Parents argue over mom's parenting tactic. Dad says, 'you put our baby in danger.'
When this mom is wondering if she made a parenting error, she asks Reddit:
'AITA for letting my mom rub whiskey on my baby's gums?'
I 28f am a first time mom. My husband and I have a 6 month old baby who is teething horribly. I was at my mothers home a few days ago and was speaking to her about the teething issues.
My mom does some old fashion things and she’s really into herbs and natural healing and such, so she wanted to try rubbing whiskey on my daughters gums. She said she did it to me and all 3 of my siblings. I let her, and it did seem to calm my daughter down a bit.
When I got home I told my husband about this, and he was furious. He said that’s harmful and dangerous to our daughter and it does not relieve any pain. He got really upset and said I shouldn’t of let my mom do something like that, and told me I couldn’t bring our daughter to my mothers anymore.
He’s since called the next 2 days off of work, and is super paranoid watching me every second with our daughter. I feel this is unfair. AITA?
Let's find out. The internet is divided on this issue.
specialattitude435 writes:
YTA. There are MANY harmless teething options. You chose to let your mother put poison in your child's system. A little whiskey will calm anyone down. Giving your baby happy hour to calm the pain of teething is one of the oldest and worst ways to go about it. Next time bring teething rings and orajel.
importantegg545 writes:
NTA- and your husband is over the top. He needs to calm down. Yes whiskey works, the problem is that you cannot control the dose which makes it really dangerous. Now you learned your lesson, luckily you have options.
You can get these mesh contraptions that look like a soother. Walmart carries them. You can put fruit like strawberries or watermelon in them and the baby can eat it safely. I would freeze cubes of watermelon, they would go to town and it would give them some reprieve. Arrowroot cookies helped to when they were miserable.
Also just rubbing the area with a clean finger worked well too. When it got really bad, like when they develop a rash and fever I would give them the proper dose for their weight of Motrin Ibuprofen at bed time.
If it lasted more than 2 days I would check in with the pediatrician. This was not often, it was recommended to me by my pediatrician. See if this is an option for you as I do know the weight and development of my child was a factor in this decision.
Remember some babies have it worse than others. I tried many of the other things that people are suggesting. It always depends on you kid and how their teeth are coming in.
Being a mother is tough, people will judge you no matter how you parent.And to everyone who is calling you TA, they suck and are judgmental and sad human beings. Can we please start supporting mothers like this one who is legitimately trying to do the right thing.
djtoo456 writes:
YTA. Um, don’t give your 6 month old alcohol? Doctors practice and study this stuff for a reason. I understand, you’re a new mom and made a mistake but it's common sense to seek a doctor if something seems wrong with either you or your kid. Seems a bit fair he would be paranoid considering he is a new father as well.