A dad was outraged after his mother-in-law rubbed whiskey on his six-month-old daughter's gums to help with her teething.
In a post shared on Reddit’s Am I the A***ole forum, the mother of the baby explained the situation, revealing that her husband was not at all happy with the "remedy".
The 28-year-old wrote she was at her mother's house with their newborn - who is "teething horribly" - and sought advice from her on how to help her child.
"My mum does some old [fashioned] things and she’s really into herbs and natural healing and such, so she wanted to try rubbing whiskey on my daughter’s gums," she revealed.
The woman went on to share that because her mom rubbed alcohol on her and her siblings when they were younger, she allowed her to do it to her granddaughter. "It did seem to calm my daughter down a bit," she noted.
But the young mom said that when she got home and told her husband of the remedy, he was "furious," explaining: "He said that’s harmful to our daughter and it does not relieve any pain."
"He got really upset and said I shouldn’t [have] let my mum do something like that, and told me I couldn’t bring our daughter to my mother’s anymore," she went on.
"He’s since called the next two days off of work and is super paranoid watching me every second with our daughter. I feel this is unfair," she said, concluding her post.
Users on the social media platform were divided over the woman's dilemma. Some people commented that she was wrong for allowing her mother-in-law to rub whiskey on her child.
One user penned: "I think in the world where [the] internet is at our fingertips, it should be easy enough to Google if something is safe or not. I'm not a mother and even I know, without having to look it up, that some of those 'old remedies' aren't safe. I'd think that a first-time mother would also know that, even if the advice is coming from her own parent."
Another interjected: "YTA (You're the A***ole) yeah. I mean, you know alcohol is unsafe. It also happens not to work as a topical analgesic; if the baby quietens down, it's because of the general sedative effect of alcohol."
"I think it's hilarious how your mother conflates the use of a well-understood but completely inappropriate drug with 'herbs and natural healing'," they concluded.
A third remarked: "Gently YTA. 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?"
Meanwhile, several others shared that her husband's reaction was "excessive" as one person stated: "Her husband literally took two days off work to micromanage parenting because of this? That’s excessive. It’s called having a conversation between two adults, saying 'we shouldn’t do this again', and moving on!"
"Dad staying home from work like she’s driving her child to alcoholism makes him TA here. Also, him trying to keep the child from grandma when grandma did it with mom’s permission is another TA move," the user continued.
A second person pointed out: "Taking off work multiple days to 'watch over' your wife over something like this. This should have been an easy discussion about how that’s not the right way to handle teething and then move on... If this is how something like this is handled how are things that matter going to handled."
A third added: "You're not some monster that's going to harm your child. Honestly, if this is how your husband is reacting, that's a red flag. He's right, it doesn't relieve pain, and if you were to start doing it regularly, yeah, it can be harmful."
"However, it was a one-time thing that you told him about, and now you know not to do it again. He shouldn't be acting like it was a conspiracy to intentionally hurt your daughter," they remarked.
According to medical professionals like Dr. Amos Grunebaum, using whiskey on babies to help with their teething is a big no-no, explaining on BabyMed: "Alcohol is bad for babies because it slows down their systems. Babies are constantly growing rapidly, so any slowing could cause serious developmental problems and defects."
"When adults drink alcohol, it has temporary negative effects, but since they are full-grown, it can’t cause any permanent harm at that moment. Babies cannot make up for the lost time of development when they consume alcohol though," he added.
So there you have it, folks, don't rub alcohol on your babies' gums!
