Something fun: What would you REALLY like to say to new PARENTS?

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I thought this would be funny...."advice" that you would like to give new parents...if you could.

Mine:

"Please don't try to feed little Suzy baby food when she's two weeks old. Yes, she'll open her mouth, and yes, it will appear that she likes it, yes, she'll try to swallow it...but understand if you put dog poop in her mouth...she'll do the same thing."

Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.

Dear ruralnurs, and y'all:

Thank you for your compliment about the advice I give in prenatal classes, regarding temperture of bathwater for febrile babies/children.

I get your drift about use of taxpayer money for financially unstable consumers of healthcare...... As a Public Health Nurse, and Canadian/American (not in Canada now, I reside in VA and CA) let me tell you that everyone - and I do mean everyone - is involved in Canada, regarding preventive medicine. Not only does that keep costs down, it is also because there is genuine caring there, for fellow inhabitants of Canada and the world.

As far as the patient you described, having a sibling soon, the incident was a valuable lesson for mom (?and dad). I hope the opportunity to get that family involved in play groups, parenting classes at a nearby adult school, was well employed. You may have anticipated other uneducated possibilities, such as giving large chunks of food to toddlers that might lodge in their windpipes, told the mom/parents about that and about the necessity of getting CPR classes.

I've worked with many adults whose knowledge definitely has deficits, and realize that the crisis wasn't an opportune time for absorption of education. However, making them aware that they had part of the treatment for fever down (with an exaggerated lethal edge); and desperately needed the rest of the information, would possibly have motivated them to go to classes.

I hope and pray that mailings of class schedules and other health information will be sent to them; and social service and public health follow-up visits will be made to their home. It is a very isolated place, and I know it, as I had to send my daughter to a school near there (Rocky Mountain Academy in northern Idaho) 26 or so years ago. That's another topic!

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Talk to your mom/older sister/friend about what a normal baby does. Your new baby will cry, the umbilical cord will dry up and fall off in due time, they will get hiccups, etc. If my mom hadn't been so close to me when I had my oldest, I would have been in the ER for the dumbest things.

I remember calling up my mom totally freaked out because my 4 day hold had the hiccups. I was minutes away from calling EMS because I had lost my mind and was SURE he was going to die. I would call her at least 10 times a day (no joke) making sure it was normal for him to turn alittle red when he was pooping and other things that all babies do.

My hubby was no help because he was totally freaked out. Now with our second son, he head could have spun and we wouldn't flinch.

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.

When they say they'll never have another baby, I';d love to say, "Well, I'd better not see you in 10 months, then!"

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Talk to your mom/older sister/friend about what a normal baby does. Your new baby will cry, the umbilical cord will dry up and fall off in due time, they will get hiccups, etc. If my mom hadn't been so close to me when I had my oldest, I would have been in the ER for the dumbest things.

Not long ago, there was a 17-day-old baby in the ER.

Visit reason?

Umbilical cord fell off.

:sstrs:

I'm guessing the parents thought it would just sort of shrivel up and be resorbed, like an ordinary scab.

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Specializes in L&D.

I remember explaining to a patient and her mother that the doc was going to come in and rupture her membranes. The patient's mother caught me outside the room and said "won't the baby dry out". :chuckle It was hard for me to keep my composure!

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Step away from the computer. There are quite a few websites that are like chat boards (like this one) that are for moms and pregnant ladies. One I've been to is babycenter. OMgoodness....Some of the things I'd like to say over there. Some women use that site as the only form of information they get.

Today they were talking about mucous plugs. This was on a birth board for August 2009. I'm on that group (again, I don't know why) and most of the these ladies are only in the 5th or so month and worry about mucous plugs?????

Internet and first time pregnant lady could = bad. LOL

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

Michele,

I feel the same way about some of the women in my Oct 2009 birth club (on babycenter too). I cannot tell you how many of them could have answered their own question if they had just bought any pregnancy book. Especially the "i'm cramping at 8 weeks could I be miscarrying".

The sad thing is some of them aren't first timers either.

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Specializes in Nurse Manager, Labor and Delivery.
I remember explaining to a patient and her mother that the doc was going to come in and rupture her membranes. The patient's mother caught me outside the room and said "won't the baby dry out". :chuckle It was hard for me to keep my composure!

Help me!!!!!!! Somebody, please help me. :banghead:

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Michele,

I feel the same way about some of the women in my Oct 2009 birth club (on babycenter too). I cannot tell you how many of them could have answered their own question if they had just bought any pregnancy book. Especially the "i'm cramping at 8 weeks could I be miscarrying".

The sad thing is some of them aren't first timers either.

I once temped at a place where a pregnant tech told me that she wanted to buy "What To Expect When You're Expecting" but she and her husband couldn't afford it.

And this was a PLANNED pregnancy!

I found out a while back that she lost her tech license for nonpayment of child support. Our state does that.

:(

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to the poster above me: why didnt she go to that place.. you know.. the big building where lots of books are held and you can even borrow one for a period of time... I think its called a library .... SIGH. Or even just go to any bookstore and read the book while you're there. It's so sad to think that she is a mother now.. poor new baby.

The other day I had a G1P0 mom who seemed well educated but then when her water broke she asked me how the baby was breathing without water - she had been pondering this question for several weeks now. I wanted to say "are you freaking kidding me?" but of course i smiled and nicely told her about the wonders of the placenta and cord.

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me&myboys said:
Talk to your mom/older sister/friend about what a normal baby does. Your new baby will cry, the umbilical cord will dry up and fall off in due time, they will get hiccups, etc. If my mom hadn't been so close to me when I had my oldest, I would have been in the ER for the dumbest things.

I remember calling up my mom totally freaked out because my 4 day hold had the hiccups. I was minutes away from calling EMS because I had lost my mind and was SURE he was going to die. I would call her at least 10 times a day (no joke) making sure it was normal for him to turn a little red when he was pooping and other things that all babies do.

My hubby was no help because he was totally freaked out. Now with our second son, he head could have spun and we wouldn't flinch.

I didn't have kids but would probably have done the same kinds of things.

One time, I was at my brother's house, and one of his kids dropped her pacifier on the floor. I took it over to the sink and rinsed it off before giving it back to her, and he replied, "If we washed everything those girls put in their mouths and dropped on the floor, we wouldn't do anything else." I replied that I was going to do that if I was there.

As for the poster who couldn't afford a book, I did suggest the library or a used bookstore.

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