Baby

When Jocelyn Seeley-Baechler was pregnant with her first child, Gavin, she asked family members for any advice they might have about breastfeeding. Her mother-in-law, who had breastfed all four of her boys for at least a year, told her that it was important to “toughen up” her nipples by rubbing them several times a day with a washcloth during her pregnancy — otherwise they might be sore when the baby started nursing.

“Just by chance, I mentioned this to my midwife and learned that it’s no longer considered helpful,” Seeley-Baechler says. “I certainly can’t fault my mother-in-law for the bad advice, though — that was the information she was given 30 years ago.”

It’s natural for new parents to turn to experienced parents for support and information, but they may not be aware that current recommendations have changed.

Read on for the top 10 pieces of advice you’d be advised to ignore, according to some of the nurses and staff at Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health in Ontario.

Originally published in Today's Parent, August 2007