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Original poster

Stupid parenting advice you've been given

136 replies

Lillieslamb · 17/05/2017 23:29

What 'stupid' parenting advice have people given you?

The ones that stand out to me:
Put whiskey in dd's milk to make her sleep
Give dd multi vitamins instead of milk as she doesn't need it now (at about 6 or 7 months old)
And my friend was once told a ham sandwich would cure her baby's cold!

Where do people even get these things?

OP posts:
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ElleDubloo · 18/05/2017 01:47

These people should be reported to social services.

Eeeeek2 · 18/05/2017 09:56

Rusk in the bottle
Wean at 12 weeks
Don't let baby put any weight on its legs it'll go bandy legs
Just put the baby down after you feed it - it'll sleep until you need to feed it 4 hours later. Oh and you don't need to feed more often otherwise you'll spoil it.
Make up bottles with cold boiled water
Don't need to sterilise anything

nellythegoat · 18/05/2017 10:07

Don't cuddle the newborn you will spoil it
Rusks in the bottle with the milk (tbf I think that this was possibly fairly standard and acceptable in the 70's)
When you go to bed take a hot bottle of milk up with you, wrap it in a towel and then they wake in the night it will be just the right temperature... Shock

Having a sling will make them clingy when they are older (total opposite is true).
Oooh, go on, give them a bit of chocolate, it won't hurt. At them time DD was so small we were still counting her age in weeks, the same crowd said the same things a couple of years later at a party but with beer.

Interested in this thread?

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6-9 months old Babies & sleep Families General parenting
WateryTart · 18/05/2017 10:19

Never say no to your child.

peaceloveandbiscuits · 18/05/2017 12:10

"It's your job to teach DS that we stay awake in the day and sleep at night". Cue me trying desperately to keep a week old baby awake Hmm thanks mum.

YellowRoses6 · 18/05/2017 15:03

I had the same stupid advice about teaching the difference between night and day - from a midwife no less - which resulted in us as clueless new parents trying to keep our horribly overtired newborn awake in the evenings. Disastrous all round!!

Original poster
Lillieslamb · 19/05/2017 07:43

Some of these are awful!

I had lot of the same comments about having dd in a sling when she was small, she was manipulative and had to learn to be without me apparently. It's weird how many people think you can spoil a newborn baby.

OP posts:
DoubleCarrick · 19/05/2017 07:46

"I can't possibly think your baby needs feeding again" about four week old ds who was still pretty much feeding constantly

DoubleCarrick · 19/05/2017 07:47

And another "he's much happier in his basket than in your arms" about ds who used to puke every time he was out down

Justmadeperfectflapjacks · 19/05/2017 07:49

Not advice but an odd commend from my df. .
"Oh his eyes are open - I thought it was 6 weeks before they opened. . "
No df that's kittens. .

NeoTrad · 19/05/2017 07:52

The "advice" on this thread is not so much stupid as ignorant.

GinIsIn · 19/05/2017 07:55

To be fair, the day and night advice is good advice, you just interpreted it wrongly. You are meant to help them establish their circadian rhythms, so naps in the day would have light and noise, and at night are quiet and dark, you aren't meant to force them to stay awake!

gigi556 · 19/05/2017 07:58

Sadly, the older generation don't realize that the advice has changed in the last 30 years! You know, because of research...

stargirl1701 · 19/05/2017 08:01

Stop breastfeeding and use camel milk with DD2 who has a dairy allergy. Camel milk. FFS.

Only1scoop · 19/05/2017 08:02

Some of the 'stupid' advice is bang on IMO just interpreted wrongly.Grin

Only1scoop · 19/05/2017 08:03

The rusk bottle thing ugghhh grim

YellowRoses6 · 19/05/2017 08:03

Fenella yes I should have been a bit clearer - the light and dark etc makes sense; what I was told was specifically to try and keep baby awake in the evening so he'd be tired for the night, which is an absolutely terrible thing to do!

purplecoathanger · 19/05/2017 08:05

Pick your baby up every time she cries. Controversial perhaps but I took it completely literally with my first and had a nightmare time.

usefultoken · 19/05/2017 08:06

Camel milk can work for people with dairy allergy but not instead of breastmilk!

TwatteryFlowers · 19/05/2017 08:25

I had one sister telling me not to pick newborn ds up every time he cried as I was only pandering to him and helping him learn that I'd come every time he cried. I had another sister tell me not to pick ds up when he was happy and that I should leave him alone and by talking to and playing with him I was disturbing him and making him cry. My mum was guilty of telling me both. In the end I got annoyed and shouted, "When the bloody hell am I meant to pick him and talk to him then? What's wrong with showing him love and giving him attention?"

Interestingly I wasn't able to pick dd up anywhere near as often and had to leave her to cry a lot more because ds was only 17months when she was a baby. She was so much more clingy and fussy as a baby and now, as a young child, although she's more independent than ds I don't feel that we are as closely bonded and that's such a shame.

SnugglySnerd · 19/05/2017 08:31

When I was breastfeeding 2 different family members suggested giving a bottle of water with sugar in to space out feeds. Apart from being inappropriate I'm not sure it's very logical, I'd still have been feeding them plus I'd have had to wash and sterilize a bottle.

Glitterywillows · 19/05/2017 08:35

Never let your new baby cry, always get to them before they start, eg feed before they are hungry etc. This advise was from a midwife. Not letting your newborn cry is an impossible task.

Glitterywillows · 19/05/2017 08:38

I was also told by mil that I spend much time with my baby and she won't be normal. Confused. She would apparently end up socially unaware and unable to make friends.

katiegg · 19/05/2017 08:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

0nline · 19/05/2017 09:21

Wrench baby DS's foreskin back. (Various paediatricians, most parents and grandparents) I bucked the local trend and went pitchforks over the issue of mucking about with tiny foreskins which doctors back home seemed to agree should just be left alone, and they will go on retract without force soon enough by themselves.

Put child in hat, scarf, vest etc because it is April! (and 25 sodding degrees) meaning the breeze will strike him down with a lurgy if you don't.

Also do not allow child to move much in nice weather in case he sweats and that damn lurgy causing breeze gets him.

Fat chance of either of those happening even if I did believe in the lurgy causing breeze issue. DS is evidently part Viking, hates wearing more than the minimum and hasn't stayed still since 16 weeks in utero.

The oddest piece of unsolicited advice (by standards here) is when a man (flanked by his very earnest wife) accosted me in McDonalds to tell me I was breastfeeding wrong. Apparently you should lug about a cot mattress at all times, so you could lie the baby flat to breastfeed when out and about because... reasons.

I did point out that as a non driving parent I already looked a bit like a pack horse and a mattress might just tip me over the edge. But no, mattress to hand at all times was an essential. My English SIL was with me the time, her eyes were like saucers when I translated for her.Grin

Poor woman was already in shock at just how much unsolicited parenting advice complete strangers give random women with babies around these parts. Or maybe I just got so much cos I was visibly "doing it wrong" according to local norms and standards.