23 Terrible Things No One Should Ever Say To A New Parent (4 of 5)

“All that attention is going to spoil your child”

There are lots of ways parents end up spoiling their child – from never assigning any kind of responsibilities to gifting them luxury sports cars as birthday presents – but simply snuggling your newborn isn’t certainly one of them.

According to experts, insinuating that somehow by holding their newborn the parents are going to spoil their child is not just misguided, but also affects the already fragile and emotional state of a new parent. According to family therapists, a parent should hold their baby as much as they would like to. After all, they wouldn’t want to be held sooner than later!

“If you actually think this is bad, just wait”

A lot of people love reminding new parents how everything will just go downhill from here on. However, regardless of the fact whether that is true or not, it is definitely not going to make the new parents feel any better. In fact, by comparing and bringing it in a conversation, such statements only dismiss and minimize the difficulty a new parent is going through in that particular phase in life.

“You can sleep when the baby sleeps”

It seems like a well-meaning piece of advice, and it comes mostly from well-intended family members and friends, it is rarely a useful one. “You can sleep when your baby sleeps” is such a difficult thing to practice. Also, sleeping while your baby is sleeping isn’t a good thing according to experts. Sleeping in small shifts isn’t what adults are good at. Further, most parents use the time while their child is sleeping to complete other important tasks such as bathing, eating, and working, this advice is not really as helpful as people would like to think it is.

“Don’t forget to enjoy every moment of this phase”

Every parent loves their child, but there are times when new parents feel tired and struggle to cope with the task of parenting, no matter how much others suggest that they should be feeling limitless joy instead. According to experts, a sense of guilt, depression, and shame start to set in when parents realize they are not being able to enjoy every minute. Therefore, by making such misguided statements, people only add to the pressure the parents are already facing.

“You are not feeling postpartum depression”

Postpartum depression is a serious thing, and it should be taken as such. From mild effects to some truly debilitating ones, a person goes through all while suffering from postpartum depression. It is, therefore, important that one doesn’t downplay a new parent’s experience no matter the severity.

According to a recent study that was published in Journal of Women’s Health in the year 2012, around ten percent of women will face some kind of major depression in their lives at some point. This is precisely why one should be supportive of them instead of dismissing how a new mom is feeling.