Confused parents mistakenly feed their baby ice cubes

For first-time parents, those early newborn days can be hectic, sleep deprived and often full of funny surprises – and that state can last quite a while.

One couple’s reaction to food quantity advice is beyond hilarious. The new and tired-out parents anonymously turned to Reddit to share their misunderstanding – and we’re all still laughing!

Just following instructions

There is so much to think about when you have a baby. And when it’s time for starting solids, there’s even more going on. This couple thought they were doing the right thing by carefully following advice on what they should give their baby boy to eat, and how much.

“A few months ago when our baby was old enough to start eating food we were sent a free month-by-month baby food poster guide from [a UK baby food company]. We stuck it on the fridge and started to follow the advice. For 6 months it said ‘veggies and fruit, smooth texture, 2-3 ice cubes twice a day’.”

The parents had not yet heard of freezing baby food in ice cube trays so naturally they thought the instructions referred to actual ice cubes.

“Never heard of the ice cubes thing but it was a reputable company so we just went with it and started feeding our son fruit and veg with a side of ice cubes,” they said.

While this is funny in itself, as time went on, so did the portion sizes.

“By 7 months it said ‘fruit, veg, dairy, eggs, grains and pulses, 3-4 ice cubes 3 times a day’. I thought, wow, he’s hardly eating the 3 ice cubes we’re currently giving him, he just pushes them around his high chair a bit and licks them, but whatever, we upped the ice cube portion,” they wrote.

“Why are you giving him ice cubes?”

As is often the case in these sorts of situations, it took an outside eye to spot the error. “Mother-in-law came round and said, ‘why are you giving him ice cubes? Won’t he get brain freeze?'” recalls the parent. “But we said ‘no, no, it’s a thing now, you have to give them ice cubes’.”

Finally, the murky light dawned on the sleep-deprived parents. “It was only later that night, when I really thought about it, that I realised IT MEANT PORTION SIZE!! All this time in our sleep deprived stupor we have been serving our baby son ice cubes every day!”

Just too funny

The thought of the poor baby looking at the growing pile of ice cubes thinking ‘what am I supposed to do with those?’ proved too much for many Reddit readers.

“I’m absolutely rolling from ‘he’s hardly eating the 3 ice cubes we give him’,” said one. Another said, “I cracked up at the image of the kid licking and pushing the ice cubes around his high chair in confused disgust.” And finally another comment (which I can totally relate to) was “I started laughing so hard at this line I was tearing up and couldn’t keep reading.”

While it’s easy to have a giggle, we’ve all made mistakes as new parents. Especially when trying to do all the right things for our precious new family member. This couple however had the humour to post their mistake for all to read – and provide no end of laughter and joy during a time in the world where there has not always been a lot to laugh about.