Best piece of ’well-meaning’ advice.

I'm sure I'm not the only one of us being bombarded with lovely advice and tips on pregnancy, childbirth, and all that comes after.
And I'm sure I'm not the only one getting tips from those who have never been pregnant, given birth or raised children.

I thought it would be cool if we all contributed some of the funny/useless tips and advice we've gotten from our well-meaning friends and family.

I'll start with my dad telling me not to worry about giving birth, it'll won't hurt more than and will be similar to doing a big poo.

Not really advice, but i thought this was an excellent comment.
From an old lady, when I told her I was having an elective c-section (for medical reasons, but I didn't mention this) -
"What, don't you like giving birth?"

Lol... I had so many people ask me this when I was heavily pregnant and baby would move and my whole stomach would move too ... 'can you feel that? When the baby moves I mean??' lol wtf?!

Look suprised and say "Oh, no, this ones for sale! You can get a really good price for them right now!"

My personal favourites came from a woman who starts every sentence with "I've never been pregnant but..." or "I don't have children but..." who saw fit to eat breakfast with me every morning (at work) and say things like
"I've never been pregnant but i know if you put your arms above your head the babies cord will get wrapped around its neck"
"I've never been pregnant but you shouldnt eat marmite, its high in folate and thats not good for a growing baby" (??????!)
"I've never had children but would LOVE to be at your birth. Do you have a midwife? Because i watched a baby being born one other time and i'd just love to do it again."

ETA: my brothers girlfriend asked me last week (At 38weeks) if i could feel the baby moving yet. What, did she they only 'activated' the day before the birth??)

Edited by bowie

Hehe that's awesome about your dad saying childbirth is just like doing a big poo!

I get told all the time by certain family members that "the next baby won't be as good as Chelsea is". I say "maybe it will sleep though!" (she's almost two and still wakes in the night most nights lol). I've also been told to not make the same "mistakes", ie don't feed this one as much, it'll spoil him. And leave it to cry from birth - cuddles spoil them

becsscolly wrote: Babykatnz wrote: Not really advice either, just a passing comment from a storekeeper who noticed I was preg and had Jae with me 'wow, you're going to have your hands full!' Really? I thought it'd be a walk in the park! I am SO SICK of this comment, its kinda obvious really    I get it when I'm with both my boys (1 and 3) and I'm only just becoming obviously pregnant... Any thoughts for smart comebacks? A muttered 'yeah' or 'its all good' is getting boring!

"We are only having this next one for spare parts.....

I have another three older ones at home and they are going to look after the baby when I go back to work....they dont really need to go to school anyway!

 

 

It used to annoy me when people would try and convince me it was ok to eat food that you are meant to avoid in pregnancy. ("Oh, in my day it was fine to eat this/ you could probably eat this fish [that's been sitting out in the sun for ages before we cooked it]/ you could drink that glass of wine cos it's Christmas"....Yeah, ok...if you want my baby to have fetal alcohol syndrome or be harmed cos I get listeria....) Got tiresome having to justify my choices, and I wasn't even really fastidious about it!

Sally wrote: It used to annoy me when people would try and convince me it was ok to eat food that you are meant to avoid in pregnancy. ("Oh, in my day it was fine to eat this/ you could probably eat this fish [that's been sitting out in the sun for ages before we cooked it]/ you could drink that glass of wine cos it's Christmas"....Yeah, ok...if you want my baby to have fetal alcohol syndrome or be harmed cos I get listeria....) Got tiresome having to justify my choices, and I wasn't even really fastidious about it!

Same - my Dad was a shocker for this over Christmas and would act like I was being so fussy - I am a hell of a lot more relaxed than I was first time and than a lot of other pregnant people. The opposite also annoyed me - someone at work told me I wasn't allowed to eat a sausage roll (actually "you're not allowed to eat that") and couldn't give me any reason why. ANd my MIL told me over xmas that I'm not allowed to drink coffee!

Marengo wrote: i hate people asking 'are you excited?"

I used to get this aaaallll the time, so I just started saying to people, "No, not really. "

I didn't really get too much unwanted advice. Some of the people posted about in this thread sound nuts!

jano1 wrote: I went out for dinner with friends one night while pregnant and I ordered tuna for dinner. She then told me my child was probably going to be autistic- WTF

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!