What’s the most bizarre parenting advice you’ve received from your in-laws? Get involved with Hotel Transylvania 2 for a chance to win a £300 voucher! NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

Hotel Transylvania 2 have asked us to find out what the most bizarre advice is Mumsnetters have ever received from their parents in law….

In Hotel Transylvania 2, Drac is worried that his adorable half-human, half-vampire grandson, Dennis, isn’t showing signs of being a vampire. So while his mother Mavis is busy visiting her human in-laws with Johnny – and in for a major cultural shock of her own – “Vampa” Drac enlists his friends Frank, Murray, Wayne and Griffin to put Dennis through a “monster-in-training” boot camp. Mumsnetters everywhere will be familiar with differences in opinion with their in-laws although perhaps not quite on this scale…!

You can watch a clip from the film below

So, what’s the most bizarre piece of parenting advice you have ever received from your in laws? Maybe they they’ve got some peculiar natural remedies they suggested you use? Have they told you that they’ve found a fool proof way of getting your DC to sleep by just singing them a particular lullaby? Perhaps they think they’ve somehow come up with a way to make your DC do everything you tell them? Whatever it is, we’d love to hear it!

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 Love2Shop voucher! Runners up can also win 1 of 3 exclusive Hotel Transylvania 2 goody bags!

#HotelT2 is At Cinemas October 16 in 3D.

Thanks
MNHQ

Bite if they bite to teach them not to. That it wasn't worth trying to breastfeed my sexing child as I wouldn't have time and that babies only need to breastfeed for three minutes on each side and can't possibly need longer any link to the fact her milk dried up at three weeks could not possibly be considered.
The thing is, the advice was well intentioned and I'm sure my children will recoil with horror at tales of what we did.

sexing was meant to read second

Mil told me to try to get DD1 admitted to hospital by 9 months because DH had been in hospital at that age and the nurses had him toilet trained and walking within a week

Wonderful and well-meaning (but slightly mad) MIL insisted on tumbledrying all DS1's washed clothes, in case they were still a little damp despite having been hanging out for hours because if I put them on him damp he'll get arthritis.

Coco wins!

Fil idly mused on whether teaching toddlers swear words would mean then the novelty would wear off by the time they were "old enough to use them"...

My in-laws have not exactly been givers of bizarre advice.

The premise of this thread, however, despite the film it's linked to, is incredibly bizarre.

PILs- To put them in their own rooms from birth, and not to bother with one of those fancy monitors. Worked for them, apparently DH never cried not that they'd have heard him if he did, poor mite .

MIL insists her dogs are allowed to lick her newborn grandchildren all over their faces, to ensure the kids grow up to like dogs.

I'm a dog lover but not a fucking chance you crazy woman!!!

I managed to swerve that with both my newborns but had to witness it in stunned horror filled silence when she grabbed SIL's 12 hour old son, put him on the floor and let the dogs loose.
My poor SIL is so scared of her mother she did nothing.

It doesn't mater if babies crawl around on filthy dog hair covered floors....what wrong with germs?!!!

That the pretty crib festering in the damp basement for 30 years was fiiiine, mattress and all. It had mould on, managed to delicately suggest it stayed there for visits and then somehow my baby always seemed to fall asleep in the pram...

Some of the old classics such as indigestion whilst pregnant means a hairy baby, and some of their own like breastfeeding is selfish because grandparents can't have a cuddle when they want one!

Pil are actually Ok, but DM was full of 'useful' advice. Starting from drinking stout while pregnant for the iron (I wasn't iron deficient). Cabbage to dry up my milk to help wean baby early. She weaned all hers before 4mo on a full roast dinner apparently (really?!). No helpful advice on sleep but my brother had to be woken for feeds (yeah great thanks, good to know when your baby wakes hourly). Butter on bumps and cradle cap. Brandy for teething, even though he's not bothered by it. Trying to give him sweets and chocolate before he was weaned. She's nearly stopped now because I kept laughing at her.

My FIL suggestions were definitely along the alcohol lines. Trying to give sips of Guinness to a one year old for "strength"! Of gut or bones I'm still unsure, I did swear never to let him hold my baby with a pint within reach again though!

My head of a junior school MIL told me that I shouldn't tell my children what their genitals were called, correct names or otherwise, because those parts didn't need to have a name. She is a batshit old moo though.

Your child isn't talking yet (at nearly two) because you did baby signing so she doesn't need to.

MIL, when dd was 6 weeks old: you should give her Ribena in case she's a bit thirsty.

It was a nag. She said it every time I saw or spoke to her for months.

Put white wine in her milk to make her sleep
You don't need a newborn car seat. Angels protect babies when they're in your lap, only the British use carseats because we're so cold we don't even hold our newborns
If she's constipated, stick a stalk of parsley up her bottom.
Weigh the baby before and after every meal
Don't have a shower whilst pregnant, it makes the baby fall out of your fanny with the pressure of the water
Stop breastfeeding at exactly 6 mths because the milk turns sour then
Colostrum is what gives baby jaundice
Put a ginormous adult human sized tubigrip bandage around your middle after giving birth to gain your figure
Eat raw horse liver whilst pregnant and the baby will have good blood.

It was a while back, there are more, but those are the true WTF ones.

Don't hold newborn baby too much it will make their bones hurt

Strengthen your newborn by letting her hang on the clothesline as they can grip on and hang there. I don't share the conviction this was said with.

ThenLater your MIL is spectacular

OldTomato my nan swears up and down that the bones thing is true. In fact she has a few gems that I can't quite remember right now, but I'm always telling her that they are just old wives tales and her response is always "really??" With a look of disbelief on her face.

My pil do offer some odd advice at times. Mil's main problem when the dc were little, was she couldn't accept the fact that breastfed babies do not need extra bottles of water/juice.

Oh and fil in particular is obsessed with the dc wearing hats when it starts getting cold and if they dare to step foot outside the house while not wearing a coat or hat, they are sure to catch a terrible cold / flu or worse!!