mother sounds quite spectacularly stupid!

Bethandherbrood - think your Mum went to the same parenting school as mine although to be fair to mine, she does say "12 pounds or 12 weeks"...

Actually most of the "advice" my Mum has given me had been irritating.....

"sleep when they do"

i would LOVE to sleep when they do! do you thin k i enjoy not sleeping more than an hour at a time for 5 months on the trot?? and do you imagine an hours kip at 3 o clock in the afternoon somehow makes up for that anyway???

they use it as a form of torture for a reason you know!

(worst thing is; i think i remember saying it to someone else once that will be what they call my come-uppence then!)

MIL telling me not to breastfeed - that's what animals do!

'mum knows best' doesn't always help when you're a first time mum with no clue whatsoever.

Nappiesgalore...but sleep when they do is the only way if you can do so, i.e. no rampant toddelr that refuses to sleep at that time too or is out of house, lol! The idea does work well IF it works...oh, and of course one cannot be houseproud and a believer to do teh chores then Which is me down to a ground...I always feel it's only a short time ijn our life that it is disrupted that way, even though mine never slept through before a year old, lol!

After spending Christmas morning with two vomiting children who were trying to open presents with a bucket in one hand and the rest of the family being ill too, I went out to the drier to get another load out of the drier (been on constant for days) the male neighbour after enquiringhow everyone was, said "Oh well thats what you get for having children so young".

I was 23 when I had my first FGS. I had spent every christmas with a sick or injured child .

eh? They wouldn't get sick if you had them older? Silly man.