What's the BEST worse advice you have gotten?

Andrea - posted on 02/24/2009

I wasn't even a mom...That was prolly the most annoying part.  I had never heard that stuff before. She still says it, but now I know a little more about who "they" probably are.  Ah life...It's a hoot ain't it?!

Melissa - posted on 02/24/2009

Every time I say they, I use my fingers as quotation marks....seriously, who the heck are "they". I agree it makes it much easier to reference a book, or someone at least. I drive myself crazy with using "they" so I can't imagine how annoying I might sound to other moms.

Andrea - posted on 02/24/2009

I'm with Melissa!  My baby isn't even born yet and if my mother-in-law (or anyone!) comes over and says they will hold the baby while I go do laundry I will prolly said that exact thing! LOL  I LOVE all of the advice!  I haven't heard anything too crazy (I think it helps that my sister already has a baby (ok she's not a baby any more --Almost 2) and so she straightened out my family with the non-sense advice).  I am sure it will come tho!  I can remember when she was preggo tho that she DROVE ME UP A WALL with all of her "they say" this and "they say" that...finally I was like...WHO ARE THEY? LOL now I make a point to reference a book or article when I refer to that.

Melissa - posted on 02/24/2009

Seriously!

Bethany - posted on 02/24/2009

I was just thinking that I can't wait to come back here in 25 years and see what our kids are saying about us! haha! :~)

Melissa - posted on 02/24/2009

Loving all the advice!!! Some of the things are hilarious!! I most certainly agree that you just need to use discretion when taking advice. I loved the "let me hold the baby while you go do laundry" hahahha that is the best!. I'd be like, "actually, why don't you make yourself useful and go do the laundry, and I will give the baby to grampie, and I'm going to have a nap. Come get me when the baby is hungry."

Kayla - posted on 02/24/2009

I haed heartburn real bad and my daughter had hardly any hair.

Erica - posted on 02/23/2009

I had absolutely NO heart burn and Shelby had a pretty thick head of hair. I think it has a lot to do with what you eat. I found if I ate crappy food than my tummy would bother me, so I just ate really healthy.

Nicole - posted on 02/23/2009

I worked with a bunch of old Southen ladies when I was pregnant with my first.  I had to try so hard not to laugh at some of the "advice" they would give me, it was ridiculous!! A few I remember are:

-Dont eat strawberries while pregnant, or baby will have birthmarks (Def not true!).

-You can start babies on cereal & baby food at 1 month old (what???).

-Give babies whole frozen grapes while teething (choking hazard???).

Jessica - posted on 02/23/2009

my lactation nurse also told me at the hospital to tap my son on the nose if he bit me as well. one thing people always tell me is to give my son water or juice in between feedings... the doctor says no way. but at 4 months she said its okay to try cereal.

Sara - posted on 02/23/2009

Quoting Kirstie:

"You know your own child best." Which is advice that I follow.

As for the"best" advice there's just so much:

Put a bit of pablem in the bottle.
Put HONEY on the soother. (I've actually got into an argument about honey with that one)
Why bother breastfeeding when you have access to formula.
There's a bunch more but I can't remember them all.

Honey on the soother - only if you want your child to get botulism!  I love how this started out - with the comment "YOU CANT DO THAT ANYMORE!"  It continues to amaze me what our parents did - and amaze me that we survived! 

Tina - posted on 02/23/2009

My son was ten days overdue and someone told me to lots of fresh pineapple. It didn't work just gave me even worse heartburn than i already had. Oh and my son had a full head of hair when he eventually decided to make his apperance!!

Bethany - posted on 02/23/2009

Quoting Donielle:

My mother always told me to tap my son on the nose with my nipple if he bit me while nursing....lol!

She also used to put him to sleep on his stomach "b/c that's how they did it in my day." -I had to get on her big time about that!

Grandparents...gotta love them!

Tap him on the nose!!!  haha!  That's funny!

Leah - posted on 02/23/2009

Best advice was" Listen to those who give you advice. BUT filter out the good from the bad."

Worst advice: "Let me hold the baby while you go do the laundry"

Both from my mother-in-law

Giselle - posted on 02/23/2009

Some of these are soooo funny...lol..and I have heard of all of these...I must say tho, I have been informed that the honey tip is not recommended as there are live spores in the honey that could cause some severe reactions....



Some bad ones I had:..

-Don't go on your hands and knees as it will cause the cord to wrap around the baby's neck.

-If you are having a craving, don't touch any part of your body as it will cause the baby to have a birthmark in the shape of of the craving.

-Don't look at any horror movies or accident coverages on the news as it will cause deformities in your child (I actually went to see Total Recal when i was 8 months pregnant and the elderly ticket taker would not let me in to see the film - I had to get the manager- saw the film and my daughter (18 now) still looks beautiful. LOL)

-When your baby has the hiccups, lick a matchstick and stick it on their forehead.

(there is tons more - I come from a very superstitious family, lol)



Good advice, and one i give to everyone and anyone....Be nice to your kids, they will pick your nursing home. :)

Laurie - posted on 02/23/2009

I was told by my husbands grandmother to get rid of our cats cause they would smother our baby b/c of the smell of milk from there mouths!



I was also told not to hang clothes outside cause lifting my arms above my head would strangle my baby.



Hung clothing up the whole nine months and still have my cats. The kids all made it through infancy w/o be strangled or smoothered. lol

Kelly - posted on 02/23/2009

Loretta-I know what you mean about that saying...I have always thought it meant what your husband thinks. And I'm thinking "well I guess my kids will be spoiled because no one is going to hit them with a rod!!" LOL. People of my parents' generation didn't seem to think children had feelings (at least where my parents grew up). They truly think kids don't grow an opinion until they are old enough to vote. And they sure were worried about spoiling a kid! I think a kid is "spoiled" if they think they are better, or more important, than other people, NOT because they know their parents love them. Anyway, off subject...just one of those differences between my mom and I...

Danielle - posted on 02/23/2009

I don't know. I admit there are some advice out there that parents need to take with their own discretion, but some of the advice that has been posted so far I have used and they are working out for me.

1) My son has been on a feeding schedule since he's been born and from 6 weeks old he has been sleeping through the night with a solid nap time in the day. I've read studies about how a somewhat structured infancy will help reduce baby fussiness, because the increased reliance from the baby to the parents.

2) We've fed our son a teaspoon of cereal in his bottle from 4 months old after getting the thumbs up from his doctor. We used a variable nipple he help it pass through the nipple. We are now at 5.5 months feeding him from a spoon.

3) Alot of women cannot breast-feed. I have known many women who have almost starved their children because of a lack of milk supply. My mother was one of those women. I was born at 6lb 10oz and at 2 months old I was down at 5lbs 4oz.

The worst information I have heard would be to
: not buy new nipples but to cut a bigger hole in it as he gets older.

Desiree - posted on 02/23/2009

How about: rub some whiskey on there gums for teething. That's a great one. When my 1st son was born his great0grandma came over with a 60's plastic bassinett and told me it was for him to sleep in-in the car. WHAT??????

Loretta - posted on 02/23/2009

"His body will tell him what he needs, so let him eat what he wants."  Something like that.  I believe it's true for babies (frequency of eating anyway), and for some people as adults.  However, if I let my 2-yr old eat what he wants, it would be nothing but chips, crackers, and cookies.

Another big one I heard from older people when my son was a baby was "Don't pick him up everytime he cries".  For a baby, that's definitely against everything I've read.

Also, I have to add one that drives me crazy to hear..."Spare the rod, spoil the child".  My husband and I have debated the actual meaning of this, because it could be taken more than one way.  I take it as, "Spoil the child, don't use the rod."  My husband sees the saying as meaning, "If you spare the rod, you will spoil the child."  I just don't like the saying now.

Heather - posted on 02/23/2009

Quoting Jennifer:

Quoting Melissa:

1. Don't reach over your head you will strangle the baby with its umbilical cord.
2. A lot of women cannot breastfeeding because they don't make enough milk or their milk never comes in.
3. Don't take baths because the dirty water and get in there and give you a bad infection.
4. My terrible heartburn means my baby will have lots of hair (to be determind :P )
5. The old ring over the stomach trick said I was having a boy....WRONG.

LOL  got to love #4.  I had horrible heartburn through 3 of my pregnancies and all were bald as an eagle!!

I didn't have any heartburn at all throughout my entire pregnancy...and my son came out with a full head of hair!  lol

I also had alot of people tell me that if the baby is active at night, during pregnancy, he won't sleep at all at night once he's born.  My son also is up all day...and sleeps amazingly at night  :)

Donielle - posted on 02/23/2009

My mother always told me to tap my son on the nose with my nipple if he bit me while nursing....lol!

She also used to put him to sleep on his stomach "b/c that's how they did it in my day." -I had to get on her big time about that!

Grandparents...gotta love them!

Kaitlyn - posted on 02/23/2009

My mother-in-law said to feed my son every two hours no matter what cause even though he was just a few days old he HAD to be on a scheduale........I have learnt noe that babs that young dont have any scheduale but their own..........

Bethany - posted on 02/23/2009

It's funny...my mom and I "discuss" the old vs new all the time but I can't really think of the specifics...I agree with the freezing the baby- my mom always wants to put more clothes on him and turn up the heat! One night we drove back from her house (30 mins away) and I had to change his jammies because he was so sweaty!

What I find interesting is how some of these things seem to have nothing to do with the generation...post anything about hungry infants on here and you are sure to get lots of people saying add cereal and lots of others saying "no- don't".

The only thing my grandmother and I "fight" about is I pull my sons socks way up to his knees so they won't fall off and she is always tugging them down because they leave lines on his legs! :~)

Kelly - posted on 02/21/2009

Ya know, its funny...I got all kinds of advice (it's neverending) about my kids from my mom. Usually I do have to ignore a lot of it because it goes against what doctors and experts say. But with my youngest, I was determined she would only have breastmilk until 6 months. My mother was after me to give her food at like 2 month. She was a very fussy baby, clingy, needed to be held constantly, etc. At 5 1/2 months I started her on cereal, and soon after veggies and fruit. She was so much happier and more pleasant after she started eating food! "They" say not to give them food too early, that it can lead to food allergies. Well, she had extremely bad excema, starting at about 3 months and the doctor said at that time she was going to have food allergies. When I weaned her at 15 months, I had to put her on soy milk because anything dairy would cause the excema to flair up. My point is, I probably should have listened to my mom, since keeping her from food didn't help anyway. I don't admit that to my mom though, because it I did she'd remind me of it every time I don't listen to her now! LOL-I guess we'll be the same when we get old. Another biggie with my mom is that she wants me to give my little ones cold medicine, which I refuse to do since now "they" say it can be dangerous.

Nettie - posted on 02/21/2009

"You're freezing your baby!"

My baby is very sensitive to heat and we always have our apartment at a cooler temperature to keep him comfortable and my mother-in-law bought him a thick, maggie simpson type outfit to wear in the middle of may because she was convinced that I wasn't keeping him warm enough and he'd freeze to death!! she was super offended that I exchanged it for a larger size for him to wear in the fall. Not all kids need to wear a hundred layers of clothes!

Melissa - posted on 02/21/2009

I also had really really bad heartburn and a baby with a full head of hair....hmmm....

Adrienne - posted on 02/21/2009

1) rubbing the whiskey on the baby's gums

2) soak bread in milk and feed it to the baby

The other ones I have heard have been told already.
But these ones were told to me when my son drink a lot at 1 1/2 months because of the hot weather in August. He was only uncomfortable because of the heat.

Maureen - posted on 02/21/2009

There is actually some truth to the whole heartburn/hair theory. 

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journ...

I had it bad most of my pregnancy and gave birth to a hairy monkey.  She is not quite 11 months old and I can just put it all into a ponytail. 

Kirstie - posted on 02/21/2009

"You know your own child best." Which is advice that I follow.

As for the"best" advice there's just so much:

Put a bit of pablem in the bottle.
Put HONEY on the soother. (I've actually got into an argument about honey with that one)
Why bother breastfeeding when you have access to formula.
There's a bunch more but I can't remember them all.

Jennifer - posted on 02/21/2009

Quoting Melissa:

1. Don't reach over your head you will strangle the baby with its umbilical cord.
2. A lot of women cannot breastfeeding because they don't make enough milk or their milk never comes in.
3. Don't take baths because the dirty water and get in there and give you a bad infection.
4. My terrible heartburn means my baby will have lots of hair (to be determind :P )
5. The old ring over the stomach trick said I was having a boy....WRONG.

LOL  got to love #4.  I had horrible heartburn through 3 of my pregnancies and all were bald as an eagle!!

Melissa - posted on 02/21/2009

1. Don't reach over your head you will strangle the baby with its umbilical cord.
2. A lot of women cannot breastfeeding because they don't make enough milk or their milk never comes in.
3. Don't take baths because the dirty water and get in there and give you a bad infection.
4. My terrible heartburn means my baby will have lots of hair (to be determind :P )
5. The old ring over the stomach trick said I was having a boy....WRONG.

Brenda - posted on 02/21/2009

1. You have to toughen your nipples up for breastfeeding by pinching them otherwise they'll bleed.

2. Breastfeeding hurts the entire time and you should just bottle feed and not even try.

3. Don't let your baby sleep in your bed, it will spoil them for life!  (I'm a cosleeping mommy now)

4. You have to set a schedule for the baby or they'll never sleep right.

5. Put some whiskey on the baby's gums for teething pain.

I will say I did use cereal in my baby's bottle.  He had an early need for food and started cereal before he was four months old.  However, he was an extremely large baby and ate a lot, and to avoid unwanted weight gain from too much formula we decided cereal was a better choice.  BUT every baby is different!

Maureen - posted on 02/21/2009

I got the rub nipples with a towel.....from someone who didn't bf.....

If only I could remember all what my grandma has said but most of it was in one ear and out the other.

I'm sure our children will be able to say the same thing about us, amazing how times change with research and everything!