Sigh. What is it about a baby that makes everyone and their mother (literally) want to give you random pieces of advice on how you should or should not parent your child? It’s like seeing those chubby little cheeks and 10 tiny fingers and toes suddenly makes people go into expert mode — and they just can’t resist getting all preachy whenever you’re within an earshot.
Granted, sometimes the baby advice family, friends, and even strangers offer can be quite good and useful. But other times, it can sound downright wacky or unthinkable.
Like putting Vaseline on a Q-tip and sticking it in your baby’s butt to help relieve constipation. Yes, someone actually advised me to do this, and while I kind of pooh-poohed it (hee-hee-hee) at first, I finally broke down and gave it a shot when my poor baby boy was backed up to the point of no return and I was all out of options. And guess what? It worked like a charm.
About 10 seconds after I put the tip of that cotton swab in, he pooped to his heart’s content, and all was right with the world again.
I guess sometimes even the wackiest advice can come in handy, but then again, some of it just seems way too “out there” to try.
I asked some other fellow parents about the craziest piece of baby advice they ever received — and gathered up some real doozies, like these little gems.
Read more: Mary Fischer, CafeMom
