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Baby myths busted!

The truth about our most common misconceptions

By
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Originally published in Today's Parent August 2006

I was enjoying one of those rare new-mother pleasures — a take-your-time shower — while my visiting mother kept an eye on my two-month-old daughter, Hayley, who’d fallen asleep after nursing. No sooner had I stepped out of the shower, when I heard my baby start to wail. The crying continued unabated as I quickly dried off, threw on some clothes and finally went to soothe my little girl. She was in my mother’s arms, red-faced and howling.

“Here,” I said, “give her to me. She must be hungry.”

“No,” my mother replied. “Go finish getting ready for the day. She can’t be hungry — you fed her only an hour ago. It must be gas or something.”

Reluctantly, I left my crying baby and finished dressing. Hayley still had not settled down by the time I returned. I gently took her from my mother and put her to my breast. She stopped crying instantly.

My mother was baffled: “How could she still be hungry? It hasn’t been four hours yet.” Poor mom: Like so many women who raised their kids in the ’60s and ’70s, she was a victim of the four-hour feeding schedule myth.

That’s just one of the surprisingly tenacious misconceptions about baby care and behaviour that still linger, causing parents to second-guess themselves and worry about how they’re looking after their little ones.

Fortunately, you can battle these bits of misinformation by arming yourself with the facts. In my mother’s case, all I had to do was explain that the whole four-hour thing was based on formula-fed babies. Breastmilk, I told her, is digested faster and more easily than formula, so babies need to nurse more frequently. Case closed.

Facing down a few myths of your own? Read on for the facts you need to blow them away.

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