The Smart-Mom Trick for Soliciting (or Ignoring) Parenting Advice

Announce that you’re pregnant and cue the onslaught: Friends, mothers-in-law and strangers alike come out of the woodwork to share their (often unsolicited) advice about how to birth/feed/raise a baby. On the flip side, when you actually do have a baby-related question that requires immediate answers, you’re at a loss for where to turn. (Should you text a friend? Ask a coworker? Fall down the Google rabbit hole?) Here, a genius trick to help narrow down the chorus of parenting opinions.

What you do: First, consider all the parents in your life—from your own mom to your BFF to your boss. Next, ask yourself: Out of all of them, whose parenting style do you admire? (In other words, who most closely mirrors the type of parent you want to be?) For example, do you love your bestie’s cool and laid-back, but also hard-researched approach? Or your boss’s calm, go-with-the-flow demeanor?

OK, now what? Now that you have the parents you love the most in your head, zero in on two (and only two) sets and make it a rule that you will lean on them the most for advice/questions/concerns that come up about your own baby experience.

Permission to ignore everyone else, granted. Look, we’re not saying you won’t pick up a tip from another person or place (or Google), but it helps narrow down the range of opinions running through your head and gives you a plan of action when baby-related questions come up. (And God knows, there are a lot.)

RELATED: The One Thing to Say When You Get Unsolicited Advice