Some Old Wives Tales from my Mommy Diary

I have always felt that birthing and parenting were way easier than stomaching some of the advice that came my way after. Most of them were well-meant pieces of advice by close relatives, but some were outright hilarious. Here are a few I got to hear when I started my journey into motherhood.

Pregnant ladies, I am glad to give you a peek into what you might have to endure. Thank me later, Okay?

1. Do not buy any baby stuff before the baby is born, its bad luck.

My baby looked like an inflated balloon the night he was born, in a pair of over sized pyjamas, which only fit him well now, at the age of 20 months.

Truth: Have some faith in God and make sure you have every single thing in the list the hospital gave you, including diapers, baby clothes, and swaddlers. Your luck is not going to change because you bought your baby some essentials. It can instead save you some frantic running to the nearby store on the birth night/ day.

2. Do not sleep during the day while pregnant; the baby will become lazy.

Whoever formulated this one must have been unable of bearing the sight of a well rested woman.

Truth: Sleep all you want, ladies! You are not going to be getting much of it anywhere in the near future. And also babies are incapable of being lazy. They have to feed, poop, cry and sleep and are very busy acclimatizing to the world out of the womb. The last thing on their mind is being lazy .

3. Babies born in the night will be sleepless.

Born in the night or day , most babies under two months cannot sleep at night. They will wake up frequently for feeds, for a change of diaper or just because they want to be held.

Truth: Do prepare yourself to be sleep deprived. Catch up on every bit of rest you can; unless you want to turn into a Mom-bie!

4. Don’t spoil your baby by picking him up every time. Also crying helps lung development.

NO! It does not! Also, your baby is too young to have such adult motives. They have no other means to communicate with you but cry. And so they shall!

Truth: Any baby below four months of age will have few self soothing strategies. And will seek your help to calm down . Kindly help the baby and do not let it cry it out. I for one am a total believer that babies who are given that sense of security develop into better and confident kids.

5. Baby BOYS shouldn’t be allowed to cry.

Of all the tales I heard , this was by far the most atrocious yet hilarious one. Apparently too much crying in baby boys leads to the shrinking up of their…you know…little thing!??!!
I swear, I searched all over the internet and couldn’t find anything on this.

Truth: Laugh it off, really hard on their face if someone ever says this to you! It’s a baby that needs some attention. Give all the attention it wants and make no difference be it a boy or a girl.

So Mommies, what were some of the funny tales you got to hear? Or are there any more myths that got debunked as you grew into motherhood?

Thushara – A fairly new Mommy who is always at Target to a highly inquisitive little guy who inspires her to be a better entertainer, chef, nurse, maid, playmate and much more every single day. She tries her best to keep up with the big world wide web on @dhruvacharitham and @stayatTargetmom