Getting The Best Advice On Parenting

So where is this bad advice coming from?

As you might expect: the Internet and the media. But a large amount comes from well meaning family and friends.

And we doctors don't get off the hook completely either. Sometimes our advice is not as up-to-date as it should be. And sometimes we don't give any advice at all.

The study is in the journal Pediatrics, and looked at more than 1,000 moms of infants up to 6 months of age and asked: where do you get your advice from? And what is that advice, especially in four key areas.

Here they are:

Sleep position
A baby should sleep on his or her back to lessen risk of sudden infant death or SIDS. Also, no bed sharing. Most moms got the wrong, or no, advice on sleep positions

Breastfeeding
You know that it's preferred for many reasons. Once again, wrong or no advice -- especially when feeding isn't going smoothly.

Pacifiers
We used to think they were all bad. Now they may actually cut risk of SIDS. 75 percent of new moms did not know that. There are pros and cons to pacifiers.

Immunizations
You know there is tons of bad advice out there on this.

And I'm sure as a new parent, you have lots of questions on lots of things. I've got four kids, and it sure was confusing at times when they were little, whether the issue was big or small.

So what should you do?

Personally, I still think your doctor (and medical professionals) are your best sources of information. Don't be afraid to ask questions, and I would encourage you to bring a list of your concerns -- especially on these four topics -- to your next well-child visit, or if you need to call the office because you're really running into some issues that can't wait.

And don't feel badly if you don't know something. One problem is the ever changing world of advice. What we did for our four kids, like sleep position or pacifiers, are completely different today than they were back when they were babies. So it would be easy to simply give advice based on what we did, and that would be incorrect advice.

And as for the Internet, don't believe everything you read.

Your best source, either to learn more or even to double-check what you've been told, is the American Academy of Pediatrics website. It's really on the mark with the latest guidelines.

- healthychildren.org/English/

- healthychildren.org/spanish/

Good luck!

Dr. Dave Hnida is CBS4's Medical Editor. He blogs about the latest studies and trends in the health world. Read his latest blog entries, check out his bio or follow him on Twitter @drdavehnida