Does some people's parenting advice just make you want to scream?

I was in this gift shop yesterday. I was with my mother. The lady working there had some bad advice for me.


She saw my daughter (4 months) and asked ';Does she sleep throught the night?';


I said ';Yea, she will sometimes get up between 2-4 am for one feeding.';


She said ';Are you bottle feeding?';


Me: ';No';


She said ';Well, with my twins, after 3 weeks we just could't take it anymore so we put a little cereal in their bottle and they slept through the night.';


Me ';Ummm.....';


My mom (who thinks waiting until 6 months is too long) ';She won't even give the baby cereal on a spoon!';


The lady ';Well, I know that their doctor would have told me not to, but I didn't care. I do what I want.';








AH! I just wanted to tell the lady she was WRONG WRONG. But, I was polite.


Anyone have a similar experience they would like to share?Does some people's parenting advice just make you want to scream?
She wasn't WRONG WRONG.


It obviously worked for her, and while I would not do it, she knows what is best for her own children.





Parenting is different for everyone, everyone has different styles.Does some people's parenting advice just make you want to scream?
Yes I agree I would NEVER put cereal in a babies bottle. However a lot of people do. I hate un wanted advice as well, but its part of being a parent unfortunately. I just smile and think in my head ';What an Idiot, I would never do that!';. Some lady once told me to heat up oil and massage the baby with it for a good nights sleep! WTF : )
I get that a lot because I have a fussy 4 month old. People always ask ';Is he hungry';. Since I am breastfeeding of course ';Well is it enough';...';maybe you should put him down and let him cry';...';is his diaper dirty';





I know people THINK they are helping, but when you are a new Mom you really do not need that kind of ';help';.
What works for one mother doesnt always work for another but i know what you mean





my mother in law is a nightmare for it! My daughters nearly 2 now but when she was a baby the MIL would rant on about what it was like when she had babies! i used to want to tear my hair out!
My annoying MIL assumed that my pregnancy would be just like hers and that my baby would be exactly like one of hers. SO annoying! She fed her sons solid food at one month and expected me to do the same. Um...NO! She dismissed my doctor's claim that this increases the risk of allergies by saying that allergies are in your mind. Oh boy...
Yes--I am annoyed by people telling me to pierce her ears now because it won't hurt. If it won't hurt, why do they cry? It makes no sense.





I've been told the cereal thing, too. ';Put some cereal in her bottle.'; I just said, ';Oh, I breastfeed.'; That stopped that conversation, at least!
I F%26amp;KIng hate people who always give the dumbest most stupid advice, That woman proberbly let the baby at birth in his cot to feed his self. Dont listent to the wrong advice
Every parent will find that different pareting styles/techniques work for their kids. What works for yours, may not work for theirs and vice versa.
I hate it!! I have three kids (oldest is 5 and youngest is 5 months) you'd think people could see that I no longer need advice..especially the 2nd nature one's.
I have gotten some advice like that from other mothers. My MIL is actually pretty great and doesn't say too much about how I should be or what the baby will be like. I am due in August with my first, so I haven't gotten into everyone trying to give me advice all the time yet. If they try, I tend to change the subject or ignore them.


I have been told several times that I should take 2 Flinestone vitamins and drink lots of gingerale. I understand that some people can't take the regular prenatal vitamins so they must rely to Flinestone. A coworker of mine told me I should take the chewable kind to help with the morning sickness - this is after she asked me how many months along I was (I was 4 months at the time) and if I have felt sick at all (which I didn't). I walked away from her after she made the statement.
I just love her answer to the fact that u're NOT bottle feeding, i guess u should learn how to put cereals in your breasts, so that the baby would not wake up for that 1 feeding... Well i have a son same age as urs, he wakes 2-3 times per night for feedings %26amp; kicks me all night long hehehe, he wants to be held ALL the time, and i do it! God how much i hear that i'm teaching him to be spoiled and what's not from EVERYONE!! except for dad %26amp; hubby heheheh, mom says different things, she even once asked a psychiatrist that my daughter is holding her son a lot, do u think that something is wrong with her? %26amp; i happened to be with her in the room!!! the psychiatrist is a friend so she smiled to mom and didn't answer hehehe... I told her thanks :D


Parents do the darnedest thing loooooooool
Meh, I just ignore stuff like that. While I was on maternity leave, when my son was about 3 weeks old, I stopped back into the office for a few hours. My premature delivery had been sudden and there were a few loose ends to tie up.





My boss asked me how things were going and I said great, but that of course I was exhausted. He looked all ';wise'; and said ';Just put him in his crib and let him scream for a few hours. We did that a few nights in a row and then they slept through the night.';





I just nodded and smiled. I actually know his wife and somehow I doubt that is actually how it went down anyway.
My MIL was puzzled by the fact I don't make my own formula by mixing egg yolk, cow's milk, and karo syrup. She doesn't understand why people pay so much for formula, lol. When I tell her that's not how it's done anymore, she replies, ';Well, we did what we had to do back in the day!'; She also thinks I should have her solely on cow's milk by 3 months. And don't get me started on the whole cereal debate! Apparently, back in the day her kids had cereal at one month old.
My sister always says about how she puts her niece down to bed with her bottle for her to drink when she wants it. Can you say tooth decay?!





She also says I can give my son minced beef anytime now. He's just over 5 months old.





There are probably more, but I can't think.





My mum thinks I should give Luke more water between meals. I think he gets enough from his formula and food. I offer him some in a sippy with meals, as advised by the HV.





Strangers have never tried to give me advice, thankfully!
My mum used to constantly nag me to give my breastfed newborn drinks of water. When he cried she used to say it was because he was thirsty proceed to run his dummy under the tap (not even cooled, boiled water!) and then put it in his mouth.





When he was a bit older and I weaned him onto solids and started giving him water with his meals, she said how much happier he was now that he wasn't dehydrated.





She also used to wrap him up like he was heading off to the north pole in the middle of summer.





Love her to pieces even though. X
my mother in-law was so anxious to give my premature son water, plain water. she felt that he would dehydrate without it and i tried to convince her that this is not the case and that my breast milk and formula has tons of water already. also, my son is getting his molars now and so he pulls at his ears bc the pain goes to his ears too and i took him to the doctors to be sure he didnt have an infection (which he didnt) and they told me it was indeed his molars coming in and so my FIL saw him pulling his ears and said ';oh, he has an ear infection';, and i was like, ';no i took him to the docs and they checked, it's his molars';, and then he said ';you cant trust doctors, they kill people'; and i was like ';oh sure';. i didnt get mean or anything because i didnt want to offend him, but i was thinking ';are you crazy!!!! doctors SAVE lives!!!';. also, my MIL told me to drink more milk to get more breast milk. i usually just listen to what they say and others say and agree, but i dont ever follow the advice if i know it's not accurate. if im not sure about it and it sounds good, i call the doc and see what they say or else i research it myself first. anywho, i understand what you mean. i've gotten crazy advice from many many different people, including my own mother and sister :-)
Its just because the medical advice changes so often. My mum was advised to put rusks in with my milk when I was a baby (I'm 28 now) She was also advised to drink Guinness when she was pregnant.





My mums, mum, was told to wash out baby bottles then rub salt round the inside to sterilise them.





Some people take their parents (outdated) advice on what to do with their babies. I followed current guidelines as I imagine most do.





Give it 10 - 15 years people will be shocked and appalled by the way we did things with our babies.