Your Mother's Best Parenting Advice is Outdated

Remember when your baby was born? You got flooded with parenting advice from all sides; strangers, family, friends, and especially mom. Well, why not believe mom? She raised you after all and you lived. Well, times have changed and so has parenting, though advice is still given freely and badly.

Let's face it, dear old mom has doled out some of the bad parenting advice you've been given over the years. Don't blame mom though, she's just passing on parenting advice that she was given by her mom. It's like a bad game of telephone; only everyone seems to successfully pass on the same message. Whenever a baby is born, parents receive advice that leads them to believe that by following the advice they are given, they will have better behaved children, babies that sleep all night, and myriad of other bad parenting strategies.

So what's a parent to do? Read up on these popular (and not so popular) outdated parenting advice and you'll be ready the next time mom offers her unsolicited and misguided advice.

Cereal in your baby's bottle of formula will help them sleep longer.

I have to admit that I tried this once. All I got was a frustrated baby that couldn't get the formula out the bottle because the cereal didn't break down enough to thin out. Besides this being a great waste of cereal (which you will go through later on, trust me), sleeping all night long has more to do with how your child is developing and growing. A growing baby will go through changing sleep patterns over the first year of life. Plus, you stand a better chance of your little one sleeping all night when you begin a bedtime routine. By the time your baby is 5 months old, they have the ability to sleep all night without waking up to eat. So it really doesn't have anything to do with whether or not you stuff him before bed. You also run a higher risk of food allergies if you start solid foods too soon. It doesn't matter if it breaks down to near liquid in the bottle, it's still a solid food and little bellies can't handle that.

If your toddler bites you, bite them back

This fabulous example of outdated parenting advice makes me want to hold up my "Here's your sign" card. While you may actually get your child to not bite you again, it will be more from fear than actually teaching them right from wrong. The most common reason children bite is from frustration over not being able to express themselves, usually in a verbal manner. Experts and pediatricians agree that not only is this parenting advice counterproductive, but the method rarely works for long. When you bite your child back, you have given the bigger picture that it's ok to bite or possibly confused the poor child by biting them and then telling them not to do it. It may take longer, but a repeated verbal reprimand and your disappointed face is more effective.

The clean your plate club

I grew up under this unhealthy parenting advice. I remember being the last one at the table, gagging on cold peas. It really didn't make me a better eater. I still hate peas. However, recent studies will show that being a member of the clean your plate club can lead to adult obesity, diabetes, and other health problems. There is now cause for serious health concerns from this bad, outdated parenting advice. Not only that but also some years ago, one of ABC's network news shows did an experiment showcasing just how bad this parenting advice could be in adulthood by having an unsuspecting group of people eat from bowls of soup that never emptied. The mentality behind it being that people will eat everything on their plate because it's most likely the way they were raised and not because they are actually hungry.

Unsweetened Babies

It was once said that to cure colic all a mother had to do was dip a pacifier in honey and offer it to baby. Give a baby anything sweet on the end of the pacifier and pop it Junior's mouth and of course he will stop crying. This example of outdated parenting advice is not only wrong, but it's not safe for baby. A young child's immune system cannot handle the botulism-like bacteria contained in honey. The spores in honey contain these bacteria and a baby's belly gives it the perfect place to wake up from dormancy and attack.

Doctor's are still unsure about what exactly causes colic and the notion to give a baby honey before the age of one can be extremely dangerous to their health. If you have colicky infant, ignore this bad advice and just keep walking and singing with your little bundle of joy. It will end, I promise.

Leave the alcohol for mommy, thank you.

"Rub a little whiskey on his gums. He'll feel better." He'll be drunk. Ok grandma? I have four children and people have given me this bad tasting advice 64 times (once for each tooth for each child, the baby doesn't have all his teeth yet). All there is to say about this parenting advice is Yuck! Well, that and repeatedly giving the baby a little alcohol, be it on the pacifier or rubbed on sore gums can be toxic to a baby. Who repeatedly does this? Lots of people who listen to dear old mom. Alcohol can act like poison to a baby and just shouldn't be given. Likewise, aspirin shouldn't be used either because of its association with Rye's syndrome. Teething happens to every baby and the alcohol is better left for mom and dad once that tooth erupts.

If there is anything parents have learned over the years is that mom is not always right. She doesn't really know everything. We all discover that at one point or another. However, in the case of parenting advice that is outdated or dangerous, it's best to know she's wrong sooner than later.