A mom from Toronto has gone viral for comparing parenting practices in the 1990s to today.
Alanna Clark (@classyontherun) shared a TikTok carousel comparing how she was put to sleep and transported in the car as a baby versus how she now cares for her daughter in 2025.
Clark, the mother of 14-month-old Victoria, told Newsweek that the inspiration for her post came after her mom passed away last summer.
@classyontherun
While going through old photos, she found pictures of herself as a baby and started comparing them to how she now parents her daughter.
“It opened a bit of a discussion with my family,” the 31-year-old said.
When she told her dad about the photos, he explained that the bumpers around her crib were to prevent babies from breaking their arms and legs, and that sleeping on her side was to prevent choking.
“We had a good laugh about how things had changed and how things will change again when my daughter has kids one day,” she added.
Clark’s post begins with a photo of her in her crib in 1993. She’s lying on a tiny pillow and white frilled bedding. She explained in the text overlay that her parents were following the “best practices at the time”.
The next image shows Victoria in an empty crib, wearing a sleep sack and with a baby monitor tracking her every move while she sleeps.
“I’m glad that when my family talks about the ‘new’ way of doing things, we focus on how much information we have to keep babies safe,” Clark wrote in her caption.
One major difference Clark noted is the increased amount of information available to parents today, compared with parents from previous generations.
“Not only has scientific research moved forward leaps and bounds in the last 30 years both relating to safe sleep and car seats, but parents today have access to so much more information through the internet and social media,” Clark said.
She pointed to research on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), which found that between 1999 and 2004 Canada saw a significant reduction in the rate of SIDS after parents were advised to place babies on their backs with no toys or loose bedding.
Research-backed guidelines like these have shaped the way millennial parents approach their baby’s sleep.
Clark’s carousel has clocked up over 429,000 views, with most viewers understanding the core message that every generation of parents is doing their best with what they know at the time.
“I love your take on this rather than bashing practices of the time which were genuinely what they thought was best,” one user wrote.
“[We] can only do the best we can with the information provided,” a second agreed.
Clark certainly doesn’t see her parents’ methods as “wrong” or “bad,” and was appreciative of how open her family has been to learn about new guidelines, including her 91-year-old grandmother.
“I know that my parents were doing the best they could with the information that they had at the time,” she said. “They were following current practices at the time—and that’s exactly what I do with my daughter, I follow current practices.
“If things change in the future that will only mean that we have found better ways to keep babies safe, and that’s a good thing!”