The Obsession with Current Recommendations

Omg I was just thinking about this the other day. It's kind of like how CPR training changes very few years because it's all wrong. Lol

I tend to listen to my gut a lot.

I think all the food ones are crazy. I get that if you have a history of food allergies it may be a good idea to restrict some foods known to cause allergies but otherwise I see no problem.

Baby warnings have gone the way of the safety warnings on devices. If you are the person who reads a hair dryer and says duh! of course you don't use it in the bath tub then all the baby warnings aren't meant for you. :p Seriously I think that would actually make a good rule of thumb, if you have ever found a safety warning to be news to you then maybe you should look into the baby warnings, they may be helpful.

omg, i'm SO with you! the pendulum swings wildly (albeit slowly) from one extreme to other, with the 'experts' quick to condemn us as Bad Parents if we don't scurry to keep up with fads.
i suppose there's no need to rock too many boats, but i've got enough rabble rouser in me that i think i'd have gone to the wall with the hospital over a stupid, pointless form like that. what would they have done if you hadn't signed? kept the baby? informed CPS? the police? your pediatrician? kept you on a List?
asshats.
@@
khairete
S.

take it with a grain of salt.

There is an age gap between 1-3 and 4-5. When I went to WIC with 4 &5 I actually started laughing at some of the things that was on there. They looked at me very seriously and said these are here for a reason. I tried my best to wipe the smirk off my face and listen to what they said. At a follow up appt my kids were right on track with everything, the lady said Im so glad you followed what we showed you... little did she know I threw the papers away when I got home and kept doing it "my way".

My oldest was a hungry little guy!! At a month old I was feeding him 8oz every two hours.. we started feeding him cereal at night before bedtime. That was the only way I could get any sleep! He has never been an over weight child, now at 15 I think I should start feeding him cereal again before bedtime because he is a string bean!

All 5 of my kids were belly sleepers. They hated being on thier backs to sleep. They also had blankets covering them and when they started moving in the crib, they had bumper pad around the crip.

I also gave my kids fruit before veggies when introducing solids.. they still age the veggies!

With my oldest we also put blackberry brandy on his gums when he was teething...

All of my kids used walkers... they all walked when they were suppose to. My oldest actually started walking on his own at 10 months.

again use common sense, some of the old wives tales are there for a reason and take it with a grain of salt.

One of my personal favs is...Coffee... it's good, it's bad, it's good, it's bad...Drives me nutso too!!

Everything in moderation. I say just don't play into the hype. What ever works best for you, do it.

Parents should do the research and then make the decision that works for them. My oldest is 20, my youngest is 2 there are so many things that are different when it comes to recommendations.

I don't adhere to the food restrictions since we have no allergies, but after much research I did decide to not feed any solids till 6 months.

Baby on the back; baby on the tummy. I chose to let them sleep however they were comfortable, which was usually on their sides.

Pacifier; no pacifier....whatever my child wanted.

I of course have my hills to die on and there are things I do not do that I might have done with my older but that's not necessarily because of all the new restrictions but because I believe that it is the right choice.

First with the sleep positions my daughter slept on her stomach. When she was born and they put her in the little bed she rolled over on her side. She was never comfortable on her back. On her back she would jerk her arms and legs. It seemed like she thought she was falling or something so she slept on her stomach.

The recommendation that bother me was when to let her eat certain foods. My daughter never cared about eating. She never drank a full 8 oz bottle. When she was at 2 months she wasn't drinking 4 ozs o formula so I substitued it with cereal. The dr told me I shouldn't but I did it anyway. She wasn't gaining weight. Always well below standards. She is a healthy 5 year old so I think I did just fine.

Sort of like on the chain saw package it says "do not try to stop with hands or feet." Really, like I couldn't have guessed that one.

I ignore most of what is being spewed towards us. Sometimes people think they know best when really common sense should prevail.

Then there are those who have no common sense.

Boy, do you have me laughing at that idiotic paper the hospital "made" you sign. Would they have refused to give you your baby if you hadn't signed it? How about letting baby suck his hand or thumb? How would they have removed that? I GAVE my children paci's so that they wouldn't suck their thumbs. My nieces sucked their's and put their fingers up their noses at the same time, and I didn't want my kids to do that. Infants have a sucking instinct and they need to do it. It did NOT interfere with their nursing either. What a crock!!

Then again, the idea that a paci prevents SIDS is ridiculous too.

Common sense is what is important. Babies have malleable heads. That's why they come out a bit pointy after a vaginal birth or round after a c-section. Changing around how they lay will help them not have a flat head. Laying an infant on their side or back is healthier than on the tummy until they are older and can lift their heads. But spitting up while laying on their backs can make them choke until they can turn themselves over. Common sense!

I watched my older son spit up laying like that and it scared the beejeebers out of me. Thankfully he could sleep on his side. When I put him in his regular crib at 8 weeks, he wanted to be on his back. Thankfully, no more spitting up! My younger son could not tolerate side or back sleeping. The doctor told me to try his stomach. What a blessing. He is still a stomach sleeper all these many years later.

Back then the recommendation was no cereal until 4 months. Now it's 6 months. You would think someone who offers their baby rice cereal at 4 months is an ogre. If baby can't tolerate it, then wait another month or two. Common sense!!

I ignore recommendations that spread fear without offering scientific explanations. SIDS is real, but not everyone needs a crib alarm. However, no pillows or stuffed animals in the crib is a no-brainer. Babies' tummies need to mature before giving them anything but breastmilk or formula, but hundreds of thousands of babies' bellies matured at 4 months. Did it all of a sudden magically change to 6? If I had a baby now, I'd wait til 6 months because my doc would say to wait. But that doesn't mean that what I did years ago was wrong.

Common sense. That's where it all lies, Mom.

Dawn

I believe reccomendations are made with the data available at the time. As more data comes in and breakthroughs in medicine and science are made, those reccomendations are revised.

I also believe we have a duty to do our own research and decide for ourselves. I don't blindly follow reccomendations, but I do look into them to see if it's cracker jack box science or if there is merit to it.

One of the things that I never got behind is giving kids bottled water. 1) bad for thier teeth. All the flouride and other minerals you find in tap water are removed. That has led to a generation of bad baby teeth. 2) bad for the environment.
Another reccemendation I ignored was to breastfeed for as long as possible. I breastfed until my kids cut teeth. Once they are able to get main sustenance from solid food, there is no longer a reason to have them on a milk diet. If the kid was on whole milk, the parents wouldn't let them have unlimited milk anytime they demanded it. But, once breastfeeding is involved, all of a sudden it's a moral issue that the child not be hindered in his milk consumption? what-ever!

I didnt raise my boys the "text book" way.
They loved sleeping on their tummy with their head to the side.
They were breastfed and both used pacifiers.
We held them by the wrists while playing and never dislocated their shoulders.
We let them practice standing at a very young age, they are not bow-legged.
I put honey on the bottle nipple to get them to drink from a bottle when necessary.
They were both eating peanut butter tastes by 6 mos of age.
And yep, they are alive and healthy and in their 30's now.

Oh I know!!! Like the whole co sleeping thing!! You know, my babies literally slept on my chest so I could feel every move, and they slept with me until about 3 months, and now my 3 year old is back!! It's not for everyone, but it worked for us. They are only little for so long so I stick with my gut and I know I am a good mamma. If you try to follow all the trends and advice you will go bonkers! Good question!

I believe most parents (most...there are some really bad parents out there as we all know) know what is best for there kids. I did not give my son a paci because he could not hold it in his mouth and it drove us both crazy. But it really helps my 3mnth old daughter sleep. Neither of my kids like(d) being on ther stomach so the was never a way I could get them to sleep (though my son sleeps in all sorts of weird postions now lol) What I don't like is advice from older relatives, or when they reject me giving them adive on my kids. Like at Easter almost everyone held my daughter and alot of people took turns giving her a bottle. When I mentioned to an aunt of mine that she needs to burp her every once and she has to burped sitting up (not over the shoulder.) She just kind of rolled her eyes and said that she has raisied kids. Well one shoulder burp latter she was covered in spit up lol! My daughter can't have any pressure on her stomach when being burped thats why she needs to sit up! Any way what is good for one baby might not work (or even be the safest) for another. After reading some of the other responses (I won't say which ones because I dont want to start anything) I think some regulations SHOULD be followed. I don't buy the whole " It worked and my kids never died from such and such." just because nothing bad happened doesn't mean you should do it again. I mean my sister was in an car accident a month ago and she walked away unscratched...doesn't mean she would if it happened again. Just because nothing happened doesn mean it was safe and that something bad couldn't have happened.
And babies are not likely to choke if spitting up on there back because of the gag reflex. My daughter spits up ALOT she constantly has a "halo of spit up around her head when she wakes up in the morning (gross!) but even at 1 mnth old she would turn her head to the side.

The pediatric association changes there rules all the time and that's why the advise changes.