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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is a bit weird?

23 replies

Tink16 · 30/08/2016 01:26

(First post, please be gentle)

When MIL asks if she can 'have a nurse'? It irritates the hell out of me! Why can't she just ask if she can have a cuddle of DD? She then proceeds to offer 'a nurse' of DD to other people. Am I right in thinking that nursing means breastfeeding? As in wet nurse? Every time she does it, I clench my jaw and inwardly rage but I'm not really sure if I can do anything about it.

AIBU??

OP posts:
ParanoidGynodroid · 30/08/2016 01:29

It's a strange (and pretty cringeworthy) word to use, but may just reflect her age/ background/ local vernacular.
At least she seems like a doting GM!

hazeimcgee · 30/08/2016 01:30

Its just a turn of phrase i guess. If this is the most MIL ever does tl annoy you you'll be grand so seriously, chill pill

HobnailsandTaffeta · 30/08/2016 01:32

Yorkshire here and it would be fairly standard to mean a cuddle "aw lets have a nurse of the baby"

So yes you are being seriously U and need to get a grip or it's going to be a looooong road ahead for that poor woman!

Rumpelstiltskin143 · 30/08/2016 01:33

Was discussed just a few weeks ago, and was decided it's a regional thing. I've never thought of nursing just as feeding. My relatives wanted a nurse all the time and they meant a cuddle.

It's hardly cringeworthy.

VioletBam · 30/08/2016 01:35

Agreed with others. It literally means a cuddle when used in that context.

"She was nursing the baby..." when said in relation to a person who is not the Mother, means "She was holding/cuddling the baby"

I get irritated by my MIL who says' What an IDIOT! When she means someone who is funny....she doesn't realise the negative connotations in the UK because she's Aussie.

She also says "Oh what a shame!" to everything. Even aboujt minor things which aren;t a shame at all.

Original poster
Tink16 · 30/08/2016 01:35

Ah the regional thing might explain it as we are from different areas. I've just never heard it put that way before and thought it was strange!

I will take a chill pill, thanks Grin

OP posts:
ElsaAintAsColdAsMe · 30/08/2016 01:35

It's just a turn of phrase.

If it bugs you just offer her a cuddle of her grandchild before she gets chance to ask for one and annoy you again.

sashh · 30/08/2016 01:46

VioletBam

Does she al;so refer to things as 'darling'? As in, 'Isn't that dress darling?'

Northerner here and 'nursing' means cuddling/holding the baby.

PovertyPain · 30/08/2016 02:02

Thank feck, it's not just me! I don't know how many times I've told my clients I've been nursing their dog on the sofa. OP, you would think I'm a right weirdo! ShockGrin

Catsrus · 30/08/2016 02:02

Yorkshire here - yes, nurse just means hold / cuddle to me.

Seren85 · 30/08/2016 02:40

Lancashire here and "a nurse" would mean a cuddle of the baby. It isn't commonly used these days but I wouldn't be shocked by it, IYSWIM.

londonrach · 30/08/2016 05:07

Lol..fil keeps saying look at that wippet. Ive stopped looked for dogs now, its yorkshire for young child, baby he says!

wigglesrock · 30/08/2016 08:06

Its used to mean a cuddle where I am - all my mums friends had a nurse with my kids when they were babies. Its just a regional turn of phrase.

OpenMe · 30/08/2016 08:12

Yes, my GM,from Derbyshire would definitely have used nursing to mean holding the baby.

RubbleBubble00 · 30/08/2016 08:15

Pretty standard word for cuddle. Just ask her not to offer cuddles to other people. She obviously thinks gc is delicious and everyone should have a cuddle Grin

accendo · 30/08/2016 08:24

I'm Australian and nursing means holding the baby. I thought that nursing meaning breastfeeding was an American thing.

WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo · 30/08/2016 08:31

It's not a phrase that I would use, but it's not that weird. I'm sure no one would think she's offering them the opportunity to breastfeed your baby Confused

Sugarpiehoneyeye · 30/08/2016 08:33

'Tis true Tink, here in Yorkshire, we all nurse babies, Mothers, Grannies, everybody. E.g. Aww, let me nurse your baby !

MaudlinNamechange · 30/08/2016 08:33

I think in "wet nurse" you need the "wet" because otherwise it's just generally looking after the baby (holding the baby)

Nursing to mean breastfeeding is US and comes from weirdness about saying "breast"

When you go to hospital the nurses don't breastfeed you! (they don't cuddle you either though so....)

Oysterbabe · 30/08/2016 08:35

Unless she whacks her boob out then I think you're being a bit oversensitive.

Lesley1980 · 30/08/2016 08:38

Here nurse the baby means cuddling/holding/comforting.

You know she isn't going to breastfeed the baby & no one she is passing the baby to is going to either so why does it matter?

OpenMe · 30/08/2016 08:38

Yes, actually, accendo is right. Whilst I know and understand the term nursing to mean breastfeeding, I wouldn't use it in that context. I'd say feeding.

BalloonSlayer · 30/08/2016 08:48

There was a thread about this about a month ago.

Consensus:

In some parts of the world/country it means a cuddle.

In some parts of the world/country it means breastfeed

Unless she got her boobs out she is not being weird.

HTH

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