Pieces of advice I'm tired of hearing/seeing even when they're not addressed to me

[ailbhe]

If you breastfeed exclusively, your period won't come back until you introduce solids.

If you can talk through them, they're not real contractions.

You mustn't [anything] while you're pregnant or breastfeeding.

It's ok never to sterilise bottle-feeding equipment (especially when it's said to someone seeking advice for a newborn).

You need to prepare your breasts for breastfeeding by [arcane and painful ritual].

You have to / must never attempt to set a routine for the baby.

I forget the rest, because it's hot and I'm very very pregnant today. And I have an NCT coffee social this afternoon with ONE attendee so far. And she has a bump, not a baby, which may well make it even harder to talk. I may scavenge some others up somehow.

Comments

[barakta]

My mum's cousin is a medical doctor, she was GP by the time she planned to have kids. She believed the 'breastfeeding == contraceptive effect' thing. She got such a shock when she got pregnant with baby number 2 about 3 months after baby number 1 was born... Admittedly this was in the 70s, but meep!

[ailbhe]

The ins and outs of breastfeeding are still not taught in standard medical school. I've met GPs who thought that breastmilk was "a milky drink" that might upset the baby's stomach, or that it was impossible for what I ate to affect the child through my milk. That the contraceptive semi-myth was believed by a GP is extremely easy to believe.