If you’re a parent, and if you’re lucky enough to have your own mother still living, then you’ve likely been given some if not much unsolicited advice throughout the years. The question is, does mother really know best?
Did your mother tell you that putting rice cereal in a newborn baby’s bottle would help them fall asleep at night? Did you listen? Or did you listen to your pediatrician who said, “no way?”
Did your mother tell you that a lukewarm bath could bring down a fever? Have you tried it?
Did your mother give you advice on diapering, feeding, bringing down fevers, curing illnesses, and just about everything else under the sun? If so, consider yourself lucky…also consider yourself warned.
What worked for our mothers is not always the same things that should work for us today. Although our mothers were no doubt very caring when we were babies and children, times have changed. And with those changing times has come many advances in medicinal practices. For instance, when I was a baby, doctors recommended placing babies on their stomachs to sleep. The thought at the time was that putting a baby to sleep on their back could increase the risk of them swallowing their tongue. Nowadays, we know that putting babies to sleep on their stomachs is vital to reducing the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).
While it is no secret that we have a lot of positive things to learn from our mothers, always remember to follow your doctor’s advice. But don’t forget to thank your mother for raising you the way her doctor told her to, for curing your illnesses, wiping your tears, and taking care of you with love.
And for all of your grandma’s out there who sigh in frustration when your sound advice is not taken, rest assured the mothers of today will be in your same situation twenty years from now. Technology, medicine, and safety standards change over decades, and one can only guess what the “right” thing to do will be when our children have children of their own.