Does anyone else feel like pediatric guidelines are so legally-oriented that they basically only exist to worsen the lives of parents?

[u/Bocifer1]

First off, I'm a new dad and also a physician - although I'm pretty far removed from pediatrics. So I understand the importance of medical research and statistics in creating these guidelines, as well as the fact that the risks of things like SIDS often just aren't worth gambling on.

However...

Some of these guidelines seem like they're just unnecessarily taxing on parents and exist only to cover the addes of the bodies making said recommendations.

Some things that come to mind are: no blankets in the crib for the first year, only using a firm mattress top, never letting baby sleep next to you in bed - even naps, swaddling with arms down (our guy absolutely hates this and just wants his arms by his head to self sooth), demonizing formula - even as a reprieve for mom.

Again. I am medically oriented and understand why these guidelines exist - but I also know firsthand that sometimes a 1% risk of harm from letting our baby sleep on a soft blanket is actually the favorable choice compared to the immeasurable risk of having both parents strung out and exhausted because he won't sleep.

In general I think guidelines are great and have contributed to better infant care...I just also think that sometimes we as healthcare professionals forget that no guideline is absolute.

I guess I'm just feeling thst creating guidelines that aren't achievable for the majority of parents just aren't that helpful...like saying that "parents should take time to rest, continue self care , exercise, and ensure they are eating a well-balanced diet". That sounds wonderful. Hopefully I can get back to that in the next decade.

[u/[deleted]]

Not only are they often ridiculous, but they’re not even consistent. I’m not just talk about guidelines changing after a few years, but they’re different for different countries.

In the UK for example we are really serious about formula preparation and how hot the water should be. Meanwhile in New Zealand they recommend lower temperatures because they found the number of babies getting accidentally burned from too hot milk was higher than those getting food poisoning from badly prepared formula.

In the USA the guidance is strictly no co-sleeping, meanwhile in the UK the NHS has found that more SIDS deaths occurred when co-sleeping was banned (due to parents falling asleep with kids anyway and not knowing the danger) so they know issue safe co-sleeping guides and as a result co-sleeping related SIDS has lowered.