The worst parenting advice
Everyone likes to stick their oar in when it comes to parenting and while
sometimes the advice can be helpful, sometimes it can be downright counterproductive.
We asked babyworlders for the worst parenting advice they'd been
given.
'To wire-brush my nipples'
I was told by a childless friend to wire-brush my nipples so that they
didn't disintegrate when I breastfed... no thanks! She also told me co-sleeping
and feeding on demand are making a rod for your own back. Um, really?
I thought I was getting some sleep, but hey, obviously you know better
seeing as you have no children whatsoever! My health visitor told me to
stop breastfeeding when I was depressed, when breastfeeding was the only
time I was happy at all (I didn't take the her advice on that one). Fredi
'To wake up our sleeping child for a feed'
'To wake up my second son for a feed (I was breastfeeding on demand) during
the night as he was too young to be sleeping through. He was three weeks
old at the time, weighed almost 9lbs and at almost 3 years I can count
the times he has slept through since on my fingers! I have no idea why
I actually listened to my health visitor.' Gail
'To not wake up our sleeping child for a feed'
'There've been a couple of gems. My mother (on the advice of colleagues
at work when they were discussing Fin not sleeping through at eight weeks)
suggested that if we put Horlicks in his 10pm feed, he wouldn't wake at
3am. Er, no, that could kill him! As it was he slept through at 9 weeks,
although we continued to wake him for a 10pm feed until he started weaning.
The health visitor advised against that as well, but then if we feed him
at 10pm, he wasn't likely to want a feed at 3am, was he?'
'To sleep when my baby slept'
'The advice I learnt to ignore was to sleep when they sleep. You're still
expected to keep some semblance of order in the house and as soon as your
head hits the pillow, a message goes out to all the local Jehovas Witnesses,
delivery men or neighbours with drills to let them know. Failing that,
your little one decides they don't fancy a sleep after all. As soon as
I gave up on the idea and started going to bed earlier instead, I got
a huge sense of relief that was almost euphoric.' cathdc
'To wait before offering a bottle'
'The midwife told me to wait 3 weeks to get breastfeeding fully established
before offering expressed milk. Well, by that point my daughter was totally
hooked on breastfeeding and for the next seven months refused point blank
to accept milk from any other source. I ended up knackered, frustrated
and resentful that I had a baby literally attached to me constantly and
no one else could ease the burden. This time I'm expressing immediately.'
belle86
'To stop co-sleeping'
'I think the 'sleep when they do' is great advice but then I am a lazy
mare. I fell asleep the other day in a public place when I had got my
son to sleep in his pushchair and an old lady actually woke me up to tell
me I should sleep when he does. My mum wanted us to stop co-sleeping because
she was worrying about it - but she was told it's our choice.' Susie
'To follow my instinct'
'Being told to "follow my instinct". Once I was comfortable with
acknowledging I had none, and that it didn't make me the worst mother
in the world, I was able to read a few parenting books. I felt much better
having some guidance and picked the bits that worked for us. Just goes
to show we're all different eh? Oh, and my gran was an advocate of wire-brushing
nipples.' Laura
'To give my three-month-old son Ribena' '
'My GP (thankfully now retired) told me to give my baby boy Ribena in
his bottle instead of rehydration sachets because it tastes nicer. At
the time my son was about 3 or 4 months old! On the way out of his consulting
room I muttered 'Chocolate Fireguard!' Mel
'To weaken my baby's feeds'
'The stupid advice that I was given was by my health visitor when
Patrick was about six weeks old. She was very "concerned" about the amount
of weight that he had put on and the amount of milk that he was taking
so she told me to take one scoop out of each bottle but use the same amount
of water. What she had failed to take into account was that he was just
shy of 9lb when he was born, was really long and wasn't actually fat -
the weight was in the length. But like an idiot I took her advice and
Patrick dropped his 2am feed at the same time and slept terribly until
a couple of months ago!' Karen
'To spend less time playing with my baby and do the housework
instead'
'I don't know about the worst but the most annoying was "sleep when
the baby sleeps". Yep, that's great if you have a baby that sleeps. I
didn't. And also while the baby WAS sleeping I was more concerned with
eating, bathing and getting things done around the house (once my partner
went back to work). Although my mother-in-law came out with a gem the
other day. "No wonder your house is a tip, you spend all day playing with
that baby when he doesn't even understand what playing is! Your time would
be better spent on housework!". Lindy
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