A father was upset when his mother-in-law rubbed whisky into his six-month-old daughter’s gums to help with teething.
The mother of the kid recounted the issue in a post on Reddit’s Am I the A***ole forum, noting that her husband was not pleased with the “remedy.”
The 28-year-old wrote that she was at her mother’s house with their newborn, who was “teething horribly,” and that she was seeking guidance from her mother 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.
Is rubbing whisky on baby gums ok?
The woman went on to say that because her mother rubbed alcohol on her and her brothers when they were younger, she let her granddaughter do the same. “It did seem to calm down my daughter a little,” she said.
However, when the young mother returned home and told her husband about the treatment, he became “furious,” stating, “He said that’s harmful to our daughter, and it doesn’t relieve any pain.”
“He got really upset and told me I shouldn’t have let my mother do something like that and that I couldn’t bring our daughter to my mother’s anymore,” she continued.
“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.
The woman’s predicament split users on the social networking platform. Some others said she was wrong to let her mother-in-law rub whisky on her child.
Using whisky on kids to help with teething is a big no-no, according to medical professionals like Dr. Amos Grunebaum, who explained on BabyMed: “Alcohol is bad for babies because it slows down their systems.” Babies are continually growing at a rapid pace; thus, any slowed growth could result in major developmental difficulties and deformities.”
“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, don’t wipe alcohol on your baby’s gums!
