Family

I’m finding that family members, who haven’t had children for 30+ years are telling me what I need to buy/do for baby. Which I appreciate but they are things I do not want to use with my baby, such as cot bumpers, jumparoos, putting baby to sleep on their front or side, putting car seat in front seat of car etc. When I politely tell them that those aren’t things I will be using/doing and my reasons for doing so they get offended and make comments like “oh that’s changed too now then” and make me feel bad for voicing my preferences in how I will parent. My partner thinks I should just let them offer their advice/help with these things and not say anything because it’s easier but I worry that if I do that they will not be aware of my wishes and will unknowingly go against them, potentially putting my child at risk (in my eyes). I never want to make anyone feel bad for trying to offer their help but I can’t seem to find a way of going about sharing my parenting preferences without offending. Any tips?
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I think a mix of what you are doing and what your partner is saying is good. The ‘advice’ you have referenced is actually pretty much all really terrible and against safe baby guidance so understand you wanting to state that but perhaps only really needed for those people that may actually be looking after your baby at some point etc. but if it’s someone who is very unlikely to be looking after baby and doesn’t really matter you can just let the advice go and not worry too much about specifics. Also I find using language that is less about me and what I’m doing and more what guidance is suggesting helps because then its not even like you are making the decision, it becomes third party/impartial like. I had a few older guys at work insist I should put baby in their own room straight away and I was like oh that’s interesting and am sure would work for some but the lullaby trust says to do this so that’s what we are following….

Of course a little trickier for topics like jumperoos which are more of a preference and you just want them to respect your decision but again could deflect and say for now we aren’t going to be using that but will keep it in mind for later.

I honestly have no tips but for anything concerning safety I would definitely voice my concerns! With my first baby I was told what to buy, what not etc. I educated myself of course but with things like prams I was told “don’t get that brand because your sister had that 10+ years ago and it broke so much, get this one instead”. So i purchased a different one to the one I originally wanted and it broke 3 times 🤣!!! I won’t be listening to others this time round (2nd) because it’s my choice and I don’t care for opinions only facts 😘

If it’s something that’s a safety concern I think it’s worth explaining why you won’t be getting those items or making those choices. It doesn’t have to be making them feel bad- research and safety guidelines have changed a lot they could only make parenting choices based on the info they had available to them at the time but now you know differently you will make different choices. But if you aren’t being rude and they are getting offended by how you want to parent your child this isn’t your problem but something they need to deal with.

I was very polite about this situation when I was pregnant with my daughter but the ‘advice’ kept being shoved down my throat and I got to a point where I just snapped and asked everyone to stop telling me what to do that it’s my child and I will parent them the way I want. There were only a few people that kept going on, the others understood that I’d done a lot of research and I was making informed choices. I still get stuff now off the older generation about this baby and my daughter but I just explain why I’m doing what I’m doing and tell them I won’t be following what they’ve said. Always voice your thoughts, thank them for the advice but state you’re following current safety guidance etc x

Times have changed since they had babies. A lot of older people are set in their ways but I would always go with the advice we currently get from midwives ect. It’s defo a lot more up to date nowadays, I guess it was just different back then! It will probably be the same when our children have children 😅 x

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