The Two Party System of Parenting

As I make my way through the ever shifting maze of parenthood, I am left wondering: Are there too many zealots? Are there too many rules about what we should be doing? And are we turning our babies into miniature adults?

Cosleep. Don't Cosleep.
Cloth diaper. Disposable diaper.
Let them cry 'til they puke. Pick them up as soon as they whimper for a moment.
Don't start a bottle until x number of months. Start them right away.
Formula is the devil. Formula saved my marriage.
Spoon feed baby pureed things first. Let baby eat chunks of food on their own first.

These attitudes are not yin and yang. They are magnets repelling each other, thus no ability to have a middle ground. And it seems like if you are on one side of the fence then you are on that side for all things. It's the two-party system of parenting. Just like you can't be a fiscally conservation Democrat or a Republican who believes in gay marriage, you also can't be a parent who feeds your baby organic food and uses disposable diapers. We are extremists. Zealots.

Every few years, there seems to be a new theory of parenting that arises. A theory that completely dispells the old, institutionalized methods.
Spanking then No Spanking.
Sleeping on Tummy then Never Sleep on Tummy.
Potty train when the kid is ready then Potty Train from birth.
Only mushy food til there's teeth then Give 'em a steak at 4 months.

Sometimes I think we're trying to make our babies into little adults. And we say things like "It's better for their development in the long run." I wonder about the ancient Egyptians, though. What were they doing for their babies? Were they pureeing food or giving their babies strips of oven roasted red peppers? (Likely breast feeding until 2 is my guess). And without toilets, what was potty-training all about?

It's just that all of these fads that have been occurring this century...to improve the development of our children...seem so loud and silly sometimes. Why are we so caught up with development? We've evolved as a society, over thousands and thousands of years (at least six anyway ;) and we've only recently coined the terms Baby-led Weaning and Elimination Communication. Haven't we been doing okay without the zeal? Would we already be living on the moon if everyone started pooping on the potty before they were even able to walk?