Worst Parenting Advice

GoMaltby18 · September 2012

Alright experienced moms, let's hear it! What's the worst advice someone ever gave you while pregnant or once you had the baby?

For me it's the classic: "stock up on sleep now before the baby comes!" If only that were possible. You never appreciate what real sleep is like until *after* the baby is here. Also, once you are pregnant you sleep like sh!t anyway, so this advice is useless.

A close second is "sleep while the baby sleeps!" This is absurd. Right, like I can just convince my adult body to catnap multiple times a day, be up half the night, finally sleep from 3am-6am and call it a nice, restful day. I don't think so.

FTMs, if anyone pulls this crap on you you have my permission to laugh and ignore them. Any parent who thinks either of these is actual advice is a) a moron b) delusional or c) has forgotten what life with a newborn/toddler is actually like.

AshasaurusRex · September 2012

I think the worst advice I've gotten so far is when my FIL told me we should spank my 18 month old daughter because she kept pooping in the bath. O.O

GoMaltby18 · September 2012

AshasaurusRex:
I think the worst advice I've gotten so far is when my FIL told me we should spank my 18 month old daughter because she kept pooping in the bath. O.O

Awesome. That will totally teach her. Thanks FIL!

burkems · September 2012

Oooh! Oooh! Another experienced mom told me the reason my 6 month old wasn't sleeping through the night was because I didn't offer both sides of the breast before bedtime.

jerseygirl81 · September 2012

on both of those!

MIL said to put rice cereal in his bottles to make him STTN. That's just dumb. She also said that we should reconsider the furniture we bought because dark wood would make him depressed. Also, that I should quit my job and be a SAHM because kids who go to daycare grow up to be drug addicts.

She's a moron.

Raquellyo · September 2012

A friend of a friend once told me that if my LO bit me that I should bite her back (and if she hits, to hit her back).

As soon as I heard her say it, I stared at her, then smacked her in the head and walked away.

bhawk0527 · September 2012

GoMaltby18:

Alright experienced moms, let's hear it! What's the worst advice someone ever gave you while pregnant or once you had the baby?

For me it's the classic: "stock up on sleep now before the baby comes!" If only that were possible. You never appreciate what real sleep is like until *after* the baby is here. Also, once you are pregnant you sleep like sh!t anyway, so this advice is useless.

A close second is "sleep while the baby sleeps!" This is absurd. Right, like I can just convince my adult body to catnap multiple times a day, be up half the night, finally sleep from 3am-6am and call it a nice, restful day. I don't think so.

FTMs, if anyone pulls this crap on you you have my permission to laugh and ignore them. Any parent who thinks either of these is actual advice is a) a moron b) delusional or c) has forgotten what life with a newborn/toddler is actually like.

Are you kidding me?? haha Thats the best advice For 3 months straight I only slept in 2 hour increments! Smile

kmb6881 · September 2012

GoMaltby18:

A close second is "sleep while the baby sleeps!" This is absurd. Right, like I can just convince my adult body to catnap multiple times a day, be up half the night, finally sleep from 3am-6am and call it a nice, restful day. I don't think so.

FTMs, if anyone pulls this crap on you you have my permission to laugh and ignore them. Any parent who thinks either of these is actual advice is a) a moron b) delusional or c) has forgotten what life with a newborn/toddler is actually like.

I absolutely tell people to sleep when the baby sleeps. It doesn't mean you're going to be rested, it means you're going to be slightly more sane and functional.

DS was on an hour and a half loop the first 6 weeks: eat 30 minutes, diaper change, sleep 45minutes-1hr. Meaning, I slept in max 45 minute incriments that whole time. You bet your ass I slept when the baby slept almost every single time. He started sleeping more like 2 hours at a time overnight after that, so I didn't sleep as much during the day then.

Worst advice: He'll start sleeping through the night once you give him solid food!

burkems · September 2012

jerseygirl81:
on both of those!
MIL said to put rice cereal in his bottles to make him STTN. That's just dumb. She also said that we should reconsider the furniture we bought because dark wood would make him depressed. Also, that I should quit my job and be a SAHM because kids who go to daycare grow up to be drug addicts.
She's a moron.

Jeebus criminately.

My sister's pedi told her to put rice cereal in the bottle. She did it. ::facepalm::

jerseygirl81 · September 2012

Maybe I just have issues, then. When my baby slept, I did everything BUT sleep! I screwed around on the internet chatting with my friends, read books, watched junk TV, worked out - everything that I still wanted to do that made me feel like "me." I don't know when else I would have found the time.

PinkGlitter2012 · September 2012

Raquellyo:
A friend of a friend once told me that if my LO bit me that I should bite her back (and if she hits, to hit her back).

As soon as I heard her say it, I stared at her, then smacked her in the head and walked away.

Awww....that breaks my heart!!!

mamawolf71 · September 2012

I have 2 teenagers and I actually did take little naps when they were sleeping, not every time , but sometimes . I dont think that's bad advice, just common sense. I also put rice cereal in my youngests bottle when he was about 3 months old per pediatricians suggestion.

Raquellyo · September 2012

I definitely snoozed when the baby napped, as much as I could anyway. Though most days I also ended up trying to clean some dishes, eat something, pee, etc, and then she would be awake again.

Someone also tried to preach CIO to me when the baby was like...3 months old. They're like "you can't keep going in there, she'll never sleep on her own" and I said "DUDE! She is 3 months old and she's crying because she needs something....like FOOD!" FWIW, she has been an awesome sleeper since pretty early on. But at that age, I think CIO is just cruel.

seblackb · September 2012

My father in law told my sister in law when she had her first baby to feed her cheerios at 4 months to get her to sleep through the night. I think he just remembered all those years ago, that when the kids were eating solid foods that they were sleeping through the night more consistently!

I think the dark furniture = depressed baby is along the same lines as that Saturday Night Live sketch about baby spanx (which I still think is hilarious).

metzy144 · September 2012

GoMaltby18:
For me it's the classic: "stock up on sleep now before the baby comes!" If only that were possible. You never appreciate what real sleep is like until *after* the baby is here. Also, once you are pregnant you sleep like sh!t anyway, so this advice is useless.
A close second is "sleep while the baby sleeps!" This is absurd. Right, like I can just convince my adult body to catnap multiple times a day, be up half the night, finally sleep from 3am-6am and call it a nice, restful day. I don't think so.

Both of those are equally stupid to me. You sleep like crap when you are pregnant and at the end I couldn't even get comfortable in bed. Luckily for me both kids slept through the night very early and took 2-3 naps a day. I was also never able to sleep while the baby sleeps. I would rest or get stuff done around the house. I have never been a napper.

The advice I hate the most is to wake the baby to feed them. Never ever wake a sleeping baby. When they are hungry, they will wake you up and let them know.

Oh and I just thought of another one: "keep the baby awake during the day so it will sleep at night!" That is so far from the truth. A baby needs like 18 hours of sleep a day. If you keep them up all day they will be overtired and won't go to sleep or sleep well at night. They NEED sleep!

GaiaEarthMom12 · September 2012

Raquellyo:
A friend of a friend once told me that if my LO bit me that I should bite her back

My family tells me that my dad tried this tactic with me. "You kept biting Dad, so he bit you back and you never did it again!" Not saying that I approve, but I thought it was funny when previous poster mentioned it.

jbonner3 · September 2012

Just about anyone that had kids 20 to 40 years ago that has given bad advice. There has been a lot of medical advances since then and things they used to swear by are now considered harmful. Sooo putting cereal in milk too soon, letting a newborn cry it out and a long list if other things just seem like such uneducated advise. You don't want to harm your baby now or affect their future health as adults. I guess my best advice is to educate yourself and follow your gut.

amoramoure · September 2012

jbonner3:
Just about anyone that had kids 20 to 40 years ago that has given bad advice. There has been a lot of medical advances since then and things they used to swear by are now considered harmful. Sooo putting cereal in milk too soon, letting a newborn cry it out and a long list if other things just seem like such uneducated advise. You don't want to harm your baby now or affect their future health as adults. I guess my best advice is to educate yourself and follow your gut.

Absolutely. Sometimes I would look at my mom after she would give me "advice" and wonder how my sister and I survived. Ha!

GoMaltby18 · September 2012

Ok, so maybe you could sleep when the baby slept with one kid, but how is that supposed to work with 2? It's not like your toddler is going to be napping every couple of hours (or at all, if they are anything like DS1). I think my biggest problem with this 'advice' is that like someone else said, it's common sense. It's not as if you are going to be sleeping when the baby is awake, but also getting a couple of catnaps here and there are not going to help you be well rested. Sure, you'll be able to function, but people say it as if hey! It will solve all your problems! Just sleep when the baby does! Genius!

Also, I am cracking up at the MIL who thought the dark furniture would depress her grandkid.

ring_pop · September 2012

My MIL told us around 3 months that maybe DS was crying in the car because his carseat was rear-facing. (He's almost always happy in the car actually, it was just that one day.)

Lovehavinggirls · September 2012

We received a lot of advice from people that had kids 10 years ago. I would always just listen to them and do what I thought was right for dd which was not usually the advice I was given. For some reason people love to tell you what they did for there kids and how they "survived" so it mst be fine. My favorite was always the cereal in the bottle my dd slept 12 hours a night starting at 3 months and people would still tell me to do that to get her to sleep better. There are some cases that cereal is recommended by the dr but unless my dr tells me to do something like that I would never do it.

jerseygirl81 · September 2012

GoMaltby18:
Also, I am cracking up at the MIL who thought the dark furniture would depress her grandkid.

Sadly, that's not the worst of it. I could tell you stories that would make your head spin.

jbonner3 · September 2012

amoramoure:
jbonner3:
Just about anyone that had kids 20 to 40 years ago that has given bad advice. There has been a lot of medical advances since then and things they used to swear by are now considered harmful. Sooo putting cereal in milk too soon, letting a newborn cry it out and a long list if other things just seem like such uneducated advise. You don't want to harm your baby now or affect their future health as adults. I guess my best advice is to educate yourself and follow your gut.
Absolutely. Sometimes I would look at my mom after she would give me "advice" and wonder how my sister and I survived. Ha!  

LOL, I've thought the same at certain times.

EMunion777 · September 2012

My friend told me that I should give my daughter a metal spoon to teethe on to cut her gums so her teeth could more easily come in and that she did that with her daughter. :O What the heck!?!?!?

ansleylibrarian · September 2012

The worst parenting advice for me was from my MIL. My SIL and I were pregnant together and her son was born 28 days before mine. So I was constantly hearing that he does that and does mine; or SIL lets her son CIO at night and so should we; and if our son spends the night she won't get him if he's crying. From my mom it was he doesn't have reflux, he is just collicky...Umm...ok...

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