what does the quote "throw the baby" mean?

Question

its in the book kinship by trudy krishner
when sue ellen jenkins is talking to pert wilson at the engagement party about "throwing the baby"

no it's not. it was actually in the book. i'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with a baby shower

Answer 1

it's "don't throw the baby out with the bath water" and it means "don't be in such a rush to get things over with or cleaned up that you accidentally toss out something infinitely precious along with the stuff you want to get rid of."

For instance, say you have a pretty good husband but he has an annoying habit of some kind, so you kick him to the curb. Now you are alone, don't have his income, and the other benefits of being with him BUT you also don't have the annoying habit to deal with. Question is, was it worth it to lose all the good things to get rid of the one bad one, or did you throw the baby out with the bath water?

Answer 2

Its an old saying "don't throw the baby out with the bath water". Meaning there are good parts to bad situations.

We aren't talking about a baby shower!!!!!

Answer 3

While the old caution against "throwing the baby out with the bath water" looks plausible, I doubt that's what they meant.

"Down home", folks used to refer to the process of giving birth as "throwing a baby".

I suspect that's the case here.

Answer 4

Are you referring to the old saying "throwing the baby out with the bathwater'? If so it means, don't be in such a hurry to discard things, ideas, principles in your life (the bathwater) or you could end up throwing away something very valuable (the baby).

Answer 5

In getting rid of waste, don’t also discard what is worth keeping.