Worst Baby Advice Ever

My grandma told me "Don't lift your arms over your head or the umbilical cord will strangle the baby." -Kendrick

My baby's doctor told me to start him on solids at 4 weeks old. WHAT?! -cary171

"Smoking during pregnancy or around kids doesn't really hurt them," says the woman who practically coughs up a lung every day. WTF kind of advice is that? I, for one, have asthma. MIL smoked through her pregnancy with my little sister-in-law, and the kid is 10 and has had breathing problems since she was born. MIL also smoked inside her house, around her daughter. She also insists I NEED to give the baby a paci. I didn't for 5 weeks, and the doctor told me to try it so I wouldn't be a human paci... Well, DD hates the things. My mother told me to put maple syrup on it. -Crystal1985

A friend of mine thinks it's ok to medicate a child when they travel even though the child isn't sick. It bothers me so much that she does that. -ParentsHostTammy

My MIL gets after me every time I take something potentially dangerous away from my daughter that she could choke on (she did the same with my son). I've tried to be more relaxed with my second - and she's choked TWICE!!! So, now when the MIL says something I remind her that no one is going to stop me from protecting my daughter's life the best I can. My MIL had my son for a day and told me ground up apples in the food processor and fed them to my son and then in the same breath told me she fed raw ground up apples to my husband when he was little and it made him terrible sick... what the??? But then she fed them to my son?? CRAZY I tell ya. -MotherboardMom_Ashley

During a hard growth spurt at around 8 weeks, I mentioned to my mom how hard it was on me and she told me I should just start feeding him cereal since he obviously wasn't eating enough! -rattlesnake717

The worst and craziest "advice" I got was from my grandmother when she found out I was pregnant. She was all concerned because we had three cats at the time. She came to me and was very serious and asked what we were going to do about the cats. I said, 'what about the cats? I doubt they'll want much to do with the baby and they've been declawed.' They're pretty much scaredy cats, so they're not going to hurt him. Well, she was positive that they would go lay on him when he was tiny and "suck the life out of him." Then to top it off, I had a coworker voice the same concern, except to make hers sound more "plausible" she said that they'd suffocate the baby trying to lick the milk off his lips. Seriously people? -AmandainIndy

I tried to breast feed my baby and wasn't producing enough milk and this older polish woman across the street from me got mad because that's the best for baby. Well, excuse me for not having milk in my breasts. She tries to be motherly, but I don't like her advice, she says it in a nasty way. God forbid I don't do it her way, this is my kid not hers! -jmilau14

"Dip her paci in red wine, it's good for her and will help her feel better!" Seriously? -ParentsCMKathy

My grandmother was forever telling me, "Don't pick him up - you'll spoil him"! I guess that goes with the whole "Let him cry" thing, and "He's only exercising his lungs"! Said grandmother also swore that a tot of whiskey in his bottle at night would help him sleep! It's not like he ever had any problems in the sleep department anyway! -Venezia

I'd have to say the very worst parenting advice I ever got was from a nurse when I was 25 weeks and spotting and having contractions. I spent the night at Labor & Delivery being monitored, and when I got discharged she told me to go home, have some wine or wine coolers, lay on my back and relax. ?!?! Also when my son was about 10 months my mom told me to rub some margarita on his gums when he got whiny......... very interesting! -rubys1321

"Don't cross your legs while pregnant. Doing so would cause the umbilical cord to wrap around the baby's neck and strangle it." And, "if your baby gets the hiccups, take a piece of thread, wet it with your spit and make a dot with the string and place the spitty string in the middle of the baby's forehead and the hiccups would go away." -LDSmum

I must say that the worse parenting advice I got was from my BIL who one day when I put DD's car seat in their minivan because I was taking DD (17 mo at the time) and my 3yo niece and nephew for the day. He told me that because DD was over 1 year and 20lbs I should switch her to forward facing because she would be more comfortable. Seriously. Her seat holds RFing to 35lbs, and she had at least 3 inches in height left RFing. Every time I try to explain to them how much safer rear facing is they don't listen, and respond that they turned my niece and nephew FFing at their first birthday, and their ok. That's only because they haven't gotten in an accident. -worseangel

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