Two of my favorite clueless parenting tips:
1) “Before the baby comes, get the pet used to a regular schedule that you believe is realistic and that will be kept when the infant is present.”
Because before the baby came, I knew EXACTLY how it would be around here. Oh yes.
2) “Feeding: The now-predictable schedule makes normal life possible again for new parents. No longer does the baby need to choose his own feeding times. He can be awakened in the morning to fit the family schedule. […] The last feeding can be set by parents just before their own bedtime.”
This myth is for a four month old baby. Elsewhere in the text, it says that last feeding would be at 10:30 p.m. So I’m supposed to STAY UP UNTIL 10:30 (hardly possible anymore) and then WAKE UP THE SLEEPING BABY to feed him. Then he will sleep until I wake him up. And he won’t get hungry until the clock magically hits a certain number, even though he can’t read.
This is why I hardly read parenting books anymore, especially if they are by “experts.”