What's the worst unsolicited parenting advice you've been given by a stranger?

[Gemed]

I'll go first... I was walking with my nearly 1 year old in the carrier. He loves to look up at the trees and the sky. A stranger said I need to be supporting his head. He's not a newborn for christ sake! I just said he has good head control and walked on. I can deal with the 'no socks' comments but this one got me riled up.

Can’t believe she cut his hair. I would have been incandescent with rage. I hope it grew back quickly.

Ffs.

Our twins were born 14 weeks early and we had this too from a number of people. Oh and when I had our third child, a couple of people made comments about how it would feel strange for me to have a newborn and implied I would basically have to learn everything about looking after one. Like the twins we brought home at 3 months old, but still before their due date, had magically fast forwarded their development while in NICU and were actually at the stage of fully fledged 3 month olds or something?? They were 6lbs each when they came home and looked, fed, acted, slept, did everything like newborns. I don't get it. People are pretty clueless.

Not a stranger as such but I took my twins to a cranial osteopath because they both had awful reflux and he suggested rubbing rum on their gums to help them sleep.

Needless to say I didn't take his advice and never went back there.

Not from a stranger, but my mum! She told me not to keep picking up my DD (first baby) otherwise I'd never get a minute!

Thankfully she was a daddies girl but I actually listened to her 😬

I didn't make the same stupid mistake with my DS.

From a stranger - we were in HK on holiday tge kids were in buggies. It was warm and raining. I'd bought those rain coats for them in their buggies so they had a hat with beak and not a full clear cover. A stall holder offered me plastic to put over their faces 🙄 They were 2 and 3 yo and were too busy looking around and asking for stuff to be worried they had the odd rain drop land on their face, just like their GD, cousin, DD and I were! I was occasionally wiping their faces and I think that's what this woman saw. But plastic, seriously...

I'm surprised the other passengers let her get away with having said something so awful.

What a miserable woman.

I got told I was a bad parent by a shirtless bloke covered in tattoos including a large FUCK across his chest. Righty ho, thanks mate, I'll definitely be taking parenting advice from the intimidating looking person I'm actually trying to get my small kid away from.

When DD was a toddler, she was sitting in her pushchair and we were on the bus. I was making her laugh and a lady told me that I need to control my children better. Never understood that one, DD was only laughing!

🤣 It's nuts.

Plenty of boys have 'long' hair , especially if it's thick, curly or wavy.

Why do they care so much?

People who bleat about hair tend to have very short hair themselves, so perhaps it's an envy thing?

I do know women with short stylish cuts for practicality, but these women are not the ones suggesting haircuts to others all the time!

GP told me to stop feeding my newborn so much (FF) as it was causing his digestive issues. I was instructed to ignore his cries of hunger if he'd already had "enough" milk.

I was unable to do this but at the next weigh-in, despite overfeeding, he had plummeted down the centiles and was "failing to thrive". He in fact had CMPA and was comfort feeding due to the reflux.

Since diagnosis he has continued along the 50th centile line with no bother.

I had a ‘know it all’ neighbour who used to correct my son’s speech (when he was two and a good talker).

Because he wasn’t pronouncing words like an adult, she would make a deal and sound really patronising, I put it down to her needing to feel superior. The funny thing was, she used to mispronounce lots of words too and so I’d just pretend I couldn’t understand her. After a couple of attempts, I’d then say ‘ahh, sorry you mean xyz’.

Petty and passive aggressive I know but she was such an arsehole who would insult others with a smile.

My Barefooted baby having fun in the swing I was pushing.
snotty grandma pushing child in swing next to mine: “oh sweetheart, can’t mummy afford socks?”
the little git (I say that with so much love) would rip them off his feet and chuck them away all the time.

oh and another one….i didn’t have family help for childcare. This stuck up cow at a toddler group: “I’m happy to look after my grandchild so my daughter can have a career because I really love my daughter.”

🤣 I can't remember what footwear I had on, but I was in boots the chemist.

She was in her 80s, dressed in a two piece and pearls, lovely blow dry and very sophisticated looking, and told me to milk my husband with my pelvic floor to keep nice and tight. That's what she did with her husband and they were married for 60 years with no complaints.

I thought it was for a reality TV show or something to start with, but no, she was just being helpful.... I think.

In hospital room one day post natal and holding my baby sitting up in bed when a member of staff walks in and says that I shouldn’t be holding him as it will spoil him. Same person closes the window saying I will freeze him. About ten minutes later another staff member comes in and opens the window saying the poor baby needs some air. I nearly burst into tears as this parenting thing is clearly too difficult for me to ever manage.

My 6 month old had the most horrific eczema from head to toe. We'd just been to our first appointment with a dermatologist and I was following the exhausting routine to the letter. A random woman on the playground said 'oh look at her poor hands, whatever you do don't use steroids on her'. I wanted to say 'would you ever fuck off and leave me alone'. The steroids worked like magic and saved all our sanity

@narns I grew up in Jamaica and can confirm this does help. I do it will a saline douche as an adult.

The nurse in the NICU said the reason my DTs were in was because of my choice of an ELCS. 🤬
(DTs born at 34+4. My waters broke. But I stuck with my choice of ELCS based on my own research of twin births)

I don't mean to be rude, but she's not a good looking woman and never will be. Sis is very pretty. I've noticed that the women who bleat on about short hair are often very matronly and Trunchbull like. I absolutely think it's jealousy.

“I personally think it’s bad parenting to NOT sleep train.”

After they proudly described how their child learned to no longer cry after cry it out was used.

I was once told to put shoes on my baby…. He was about 3 months old at the time, obviously couldn’t walk and was in a sling on a warm day. Bizarre

On seeing my new born twins...."you are your husband need to get a telly" 🤔

DS who was reception age at the time was whining for some chocolate or something in Sainsbury's and my OH said the usual 'oh sorry, we've ran out of money this week/or no pennies for that today'. He understands things as black and white and this usually satisfies him rather than explaining the more nuanced reasons/sugar consumption etc.
A well meaning stranger came up to us and said in front of him, 'Oooo let him have what he wants; i'll buy it for him'. Obviously DS was delighted.
Think we just mumbled thanks and wandered off; didn't quite know how to explain our parenting choices/healthy financial situation 🙄

In response to DD1 being a bad sleeper "well, you chose to breastfeed, if you'd bottle fed she'd be sleeping through like mine were" 🙄

So weird! I had a random old fella on the bus ask me (no preamble) "Boy or girl?", nodding at my DD in her pram. She's a girl, I said, sort of proudly expecting a nice compliment on my lovely new baby.

"Well you want to dress her in pink then otherwise how is anyone supposed to tell?" he snapped in high dungeon and got off the bus.

....OK mate...😂

Also got told by another complete stranger that my 2 year old was too big to be in a pushchair, a 2 mile walk from home. About 5 hours later I thought to reply "and you're too big to be in that t-shirt buddy", but the moment had sadly passed.

Not from a stranger but my MIL. I was saying how it took me a little while to feel bonded with my baby as he was ill when he was born and I shut down a bit to cope.

Her response (and she was the only person to ever say anything about it, out of all the nurses, midwives, HVs, doctors etc) was 'Well I have to say...I bonded with mine because I breastfed. Perhaps that's the real reason why.'

A waitress in a cafe told me not to let my DD1 (aged about 2/3 at the time) run out of the cafe and onto the busy road. DD1 has always been the biggest goodie two shoes and would never have dreamed of doing that...nor would I have let her!

DD2 is 9 weeks, a couple of weeks ago DSIL came to visit, DD2 had a rashy face, DP told her how we were getting rid of it and she really laid into me about how I was doing it wrong. She also told me DD2 definitely didn't have a dairy allergy, the doctor disagreed she also said DD2 was way too warm and whipped her little summer dress off !
I should add I usually get on great with SIL but all of that rubbed me right up the wrong way! DP won't hear a word against her so it feels good to get that all off my chest!