How to Deal with Unwanted Baby Advice
You’ve spent 9 months hearing all kinds of pregnancy advice about everything from what you shouldn’t eat to whether or not you should exercise. By the time the baby arrives, you’ve endured the patting of strangers, the prying questions about your “birth plan,” your baby’s name, and whether you’re going to breastfeed.
You’d think that it would get better once baby is here but it actually gets much worse. Once your little bundle arrives, suddenly everything from how baby sleeps, what baby eats, to why baby cries is up for open, public debate.
So, how do you handle it? When it’s 1:00 a.m. and you’re in line at your local superstore with every kind of baby bottle in the building because nothing is making your newborn happy at home the last thing you need is a “helpful” shopper to come along and tell you everything they know about babies. You may even find it hard to restrain yourself from melting down and screaming at them! But don’t! Parenthood gives us a crash course in patience: with your children and with strangers with good intentions.
Before you blow a gasket consider the following:
1. Who is the person giving the advice? If you don’t even like the advice giver, or disagree with their parenting style, you know right away to go ahead and disregard anything they say.
2. Why is this person giving you advice? Do they genuinely want to help you, or are they using “advice” to get in some backhanded criticism? “You’re not giving him cereal yet?“ or “Breastfeeding seems like so much trouble — why don’t you just give him a bottle instead?” “All of MY babies slept through the night at 2 months old!” Statements like those aren’t helpful!
3. Does what they’re advising make sense? I remember when I was struggling with a baby and I could barely find time to shower, people used to suggest that I prop my baby’s bottle on a pillow and leave her so I could shower. That’s just dangerous! The pillow could have fallen on her face, of the bottle could have leaked all over her face! On the other hand, when my daughter was very constipated, I got some very old fashioned advice to add a little corn syrup to her bottle to get things moving. I asked the doctor about that, and found that it was something that they still recommended today!
Above all, trust your own instinct before you take anybody’s advice to heart. Nobody knows your baby like you do.
Image: dsf.health.state.pa.us
