The article interviewed a sleep consultant about her work, prompting this from another mother: "This is the wrong kind of support. Paid by parents? This is again lazy parenting.
"Putting the blame on something, someone else to shoulder. As bad as forgotten baby 'syndrome'.
"So exactly how many other things did you try before you simply forked out money and avoided being a parent?"
Ouch. Who'd be a mother these days?
A few years ago I was interviewed on TV3 news where I made the comment that no mother should be pressured to breastfeed.
The online abuse I received on my Facebook page from breastfeeders left me reeling and wondering where all this anger was coming from.
When it comes to babies, women have never had it better. Only a short while ago pre-1960s women could not get contraception, they could not get an abortion, they couldn't even get sterilised without a medical condition.
In other words, they got pregnant a lot, had large families and that was their life, often in hard conditions. Who these days would be happy with no career, raising eight children on one meagre income in a two-bedroom house?
Modern women get to choose when they have babies, which means we can have careers, decent homes, good marriages and life experience before we start our families.
So why all the anger? Why mothers versus mothers on basic issues like breastfeeding and sleeping? Why are we so dismissive of other mothers who are doing the best they can?
I think today's mothers get angry for some very obvious reasons.
Pre-1960s, they may not have had contraception or abortion readily available but they had two weeks in the maternity ward before going home.
They had frequent home visits by midwives and Plunket nurses and they had close neighbours who also had babies and extended family who moved in and supported them.
Now, many mothers are booted out of hospital after 24 hours, their neighbours don't have kids and are out working all day, Plunket and midwives only have so much funding to go around and it's damned lonely.
Extended families are often miles away and so you turn to Google. Type in "my baby won't sleep" and you'll get more than 10 million responses.
Try making sense of that when you've only had six hours sleep in the past 24 hours at one-hour intervals.
My niece had the most beautiful baby last year in Australia and often emailed me for advice.
I did my best but the last thing I said on every email was "you know your baby the best of anyone and you must do what you think is right for you both".
I know babies who slept through at six weeks, others who didn't sleep through for four years.
I know mothers who can go to work after a sleepless night with a baby and do fine, I know others who just can't cope without a good night's sleep.
Everyone is different and every mother needs more help now than she's ever needed.
So to those mothers who took to Facebook to abuse other mothers who are struggling, I say think about what you are doing hiding behind a computer, barking abuse.
Why don't you use your skills as a mother and help someone else in your community? I have no doubt you have acres of experience so take it to the Plunket office, the local mother's group, volunteer your time and obvious pent-up energy.
You'll feel much less angry, you'll be making a difference and you'll find you are more accepting of people being different to you and your baby.
