I've had the opposite - one member of staff at DS's nursery telling me I should let him cry, another staff suggest I hit him to stop him hitting me. I told both that I don't agree with that, but the cryer woman just kept going on and on about it. Yes, you're old and have raised your children. Yes, I'm young-ish (in my mind) and am still raising a child - let me make my own mistakes, not repeat yours!

TBH, I never took offence at "why don't you try..." unless I'd already explained why I didn't do that. Because I'm secure in my parenting I suppose - it is annoying to have strangers suggesting CIO methods or thinking slings are bad but I can hope that they won't try it again with a less confident mother after talking to me. It's education: I learnt this myself, these people learnt something else. It's great to share what we know! That's what they do, that's what I do.

Hopefully this woman isn't aware of anything other than what her mother and MiL are telling her to do, so a differing solution may be welcomed.