When raising a child, there are countless “tried and true” methods that parents have used over many, many years. Some of them hold water and we still use them today, but others have been debunked and we no longer really do them.
But really the question in today’s AITA post from u/RowanRida is “Am I wrong for making a mistake with my first baby” and that answer cannot be yes. New parents make all sorts of errors.
OP is a first-time mom and dealing with a very fussy teething baby.
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.
Her mother tried rubbing whiskey on the baby’s gums, citing that this is something they did when OP was young. It did seem to work!
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.
But OP’s husband was furious — he said it does nothing, it’s harmful, and banned OP from visiting her mother with their daughter.
When I got home I told my husband about this, and he was furious. He said that’s harmful 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 also — holy overkill — ditched work for two days to micromanage OP’s parenting.
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.
WOOF. This dad is ridiculous. Fortunately, we had some very rational comments in Reddit’s verdict section.
This user said that OP made a bad judgment call, but that was all. Additionally, it makes SENSE that new parents look to their parents for help.
Another user noted, “You’re 28 and a mom. You need to make your own judgments, not just listen to your mom without question. And in this case your judgment was to let your mom give your infant alcohol. Does that sound trustworthy to you?”
One user recalled that this was commonplace advice, “As I recall, rubbing alcohol on a baby’s gums when teething was somewhat normal in the 1950’s and 1960’s (and maybe even after that). Worked like a charm, I’m told. I assumed it had a numbing effect but apparently it actually gets the kid slightly inebriated so they don’t notice the pain. Luckily, along came Anbesol and no more need to get the kid buzzed. Anyway, I’d say NTA. You assumed your mother had some clue about what she was doing, she had used that technique on you and you (presumably) are no worse for the experience and it is unlikely to have caused any permanent damage. Probably should try some other non-alcoholic remedy in the future though.”
And, jokingly, another person said, “OP is perhaps a bit of a dummy, but certainly NTA.”