So my last question today- promise!!
I asked a question earlier about feeding rice ceral in a bottle before the baby is "suppose" to have solids and someone mentioned that it was a mommy myth. so I was just wondering... what other mommy myths are out there that you have been told and have you tried them out to see if they work?
One of my ALL TIME FAVORITES is "sleep when they sleep"
I am NOT a stay-at-home mom, but when I was on maternity leave (just went back to work yesterday) with my second baby, I found that was the only time I could do much of ANYTHING around the house and they usually didn't sleep at the same time anyway!!
What were you told when you were a new mom that was a Mommy Myth???
I didn't listen to the "if you hold them too much you will spoil them" I loved on my babies (and even now at 16, 7 and 3) as much as I could!!
With my oldest I did sleep when he slept, but when my second was born I used the time when he was sleeping to give my oldest some one-on-one.
Ummm, breastfeeding helps you lose the baby weight.
In my experience the concept of nipple confusion is a myth. Both of my boys (3 1/2 and 4 months) used pacifiers starting when they came home from the hospital, and neither had any trouble breastfeeding or had any problems switching between bottle and breast.
I do disagree with you about sleeping when the baby sleeps. For me, getting some rest in those early weeks was way more important than getting anything else done, so I almost always napped when my baby did, even if it was just for 15 minutes. Turns out the laundry was still there when I woke up, and I was less cranky about doing it. :)
That my baby is too cold and he needs some socks and a hat and a blanket.
Um, it's 90 degrees outside. Babies are just as sensitive to heat as they are to cold. If you are hot, your baby is hot! My heart always breaks when I see a sweating baby bundled up in the heat. Overheating can also be extremely dangerous.
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It gets easier as they get older. Really? When? I was told this when my triplets were born and still waiting for it to get easier. It doesn't, it just changes.
then when I had my little one, I was told it would be so much easier with just the one instead of 3 at once. Honestly, 3 is easier. We cannot do ANYTHING. she is so incredibly independant. I think is she had been born first with her attitude and need to do everything right away (or yesterday it sometimes seems) we would have stopped at 1.
Waiting to see the fun really start in November when we have our little boy--which will be our last. Never let them say you will not have kids without help. 2 surprises later.....
That you should pick the baby up anytime they cry. And also that you should feed the baby anytime they cry. What the...?! As new parents, they told us that in the (attachment) parenting class we went to. The first year of parenthood was so miserable for us because literally every little whimper, I ran to the baby and tried to feed her. Of course she wasn't hungry all the time so it just made her more unhappy! That, and that if I "wore" the baby (in a sling) that she would be more secure. She hated the sling from day 1, and so did I because it made her so unhappy.
After calling my grandmother (the mother of 7) for advice, she told me to stop being an idiot and feed the baby at normal times of the day (the same times every day, give or take), that sometimes babies just need a good cry and that's okay, and that if I don't want someone clinging to me 24/7, probably my baby didn't want that, either. I followed her common-sense advice, and my baby was happier, I was happier, she ate and slept better... I guess grandma knows best! Ever since then, I don't care what the "conventional wisdom" is, I just do whatever works and is easiest!
lets see.....my husbands grandmother said we should give her a "sugar tit" because she wasn't getting satisfied off the breast when I 1st brought her home. Apparently in the old days, moms would put sugar in a dish towel and let babies suck on it to supplement before the milk comes down. I did not try that one out.
But, She also told me to let baby suck on a peppermint stick to settle her stomach. I asked the pediatrician and the pharmacist about that one and they both agreed that was good advice. SO, gramma was 1 for 1.
I definitely practiced the 'sleep when they sleep' - both as a single Mother to an infant and when I was in a relationship with my now husband. Whenever I could, I'd take naps with my daughter and we co-slept overnight too. I personally could care less if the house got let go a bit - I worked full or part time and/or went to school part or full time as well since her birth. I needed as much sleep as I could, the house could stay cluttered.
I also took whatever someone advised me about with a grain of sand and researched the advice they gave as well as researched what I thought I should do.
I have been able to sleep or at least nap when the kids nap once in awhile. I think if a person can, they should. BUT, it's not for me. When I sleep during the day I wake up cranky. BUT, I do go to bed early at night. The kids and I lay down at 8 and if they won't settle down we'll do a movie. But they usually fall asleep before the previews finish playing.
A lot of people told me sleep when they sleep....That so doesnt work with twins!!!! They dont always sleep at the same time! One of the wackiest ones that I have been told is to rub rubbing alcohol on the heel of an infant with a fever...it will lower the temp instantly....I tried it when my twins were about 6 weeks old and my son had a fever of 100, so didnt work and when I took him to urgent care, the dr asked me if I had been drinking...... she did laugh at me when I told her what I tried. Lesson learned!!!!
Never crawling and walking too soon was a sign of a learning deficiency or developmental delay.
Both my babies never crawled and my 2nd one walked at 9 months.....they are smart little cookies who did everything early!
MOmmaL.....that too.! I live in houston and people were always telling me to cover up my babies.....they were already too hot as it was.
