One things mothers love to do is talk about their kids, and what they did to raise them, feed them, get them to sleep through the night, play with them, get them to walk etc...but what many mothers don't get is your kid is not my kid and my kid is not your kid. I love my kid just the way she is and I don't want yours, sorry.
Every kid sleeps differently, every kid eats differently, every kid is not the "average kid." There are dream babies out there who sleep through the night at 3 weeks old (though I have to say I almost don't believe the exist) and there are kids wake up every three hours until they're 2 years old. It's possible, because there are all types of people out there and kids are after people too.
Some babies will eat up all the home-made baby food in the world, some will only eat processed baby food and some will shun the food for months and months before finally succumbing to the spoon. You can't force a baby to be "average" just because the books tell you your kid should be one way, nor would you want them to be because average really sucks.
I really can't complain about my child, she's been ahead of the curve on nearly everything. At 11 months she's eating almost anything we give her, she can walk, she babbles and says momma and dadda and even cat sometimes. She loves books, the pool, other kids and people, smiles constantly and laughs uncontrollably at my tickles. The only thing we have some of a time with is her sleeping. We did all the wrong things and all the right things and on a good day she naps for about a combined 1.5 to 2 hours and a good night she sleeps for 12 hours. There are some nights that for no apparent reason, however, she will scream her guts out at different intervals and it's a toss up between going in and picking her up (which sometimes calms her down and she passes right back out and doesn't wake up again) or not going in at all and sometimes she passes out quickly on her own.
Sometimes though, she does not go back to sleep without screaming for a good 30 minutes up to an hour no matter what we do. Why? Who the hell knows, she's a baby. She can't tell me and I'm not a psychic. I know what has worked for other people hasn't worked for us and I know what does works for us might not work for others out there.
I'm ok with the fact that sometimes my sleep is just gonna get totally messed up, because guess what? That doesn't change. I know that kids mess with your sleep from zygote onward if they are the type to do so. I am 6 weeks pregnant and this morning I essentially woke up at 2am. (I can tell this next one will be a fun one too.) If the kid is a sleeper, those babies are giving their mothers hell in some other way, trust me. No one is getting out of this without some scars (even if some of them are pretty well hidden).
So the next time a mom gives you unsolicited advice that makes you want to rip her hair out, you can tell her bugger (or whatever) off or you can tell her that you're pretty sure your kids aren't twins so what worked for her might not be the answer for you.
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