What did your parents do that would make the AAP's jaws drop?

agilber3 · July 2015

I'm staying with my parents for a week. My dad said to put my baby in the pack n play with a blanket. I said babies don't sleep with blankets now because they could suffocate. He was surprised to hear that.

My mom then told me that with me and my sisters (born in the mid-1980s) were put to sleep wrapped tight in a blanket, tummy down, and another blanket over us tucked into the mattress. It's a wonder any of us survived with all these new "rules". So... What did your parents or grandparents do that would shock the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics)?

danibonello · July 2015

My mom said the same things about blankets and tummy sleeping... she also said she gave me tons of Karo syrup for constipation, which has since been linked to poisoning babes.

Hawk&Eye · July 2015

My mom told me that she rode home with me on her lap when we left the hospital! What???

LadyBlood · July 2015

When told she wasn't touching my baby until she changed and washed her hands (she smokes) my mom was mad and told me "I smoked with all 3 of you kids!!" Well that's nice, those were your kids, this is mine.

uwemi · July 2015

My mom asked if I am giving LO water after every feed????
Also was shocked LO uses car seat, she insist my lap is safer

cassietegtmeier · July 2015

There's a picture of my mom breastfeeding me while smoking which back then wasn't a big deal.

SmrBrd2012 · July 2015

The whole blanket thing and also giving rice cereal at 2 months...

SmrBrd2012 · July 2015

Also, using baby powder which I guess is a no no now. I told my mom that and then a couple weeks later she gifted me some special baby powder that was $13! I just accepted it without saying anything...

courtneylevesque · July 2015

SmrBrd2012 said:
Also, using baby powder which I guess is a no no now. I told my mom that and then a couple weeks later she gifted me some special baby powder that was $13! I just accepted it without saying anything...

$13?!?! What the hell, is there golden flakes in it?

SmrBrd2012 · July 2015

LOL...Must be some organic type stuff. I want to check but LO is sleeping in his room now so I don't want to chance waking him up.

caseheela · July 2015

I have a tape of of the us at a family BBQ when I was like 6 months old and I'm in the stroller napping and my mother and everyone around smoking cigarettes 6 inches away...

Kye042 · July 2015

My parents brought up that we should give the baby water or he won't be hydrated and dipping the soother in whiskey when they're fussy hahahaha and my MIL was shocked when we said we don't heat up LO bottles

CanadaMom17 · July 2015

No carseats. Smoking during and after pregnancy. I had a walker. Slept on the tummy, with blankets. No bicycle helmets! I played outside unsupervised from an early age. Ran across barn rafters with friends...all things that would give helicopter parents heart spasms now too. :P

And I forgot: Cereal at 3 weeks old - my mom was hospitalized, and my grandmother decided I needed something to 'stick to my ribs'.

marijaa333 · July 2015

Not feeding on demand, sleeping on tummy, giving water, car rides in a bassinet... how did we live through it?

nursej519 · July 2015

SmrBrd2012 said:
Also, using baby powder which I guess is a no no now. I told my mom that and then a couple weeks later she gifted me some special baby powder that was $13! I just accepted it without saying anything...

What ?? Baby powder is bad??? I use it on my LO...

ltcamacho · July 2015

marijaa333 said:
Not feeding on demand, sleeping on tummy, giving water, car rides in a bassinet... how did we live through it?

Car rides in a bassinet?? Lol I hadn't heard that one!

kby721 · July 2015

My mom showed me a picture of me in a car seat and you should have seen the thing. It was made of the most flimsy plastic and it was gigantic. Also, my aunt told me she was a smoker when she had her three kids. She smoked a pack a day at the time so her doctor advised she cut back to a half pack per day while pregnant!!

agilber3 · July 2015

My MIL put her 4 kids on their backs and the doctors told her to feed them water before they were 6 weeks old. And her doctor and his wife fed their kids every 4 hours when they were babies. Can you imagine listening to the crying?!

agilber3 · July 2015

Tummies not backs!

ashtownyeah · July 2015

This was my grandparents, not my parents butttt ....

Back then they would do X-rays instead of ultrasounds, and my dad's mother was told she was having a huge baby when she was pregnant with him. Nope. TWINS. Didn't find out until she delivered.

Could you imagine thinking you're going to have one baby and coming home with two?! My dad is in his mid-50s, so it wasn't that long ago either!

ftm0413 · July 2015

@nursej519 Just don't splash it in her face and everything's gravy! The concern is that they might inhale the little particles. I just use my opposite hand to control any teensy bit of cloud that might possible be created.

You're good. Powder on my friend

cherindi · July 2015

Can I ask what's wrong with giving baby boiled cool water? Here in Australia its recommended to give Bub some water to help with constipation

DMEL · July 2015

Rice cereal at birth!! It's crazy how things have changed

DrD30 · July 2015

There is a pic of my mom breastfeeding me with a coffee in front of her and a smoke hanging out of her mouth. I am super healthy so it's kind of funny now.

montanchelsy · July 2015

My mom gave my Brother rice cereal in his bottle from day 1. Since he was a big baby.

My MIL had identical twins but didn't know until she delivered them.

jodi1008 · July 2015

My grandma would lay my mom and her brothers on the seats in the car when they were babies since there weren't car seats

rachelarynxo · July 2015

nursej519 said:

SmrBrd2012 said:
Also, using baby powder which I guess is a no no now. I told my mom that and then a couple weeks later she gifted me some special baby powder that was $13! I just accepted it without saying anything...
What ?? Baby powder is bad??? I use it on my LO...

Cornstarch based powder is okay! It'll say it on the bottle

agilber3 · July 2015

cherindi said:
Can I ask what's wrong with giving baby boiled cool water? Here in Australia its recommended to give Bub some water to help with constipation

Americans, correct me if I'm wrong, but we are told that water shouldn't be given til age 1 because babies need to get nourished from breast milk and the fear is that they will fill up on water and not get nutrients. I also read somewhere about throwing off the electrolyte balance too. Idk... Could be urban legends though!!

CanadaMom17 · July 2015

agilber3 said:

Can I ask what's wrong with giving baby boiled cool water? Here in Australia its recommended to give Bub some water to help with constipation
Americans, correct me if I'm wrong, but we are told that water shouldn't be given til age 1 because babies need to get nourished from breast milk and the fear is that they will fill up on water and not get nutrients. I also read somewhere about throwing off the electrolyte balance too. Idk... Could be urban legends though!!

No, there was a death recently in the US of a baby given water. Breast milk & formula is already mostly water.

mrscimino914 · July 2015

CanadaMom17 said:
No carseats. Smoking during and after pregnancy. I had a walker. Slept on the tummy, with blankets. No bicycle helmets! I played outside unsupervised from an early age. Ran across barn rafters with friends...all things that would give helicopter parents heart spasms now too. :P

And I forgot: Cereal at 3 weeks old - my mom was hospitalized, and my grandmother decided I needed something to 'stick to my ribs'.

What's wrong with a walker?!?

Letting me cry it out. Cereal in bottle. Thinking formula will fill baby up more. Smoking around me.

LadyBlood · July 2015

cherindi said:
Can I ask what's wrong with giving baby boiled cool water? Here in Australia its recommended to give Bub some water to help with constipation

There is a risk of malnourishment by providing the baby water rather than breast milk or formula. And at least in the us, it's not recommended to give baby anything other than formula or breast milk until 4 months at the minimum, and that's usually for baby cereal, I don't think water is recommended til closer to a year.

LadyBlood · July 2015

mrscimino914 said:

CanadaMom17 said:
No carseats. Smoking during and after pregnancy. I had a walker. Slept on the tummy, with blankets. No bicycle helmets! I played outside unsupervised from an early age. Ran across barn rafters with friends...all things that would give helicopter parents heart spasms now too. :P

And I forgot: Cereal at 3 weeks old - my mom was hospitalized, and my grandmother decided I needed something to 'stick to my ribs'.
What's wrong with a walker?!?

Letting me cry it out. Cereal in bottle. Thinking formula will fill baby up more. Smoking around me.

Now walkers aren't recommended out of the fear of them being top heavy I guess and tipping over... I didn't know that until like a week ago!

marijaa333 · July 2015

@ltcamacho

Yep, from what I understand it was a newer version of this:

https://www.grayflannelsuit.net/blog/is-this-the-least-safe-baby-car-seat-ever-1969-sears-catalog

kby721 · July 2015

LadyBlood said:

mrscimino914 said:

CanadaMom17 said:
No carseats. Smoking during and after pregnancy. I had a walker. Slept on the tummy, with blankets. No bicycle helmets! I played outside unsupervised from an early age. Ran across barn rafters with friends...all things that would give helicopter parents heart spasms now too. :P

And I forgot: Cereal at 3 weeks old - my mom was hospitalized, and my grandmother decided I needed something to 'stick to my ribs'.
What's wrong with a walker?!?

Letting me cry it out. Cereal in bottle. Thinking formula will fill baby up more. Smoking around me.
Now walkers aren't recommended out of the fear of them being top heavy I guess and tipping over... I didn't know that until like a week ago!

Walkers with wheels are not recommended because there's a risk of falling down stairs in them. That's why they came out with the saucers that remain stationary.

justkeeptrying · July 2015

Agreed with PP. The walkers with wheels are a risk around stairs. This coming from the person who fell down the stairs as a baby in her walker. I still have the scar on my chin to prove it

mrscimino914 · July 2015

Wow thanks. I wasn't going to get one anyways because we have carpet and I thought that would be to difficult for little one. But that's interesting I had no idea!!

babinante · July 2015

Yeah I do too

ashleyandely · July 2015

https://www.golombhonik.com/Practice-Areas/Dangerous-Drugs-Medical-Devices/Johnson-Johnson-Talcum-Powder.aspx

My moms cancer doctor said that it's very likely her use of baby powder caused her stage 3 ovarian cancer. Not to scare anyone. Just make sure it's talc free!!

MrsWhiteToBe · July 2015

My 7 week old recently started cutting teeth! Apparently my husband and I also started teething before we were 3 months old so she's just taking after us. My mom told us to give her a frozen teething ring! I told her DD is too little to regulate her body temperature so there's no way I'm giving her anything that cold. Sure enough I called the dr to ask and she said giving them anything frozen could cause frostbite! She thought the dr was crazy bc when I was little, not only was I given frozen teething rings, but mine were made of metal! No wonder I had such bad teeth as a child.

My mom thinks anything the dr says is crazy. She did the same thing with me sleeping on my stomach with a blanket, in a house with no a/c IN FLORIDA. She says "I did it and you were fine!" And I try to explain that doctors know a lot more about SIDS and she basically said sometimes babies just die and you can't stop it. Wtf????

odawg · July 2015

I think this thread just made it so obvious that we are a little crazy protective.....smoking and no car seats is clearly an issue but shoot we cant protect them from everything without letting them live! I hope everyone cares this much when their LO is older. Kids need to be outside using their imagination not eating cheetos and watching TV while using smartphones all day because parents stop parenting.

HeatherC21 · July 2015

ashleyandely said:
https://www.golombhonik.com/Practice-Areas/Dangerous-Drugs-Medical-Devices/Johnson-Johnson-Talcum-Powder.aspx

My moms cancer doctor said that it's very likely her use of baby powder caused her stage 3 ovarian cancer. Not to scare anyone. Just make sure it's talc free!!

I've heard this as well about baby powder.

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