What is the most odd piece of advice regarding parenting someone of another generation has given to you?

I think mine is quite common: Whenever I tell someone who is 70+ about my daughter teething they tell me to either rub whisky on her gums or put rum in her bottle! That was obviously quite a common way to alleviate pains 50+ years ago. Has anyone else received odd advice that is quite funny from a member of an older generation?What is the most odd piece of advice regarding parenting someone of another generation has given to you?
This man I know has a teenage daughter who is fat and he told us that we need to keep a tight belt around our baby's belly so she doesn't get fat and that he wishes he had done that with his daughter so she would be thin.





Wtf?What is the most odd piece of advice regarding parenting someone of another generation has given to you?
My grandmother used to tell me the whiskey one (which was really funny because my grandmother is an avid non-drinker). I've also heard:





- Never take an infant outside without a blanket covering its face (even in the summer) because the wind will suck the air out of them. *hmm....wonder how that one works?*





- Wearing shoes or using a baby walker will insure that your child walks sooner.





- Never allow your cat around your baby because it will steal air from the baby's mouth. *physically impossible*





- Tickling a baby too much will cause him/her to stutter when they get older.





Oh yeah...and this little gem:





- Never let a baby under one see its own reflection because it will take it's soul.
I've heard that too! This one is just plain gross! My grandma has a friend at a nursing home that she visits a lot well when my first daughter was teething she told me to give her chicken bones to naw on and she as far as taking everychicken bone from EVERY residents plate and really brought them too me to give to my daughter!





Ewwww- I was suppose to give my baby a bunch of elder people I didn't know their bones to chew on!!! Some still had chicken on them!
we live in asia where superstitions abound! specially in child care.





there's trim your baby's eyelashes so they would grow longer.





to stop a baby's hiccups, a piece of thread must be rolled up and placed on his chest.





a baby must be breastfed or he will never grow up loving his own mother.





and my personal fave!


when a baby starts to cry when greeted by a stranger, the stranger has to smear his own spit on the child's forehead to counter the 'curse'.





i never followed any of this. and i am well-hated in our community. :P
I was given a baby shower shortly after my daughter was born. One of the elderly ladies there told me ';your troubles are just beginning. Just wait until she is a teenager';.
My MIL told me to put hot chocolate on my baby's last bottle of the day - to make her sleep longer...


Great idea, give them sugar to make them sleep.


btw, she was about 8 weeks when she first started suggesting this.
Never clip your baby's nails until they are a year old. You have to bite them off or the baby will grow up to be a thief.
that babies need to cry to develop their lungs


Babies need orange juice for the vitamin C
Let them have a little fun in their teen years. Meaning sex.
if you always have socks on ur babies feet it wont have colic





BUT it has worked for me lol
it was about teenage acne . to use a baby's diaper with urine and cleanse face . gross