OK, I know this is in Gentle Parenting and not News, but I found that article rude and patronising. Yes, children grow up too fast. Great that the author had the guts to stand up to her mother and parent her way - that is VERY difficult. Try having 4 different "professionals" and your mother telling you that CIO is always best, having your friends swearing by their full nights' sleeps when you only got 2 hours in bed... it ain't easy to stick by gentle parenting. The only reason I could do that is because I remember being left to CIO age 2, how I felt at the time and how insecure I still am today.

I began to wonder how we got so detached from our children. When did a baby’s cry become something easy to ignore? I wondered when this little boy turned 17, would these parents be glad that he’s independent enough to walk out that front door with barely a goodbye, or will they LONG for the days of his babyhood once more? I really do wonder what causes this disconnect – is it from the common birth practices in this country? Where labor sensations are immediately removed via epidural, newborns are immediately removed to a warmer, breasts are immediately replaced with a bottle or pacifier, arms are immediately replaced with car seats and carriers and swings….
I had an epidural (later a spinal), my son was taken away for over an hour as soon as he was out, Liebling had bottles from 3 days old, he was in a car seat before we even left the hospital... so clearly I expletived up early on, before Liebs was even born. He's going to hate me and leave home without a backward glance. I know, the article is about being there for your baby and not being able to spoil a baby, but DON'T tell me I can only be your idea of a decent parent if I birth the way you say.

And how many of us replace arms with slings and swear by that method? BAD MUMMY. BAD.

Will you remember how many times your baby cried while in a carseat in a restaurant and rather than pick them up you rocked the carseat and tried to prop a bottle up in their mouth?
Maybe once. Maybe the poor mother was bullied by professionals, mother and MiL, husband siding with his mother, her first night out and unsure of herself, her husband promises to "look after baby so you can eat a hot meal for once". Maybe the mother is exhausted, having had a long labour then having family visit and she has to run around after them rather than the other way around. Maybe she has slept 3 hours all week. Maybe she just needs a night out without being judged. Who knows? Maybe this is a nightly occurance. But even if it were, do we have the right to cast stones? I don't think we do either.