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.

my dd was v late getting teeth (15 months first tooth) and my mil told me to take her to doctor to have her gums cut to allow the teeth through .

The 12 lb or 12 weeks weaning "rule" was still in vogue in 1986 when I had DD.

By 1987 when I had DS1 suddenly you mustn't wean earlier than 4 months or damage their kidneys- from the same HV that insisted DD have solids at 12 weeks and not a day later, even though she wasn't interested...

.

12lb that would have meant my 2 week old starting solids .

Being told that my almost-1 year old wasn't yet walking because I carried him around too much Apparently he didn't want me to stop carrying him so he was not walking on purpose I'm his mother and even I don't think he's that clever

PMSL when he started walking very confidently within a week of that statement.

not to pick up dd cos she was crying and i would spoil her

bf babies don't get wind - yes she did, by mw on mat ward silly cow.strangely enough dd didn't like her either

there's nothing wrong with her just feed her again in 10 minutes. dd was promptly sick and i found out after fighting docs for referral for 6months and being told she'll grow out of it- she had silent reflux (kind of like being acidy sick and then swallowing it)

i love this thread, absolute classic and makes me feel heaps better that im not the only mother up against such crap comments/advice off people!

my favourite...mil saying 'oh let him suck on a chip, that will keep him happy for a while'...

ds about 8mths old at the time,

oh well, if it keeps him quiet to suck all the fat off a chip then why not!!

was told to do this quite often by her, she is lovely and a fab mil but 'suck on a chip'?? fgs!

Being told by HV to use a dummy on my 10 day old because she 'wasn't really hungry' ... and then being chastised by same HV a week later cos dd had only put on an ounce in that time cos I 'wasn't feeding her at 2 hour intervals'.

Urmmmmmmmmmmmm

Also being told 'don't use scratch mitts in the house because dd will get too hot' (nurse in hospital ... cue v active daughter with scratch marks on her face and conjunctivities from poking herself in the eye!

NOt really advice but I just want to punch MIL when she uses phrases like 'stop being so naughty' when my 4 week old is crying for something. I just want to yell "Crying is the ONLY way she can communicate her needs you eejit ... and at 4 weeks old she doesn't even know what naughty is!"

Mind you, this is the same person who calle, texts and emails to tell me that she won't contact me for a few days to give me some much needed space ...

i['d laugh at 12lb or 12 weeks if it wasn't so awful
i know someone who had a baby weighing almost 12lb (at birth)

the worst advice I had was DO pick him up every time he cries. If I had carried on with this, rather than letting him cry for 10 minutes or so, knowing he was fed, clean, dry, and warm, he would have taken ages to learn to settle himself to sleep when tired.

The night after ds was born, he was sleeping in his cot in hospital, right next to my bed, and a midwife came in and picked him up, woke him up and put him next to me and told me he needed to be in bed with me. She left the room, with ds balling, and another midwife came in soon afterwards, who told me to take ds out of bed straight away and put him back in his cot, or else I'd never get him out of my bed [bewildered emoticon]. I now sleep in ds's bed (he's 2), just to turn it on its head .

I can't stand the "you wait" brigade

"you wait" til he gets colic
"you wait" til he's teething
"you wait" til he's walking
"just you wait" til he's got a motorbike

I spent the 1st few months scared of colic and teething but my ds (now 18 mths)is the most laid back baby I know!

When 6 months pregnant with DS and discussing baby monitors my Mum says:

"What's the point?, surely if you can't here them crying when you're in the garden that's a GOOD thing.".

Oh and the all time classic Sunday Dinner requests from various relatives to give DS (just 6 months old and on day 2 of baby rice) to feed him some salty, inapropriate foodstuff mashed up with bisto gravy.

When suffering from a 2nd bout of breast thrush following antibiotics after multiple lung clots when DS was 3 weeks old I had to give him some formula - and my mother helpfully tried to calm his crying with "dont worry your milk's coming and its the one you like" (?!)

Treacle,I would have murdered her!!

Oh I have had to hold myself back many times moondog! but on that occasion it probably made me more determined to carry on breast feeding so maybe she did me a favour

Getting told by family and strangers that by us kissing and hugging our son, we're going to spoil him winds me up. Have started responding with 'you can't spoil a child with love'

Also, in the first week of b/feeding, the midwife telling me to move my son because he was using me as a dummy, and i 'don't look like a dummy'...we were happy as we were

Message withdrawn

Legs in stirrups - coil just about fitted, nurse holding my hand says:

"so, any plans for more babies?"

Okay so it's not parenting advice - but it was pointless.

Not parenting advice but annoying and pointless all the same: Shortly after giving birth a nurse was helping me to the bathroom to have a bath. I'm in a bit of shock from the pain and the fact the ds was quite premature and just been taken to NICU.

She says to me "So are you planning on having more?"

if a baby is crying then feed them. that can be the only thing wrong with them!

pg with my third - lady at work says

'your husband must be in shock' WTF??

congratulations would have done!