Losing friends due to different parenting styles

[anabundanceofjars]

I have a few friends that I have been close with for years, however, now we have children it's become obvious that we have very different parenting styles.
Is it inevitable to lose friends when you become a parent?

My best friend and i are polar opposites when it comes to raising our children. The only thing we have in common is that we love them and do what we think is best for them.
thats enough though. We just dont discuss it or we agree to disagree. She sometimes shakes her head at me and i do the same. But honestly i dont feel the need to lecture her, because its none of my business and luckily shes the same as me in that.

I find it hard- I have friends who run a very different schedule to me- to me it’s chaos and detrimental, my routine to them seems rigid and boring - hey ho. Don’t overly discuss it and you both try to be flexible where you can.

Bedtime routine starting at 4 usually means dinner and wind down routine starting at that time, not actual bed. My kids would be crabby and difficult to manage if we met anyone at that time or later. But it's just a short phase of life. This tends to be tiny kids that need that kind of input.

It can be tricky around the 4yr-7yr mark but after that the children will do play dates without parents in tow which makes it a LOT easier

No I've found the opposite! I'm closer to friends who also have children now because we have more in common! We all have different parenting styles I suppose, for example I have friends that started solids at 4 months and encouraged me to do the same but I had no intention of starting until 6 months.

What are the differences in styles that are causing you to lose friendships? I think things like starting bedtime early are really child dependent, our 8 month old has a bed time routine that takes 5-7 minutes and he goes to bed at 9pm because that works for him. He only does a 10 hour night and I don't want to be woken up before 7am! I have another friend with a much more elaborate routine including bath etc and her baby sleeps 6pm-6am, again we're all baby led to some extent!