The party invitation that ended a friendship.

Two little words ruined our friendship.

When I was in my twenties, I had a crazy best friend. We worked side-by-side in a glam job where the hours were long but there were plenty of perks, including lots of free alcohol. To put it mildly, we had a good time.

We both moved on to other jobs, but stayed in touch. Then I fell madly in love and got married. I never planned to have kids, but suddenly I wanted to, with this man. I got pregnant. I loved it.

When I had my baby boy, I turned into a real earth mother. I carried him with me in a sling everywhere I went. We co-slept, and my husband was fine with that. I breastfed my baby whenever he wanted it, which turned out to be a lot. I took a full year off work so I could be with him. He was happy, and so was I.

When my baby was a couple of months old, my friend invited me to her 30th birthday party. It was going to be a sit-down dinner, for just her few closest friends. I texted her to ask if I could bring my son, and she said no. No kids. Child free as she called it. She didn't want that kind of party.

I felt hurt. I'd never been apart from my baby, and I didn't want to start by driving to the other side of the city for a whole evening. What if my baby needed me? I'd tried to express milk, but it didn't work for me. I didn't feel ready to leave him.

I said no to the invitation.

Clearly, my friend just didn't get me anymore.

It wouldn't have ruined her party if I'd brought my baby along. He would have just slept in the sling or quietly fed. I wasn't going to start handing him around the table or making the evening all about him.

My friend obviously felt hurt too. She didn't get back to me. Not even a cheery, "No worries! We'll catch up when you're ready."

Once my son got past six months and wasn't exclusively breastfeeding, I started going out on my own again. He was fine without me. My husband was perfectly capable of looking after him. But I didn't contact my friend, and she didn't contact me.

I'm not one of those mums who gets offended at any "no kids" invitation. I am a person on my own, without my son. But when he was a little baby, we came as a package. Yeah, my friend doesn't have kids, and doesn't want to have kids, but if our friendship meant anything, she should have tried to understand.

I think she was rude. She clearly thinks I was rude.

Maybe it's inevitable that when you have a baby, you lose some of your child-free friends. But sometimes I miss her.

How do you feel about child-free party invitations?

Want more? Try:

"Breastfeeding specialist tells mum to stop breastfeeding."

6 things NOT to do in front of friends without kids.