Worst Parenting Advice Given to New Parents. A collection of the worst parenting advice given to moms and dads about sleeping, eating, and more!
We’ve all been there. We all get unwanted parenting advice. We all get the annoying advice and unsolicited advice.
The parenting advice new parents get isn’t all bad. Sometimes we get really great and helpful parenting advice. Everyone loves a good parenting hack.
Then every once in a while. we get the worst parenting advice. The worst advice might be bad enough we immediately know to back away. Other times, it might be advice we try and soon realize that doesn’t work for our child. Other times it is advice we just know is not going to be a fit for our little one because we know that baby well.
When you get that advice you don’t want or can’t use, always try to keep the heart and intention in mind. This can come from family members or friends who really mean well. The parenting tips might be things they used with their own children in their time. It might be advice they used with their kids recently and it worked great for them.
Common advice and recommendations change frequently. The day will come some of our most common practices followed will be scoffed at by younger generations. So keep that in mind when you respond to well-meaning tips.
Yes, some people share advice because they are judging you and think you are doing it all wrong. Try to just walk away and not let it bother you. You know your child’s needs best and do not need to let the judgment of others throw you off. Try to respond with grace and move on.
Post Contents
Worst Parenting Advice
With that said, it can be nice to know you are not alone and be able to laugh things off. I had moms share the worst parenting advice they have ever gotten in my Facebook group. Here are the responses they shared.
Emilee gave us the perfect summary of the advice we often get: “Baby is hungry every time he/she cries, don’t wake a sleeping baby, it’s impossible to put a baby on a schedule”
Pregnancy Advice
The advice rolls in even before you have the baby here.
Manda: Not exactly parenting advice but while pregnant “don’t raise your arms above your head quickly or it’ll tie the cord around the baby’s neck” 🙄🙄🙄
Janelle: i got the “your face looks swollen that means you’ll go into labor soon. No I got fat 🤣 ha can’t stay pregnant forever
Jessica: Not given to me, but a friend: don’t climb stairs when you’re pregnant. Still haven’t figured that one out 🙄
Sleep Advice
Sleep advice is abundant. A lot of sleep tips sleep experts share are counterintuitive…or perhaps society has gotten so off it only seems counterintuitive. Here is the worst sleep advice moms have gotten.
Wendy: “Just let them run around and stay up until they are tired, they’ll wear themselves out eventually, and then sleep better.”
Kristen: Babies will sleep when they are tired.
Sophia: Never wake a sleeping baby 🙄
Veronica: oh my. If only I had a dollar for every time I have been told this I would be a VERY rich woman indeed!
Lindsey: Don’t wake a sleeping baby 😂
Joy: A friend with 3 children told me when I was having sleeping issues with my first to not let her nap AT ALL during the day so that she would sleep all night. She was about 5 months at the time. The thought of how that would have gone still terrifies me.
Ashley: My MIL- just give her a little bit of Whiskey off your finger and she’ll go right to sleep! 😱🤦🏼♀️😱
Jess: “Babies sleep when they’re tired”. Um, have you met my son? He would be sleeping zero hours a day if it were only up to him
Kaelyn: Keep the baby awake, they’ll sleep longer at night!
Me: 🙄🙄 Umm, yeah, but not till they’re about 4
So many people echoed this advice shared by Kaelyn. This is a super common thought and also super incorrect. Sleep begets sleep and an overly tired baby will not consistently sleep well. Also, Brayden didn’t start sleeping in when kept up until he hit 13!
Read: 18 Truths About the First Year of Motherhood
Newborn Advice
Newborn time is hard, so a lot of people want to offer advice to make it easier.
Esther: Sleep when the baby sleeps 😅
Melissa: Don’t buy a lot of newborn clothes, because they grow out of them quickly. Well, they also go through them quickly 🤮💩
Kristen: Don’t hold your baby so much … it will spoil them. After 5, I wish I would have held my 1st 2 kids more.
Routine and Schedule Advice
Not all people respect or accept a routine for a baby.
Kristen: Having a strict routine with babies/toddlers/preschoolers makes kids inflexible when they are older.
Veronica: I am told this one so often its not funny!
Megan: When I was pregnant. Fellow co worker – reading babywise is a waste of time. Babies schedule you, you don’t schedule a baby.
Missy: My LC said my daughter couldn’t possibly be waking just wanting to nurse for comfort and that she must be hungry. She said sleep training her was an awful idea even though my daughter was not nursing well during the day because of all the milk she was getting at night 🤦♀️
Feeding Advice
Everyone has an opinion on feeding your child.
Kristen: No table food until 18 months! 😳 strictly purees until then.
Sarah: okay I’ve heard that you shouldn’t give babies foods they have to chew (like meat) until they have molars. I’ve kinda ignored that – he’s 17 months and I can’t grind everything.
Anna: You can’t nurse too often
Lacey: Maybe not the worst advice because it was legit advice 30 years ago…but my MIL 😳 told me to scrub my nipples with a dry washcloth to toughen them up before nursing. Youch!!!
[Several people were given this same advice]
Nat: “Why are you still nursing after 6 months? Your milk doesn’t have the nutrients as the baby gets older”. LOL 😂😂
General Parenting
Most advice seems to be around sleeping and eating, but there are others.
Ret: “Child-proof your house”. Uh, no. I chose parenting 😉
Kelly: A childhood friend of my husband told me not to let our cat get too close to the baby, as she (the cat) might suck the baby’s breath out of him. This was in 2018!
[A surprising number of people were given this same advice]
Lissa: My childless sisters response to me saying I was tired. “Well you chose to have them, don’t complain now” ummm….not complaining, just tired 😴
Manda: This kind of thing always makes me so mad! Nobody tells a new doctor in residency “well, you chose to be a doctor, don’t complain now” or to someone who is writing a book or running a marathon “you chose to do this, you can’t complain” Ridiculous! Good, worthwhile things are hard and often tiring.
Megan: My two month old baby starts to cry a little when being held by a relative…pulls out phone…”what does she like to watch on YouTube” 😳😳😳 👈🏼 my face
Rebecca: The endless statements of “just wait until your kid _______ (insert negative behavior)”. Now I try to say those phrases with positive things instead.
Sarah: Still waiting for all the “terrible” aspects of parenting to hit. The “you’ll never sleep again” line is the one that comes to mind – newsflash – you can sleep train your kids and then sleep peacefully most nights 😮.
Kelly: My sister-in-law told me I should never tell my child “no.”😂🤣😂🤣
Mariah: “Whiskey on the gums whenever fussy”- because it’s always due to teething and that’s a good solution anyway?? 🤪
Conclusion
If you are a parent or expecting to be a parent, just know you will get lots of advice. You are sure to get advice you don’t want or need. My mom told me to take what you can and leave the rest. Perhaps you can even have a nice chuckle to yourself. As you read the advice here, it should be obvious you are definitely not alone.