What’s the worst unsolicited advice you’ve had from nosy strangers?!

[DogsAndGin]

When you first get pregnant, the NHS should send you a big badge saying, “mind your own bloody business!”

Today, a lady overheard that I was pregnant and asked me ‘are you going to find out the gender?’

’Erm yes’, I replied.
‘Oh dear, what a shame! What an awful shame! It should really be a surprise, you know’.
Thank you for that, strange lady.

Then, like many other women, this complete stranger proceeded to tell me she had a miscarriage at 12 weeks.

I told a colleague I was pregnant as it affects our work, she immediately told me her first pregnancy ended in miscarriage, and, ‘good luck with this one, you have a 3 in 4 chance that it’ll work out’. At this point in the pregnancy, it’s actually more like 97%, but thanks for the unnecessary doom-mongering!

It seems that once you’re pregnant, everyone thinks it’s their business to know all about it! And why do women feel the need to immediately tell you they’ve had a miscarriage!? It’s not what a pregnant woman wants to hear, funnily enough.

So, what bizarre advice and over-sharing have you endured, unsolicited, from strangers during pregnancy?

I had a plumber here last week and he told me one piece of advice is he would give is it the baby is crying to just leave them?! I said thanks but I will be seeing to my baby if she cries as she may want feeding/cuddle anything, and it's the only way she has of communicating!

I should wear my wedding ring while pg (fingers swollen) so people don’t “get the wrong idea” about me

At six months: “You shouldn’t be walking up that hill, you’ll give birth.” Pal, I live in Brighton: if I didn’t walk up hills I’d be housebound. Also I went overdue to 42 weeks and nothing – not curry, not sex, not walking up a hill – could drag that baby out of me.

It gets worse when the baby arrives, OP! They all come out of the woodwork to critique your sling/pram/feeding method/how warm the baby is dressed.

That I should put my baby at the other end of the house so I don't hear her crying in the night.

My neighbour disapprovingly looking at my washing on the line and said, Surely that is dry by now.

It was a hot summer day and yes it probably was dry as had been out about 3 hours but I now leave the washing out from first thing until like 5pm to annoy her.

Just so random and pointless.

from a close friend who should have known better ‘oh so theres this trick where you hold both their feet with one hand while you change their nappies, makes it so much easier!’….

1. my baby was 3 months by this point
2. i helped raise my nephew when I was 17/18 and I’ve changed a loooot of nappies over the years
3. its not rocket science is it?!

That I should wash my face more often (when I had acne). Thanks Sherlock, had never thought before of using soap and water 😒. I felt very insulted also over the idea that I must be dirty because I had skin issues.

Slightly different, but currently 28 weeks with my rainbow baby following the loss of my first baby at 33 weeks last year. Was in hospital the other day for a check up and had the worst midwife I've experienced yet. She said, well at least you know you can get pregnant, hopefully this baby will come home and you'll have a baby then.
I went on to explain that I already have a son he's just not here, and this baby is not a replacement of him, she is his little sister - I have two children🤦🏼‍♀️
Also (just because I've experienced too many of these) when my son died I had one lady say, well at least you don't have to get up at 2am now! 😳

@Bubbles021 People are AWFUL. I’m sorry for the loss of your son

Thank you everyone! Just as I predicted - pregnant women have been enduring useless ‘advice’ for centuries 😂

@Bubbles021 Sorry for your loss. I don’t know how you didn’t punch that last one in the face! What an awful thing to say!

@LaBellina ah yes you’ve reminded me the time a family member told me I have serious eczema because I don’t wash. “Just splash some water on”… 🤣

@stuntbubbles it’s starting already, god knows how bad it will be when baby comes! MIL being a typical MIL already, telling me every product I need, choosing a pram already, telling me which toys I need (I’ve banned her from buying anything!) and for some reason she’s obsessed with making sure I wear dungarees 🤷🏼‍♀️

@mycat22 ahhh a mansplainer! Just what every pregnant woman needs 😅

I'm dreading this with my current pregnancy. With DD, my whole pregnancy was during covid lockdowns so I was spared the opinions of the general public!

Not advice, but a friend stayed with us for a few days when I was about 7 months. She was very overexcited about the baby and said something like "Oh you must tell me when he's moving, so I can feel him too!"

Er ... No?

She also irritated my husband by repeatedly referring to the baby by a name she liked. Very bizarre.

Asking me how many children I want (currently pregnant with my first) and when I say 'As of now, we only want one' and they proceed to tell me 'An only child is a lonely child' or 'X is an only child and hated their life'

I cannot handle people thinking they have the right to tell me how many children I should have!

My idiot neighbour advised me to keep the baby awake all day and for as long as possible as she would then sleep better at night. She was a newborn at the time 😂 and I'm pretty sure his wife was laughing at him in the background 😂

I had a bloke tell me about his wifes traumatic labour at a work networking event, he was pretty sloshed.

Looking back I do feel a bit sorry for him, I barely remember anything bad about my own not to plan labour but my partner sure does!

"Get all the sleep you can" Or "you think your tired now, wait till the baby comes"

Like seriously 🤣 no matter how much I sleep now I can't store it to use later!!! And also quite obviously I'm going to be tired when baby is here 🙈

@stuntbubbles I live in Brighton too! And 💯 hills everywhere. I did clifftop walk yesterday and I’m 38+4 , should’ve seen people’s faces 😂

during my last pregnancy someone told me my bump was too small and there was definitely something wrong with the baby 🙄

I hate it when people make comments that you're too small or tell you about their miscarriages. I am anxious person. I don't need either.

That because of the 9-year age gap between DC2 and DC3, we must have a DC4 or "DC3 will feel like an only child"