The Things That Grandma Was Right About
A lot of new parents struggle to deal with the copiuous amounts of advice that come their way. From the moment they annoince the pregnancy tonnes of different opinions come flooding in. Tips and tricks that are often really helpful but equally difficult to navigate through. For every piece of advice there is another person telling you to do just the opposite. Dr Goodle often sends you in to a flurry of panic as you search for the perfect solution to everything that concerns your growing baby. The advice can extend from pregnancy and birth recommendations right through to feeding, sleep and behaviour advice.
Grandma rolls her eyes at a lot of the things that you mention. She tells you about all the things they “didn’t have back in” her day. You listen politely to her nuggets of advice and respect that there is a big generation gap. But what if a lot of the things she mentioned simply were true?
Here are some example of things that Grandma was right about.
1. If Baby Has A Temperature You Will Know. OK so her suggestions to ditch the fancy termometre simply won’t be happening but there really was a lot of truth in her words. On the ocassions that temperatures have spiked you knew well before a termometre confirmed it. You went right back to feeling their forehead, back and stripping them off in to their nappy and cooling them down with a facecloth as Grandma suggested.
2. Breastfeeding Is Easy. You’ll Know What To Do. Her stories about formula representing wealth back in her day fascinated you. But easy? You had heard too many stories that said the opposite. You struggled at the start but there really was a lot to be said for trusting yourself. Her advice gave you the little push you needed and soon it became easy.
3. Never Miss The Eight O Clock Train. This one made you laugh. Her age old piece of advice was to always have children tucked up and asleep in bed by 8pm. She said that they needed be asleep by then to get a good night’s sleep. You knew a lot of parents who kept their children up later so you brushed it off. As it would turn out your child would totally thrive on this rule and after 8pm usually brought a whole host of stresses and issues.
4. Everything In Moderation. This one applied to pregnancy and the things you fed your baby. She heard you passing up a runny egg and told you to enjoy it. The same was said about your baby’s plate. She encouraged little treats and recommended you relax and not be so strict. It was just what you needed to hear and helped you greatly.
5. Dirt And Germs Will Help Their Immune System. The more you think about this one the more you believe it. You were religious about sterilsing your baby’s plates and spoond and five minutes later they were licking the floor and lying across the dog. There is a lot to be said for taking the easy going appraoch, within reason.
