Was having a theory discussion with a friend and it made me think

So this 75 year old friend said that she believes in god but also believes that our lives are just a series of lessons to learn from until we actually get to our final destination of heaven. Meaning the we get reincarnated until we reach a point to learn from past mistakes and learn empathy and compassion etc before we’re granted access to heaven. And that’s possibly why babies die because they were created to help others learn empathy etc from something they did in a previous life and that the baby wasn’t meant to be raised but was used as a learning tool! I don’t necessarily agree with that and seems cruel but might make sense. She also said that that’s why you automatically get a strong connection with someone who you never met and others you meet you just get a strong bad vibe because they did you wrong in a previous life. What do you think?