I have a good friend. She mostly uses gentle discipline with her 3 yo ds, seems to really respect him as a person, uses playful parenting, etc. I've only known her for a few years but we have been getting close in the last few months. Her son and my son consider each other best friends. We hang out at least once a week, sometimes twice a week. She also has a 4 month old baby. We've talked a lot about parenting, and most of what she has said leans to the AP side. Not many people in my social circle agree with my parenting practices so it was nice to run into someone who believes in some of the same stuff.
Recently she shared that her baby has slept for 10-12 hours every night. I didn't think much of it, except for to wonder out loud about how amazing it was. Then last night I called her to talk at about 8:00 and I heard little one crying in the background. I asked several times if she needed to go tend to her baby and she kept saying no. We talked for at least 20 minutes and baby boy was crying the whole time. At the end, I asked if her baby was sick or colicky and she told me no, that she had just laid him down. I asked if she was doing CIO and she said yeah, she had been doing it for a week.
I am flabbergasted. We talked several times during her pregnancy about CIO and how awful it is. She said she could never do that to her child, etc. but that her sister kept telling her how it was awesome. I told her about the studies I had seen about the negative impacts and even sent her a few links for her sister.
I have a lot of mainstream friends and tend to not interfere with parenting choices but this is really bothering me. I want to explore it further with her but I'm not sure how to or if I even should. I was thinking I might approach it from the standpoing that it might interfere with her breastfeeding relationship. What do you think? Should I just not say anything and respect her parenting choices? Help!
Recently she shared that her baby has slept for 10-12 hours every night. I didn't think much of it, except for to wonder out loud about how amazing it was. Then last night I called her to talk at about 8:00 and I heard little one crying in the background. I asked several times if she needed to go tend to her baby and she kept saying no. We talked for at least 20 minutes and baby boy was crying the whole time. At the end, I asked if her baby was sick or colicky and she told me no, that she had just laid him down. I asked if she was doing CIO and she said yeah, she had been doing it for a week.
I am flabbergasted. We talked several times during her pregnancy about CIO and how awful it is. She said she could never do that to her child, etc. but that her sister kept telling her how it was awesome. I told her about the studies I had seen about the negative impacts and even sent her a few links for her sister.
I have a lot of mainstream friends and tend to not interfere with parenting choices but this is really bothering me. I want to explore it further with her but I'm not sure how to or if I even should. I was thinking I might approach it from the standpoing that it might interfere with her breastfeeding relationship. What do you think? Should I just not say anything and respect her parenting choices? Help!
