A CONTROVERSIAL mum has spoken out after trolls shamed her for unusual parenting habits – including letting her baby sleep on a makeshift floor "bed."
Mum-of-two Leah Vidaurre, 35, who has one-year-old Maximo and is 16 weeks pregnant with baby number two, told how her unusual parenting choices include her son sleeping on a mattress on the floor, quitting pumping at six months postpartum and not following a strict sleep schedule.
In a clip shared to TikTok, which has garnered 370,000 views and 22,000 likes, the content creator says this is what works for her young family – but people online have been left divided, with some labelling her a “bad mum” for her unique parenting style.
“People should make educated choices when it comes to raising their children there is no right or wrong as long as the child is happy and healthy,” says Leah, who is from Cleveland, Ohio, US.
The first opinion that divided social media users is that her son sleeps on a mattress on the floor.
However, she says she followed a specific method after studying a Master’s degree in early childhood education – and says it helps him sleep.
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“I had seen the idea of a floor bed following Dr Maria Montessori's methods on social media and I have studied her methodology in school," she explains.
“I made this choice for multiple reasons – the most important one being that my son wasn't sleeping through the night, so I wasn't getting much sleep either.
“The more I read and researched about a floor bed, the more enticing it sounded to me.”
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The mum says that the only negatives of her choice is the reaction on social media, adding: “[It’s] just the backlash I get on social media, with people telling me I'm a bad mum.”
Leah’s second controversial opinion is Maximo not following a strict sleep schedule, which in particular has caused quite a stir on social media, with many users wishing the mum luck when her son starts school.
“It was tough when I followed a strict schedule," she says.
“Once I started following his sleep cues, nap time and bed time got much easier.
“We have a ‘loose’ schedule at my house that we follow daily.
“Once my son goes to school he will no longer be napping, so his nap schedule won't matter.”
The mum also revealed she stopped pumping at six months postpartum.
But in contrast to her other rules, Leah says that people are particularly supportive of this as many relate to the struggles that surround breastfeeding.
“I made this choice because I absolutely hated pumping," she explains.
“It hurt and being attached to the wall with a breast pump took up a lot of my time.
“Women know how hard breastfeeding and pumping is.
“I had more time to spend with my son [and] my breasts weren't in pain all the time.”
Although many support Leah and how she chooses to parent her son, other viewers completely disagree and troll her for her choices.
“Supervised dangerous sleep does not make it sleep," wrote one.
A second user joked: “Enjoy when he goes to school!”
A third commented: “Bedtime will most likely cause problems when he starts school unless you home school.”
Meanwhile, a fourth noted:: “I’m not a mum or anything but isn’t it better for the baby to pump for there immune system.”
Another chimed in: “Sad. You quit pumping bc you hated it.”
Other users however, leapt to Leah’s defence and backed her choices.
“I really dislike that people try to parent other peoples kids. Whatever works for you, works and what doesn’t doesn’t," argued one.
Another noted: “This actually sounds pretty normal compared to other people’s controversial parenting choices.”
Someone else said: “I’m like that too, we don’t have a strict routine. They wake up when the wake up but latest 9:30am, put 1yo down for a nap when he gets cranky/tired.” [sic]
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Leah said of the criticism: “What works for some families does not necessarily work for others.
“My friends and family mostly make all the same choices as me – no one comments unless to give me support.”
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