Parental Advice: Given Perhaps, but Not Received.

We all think we give good advice, and we think we do it well. We’ve mastered the anticipatory guidance section of the well-child or nursery visit. We have our formula: we cover the salient topics, throw in some personal experience, and assume our parental advice on child rearing has been received and understood. Unfortunately, as shown by Eisenberg et al in this issue of Pediatrics, we appear to be failing miserably. Mothers received correct advice from doctors about sleep position only 54% of the time and about sleep location only 19% of the time. Even if doctors gave correct advice more frequently than reported, information cannot protect infants if mothers do not hear, believe, and act on it.