Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

ABIU mother in law demanding time alone with little one?

149 replies

Colourmeblind · 31/01/2018 15:00

My baby is 12 weeks old and I have struggled to bond with him, which is a whole different story.
Anyways, MIL and SIL got us restaurant vouchers for Christmas which was a lovely gesture or as they called them 'babysitting' vouchers. I take our son to her house maybe once a week, it's only half an hour away. She's been to ours once since he was born.
She keeps making snide remarks about her wanting him to herself for the afternoon and that she wants to spend time with him without us there!
He's 12 weeks old and I want to spend time with him, I go back to work in 3 months time! My partner works until 10pm in the evening so I would be sat at home on my own all afternoon. AIBU or should I just accept she doesn't want me there and use the time to myself?

OP posts:
SersioulycanitgetWORSE · 31/01/2018 22:17

If I am ever blessed with gc I will never ever buy any thing like this for much dd to force her to leave they baby with me.

If she doesn't want too its my tough shit.

I will never ever trample over her feelings and be grasping and undermine her... And reapedly try and get my hands on the baby.. Alone. Alone must have baby alone!! Never ever.
It's a tough time I would let her know I am here, I will stay up all night with her if she wants me too... Whatever she wants to get through it because its gruelling. Women do fall by the way side.. Hormones assault you, pnd, dips.. Pain.. Scared.. I will do whatever it takes to support my child and if that also would sadly mean keeping my distance so be it because she is the priority, she is keeping a small baby alive.

OhCalamity · 31/01/2018 23:11

My MIL was the first person that I left my baby with Puddinchops Even so, it was 6 months before I was ready for that step. And even then I went to the local pub, stayed on minerals and brought the car so I could drive home in a hurry if she needed me she didn't

So not all MIL's are bad or pushy. Some are lovely, but that's probably because they aren't trying to take a tiny baby off a mother against her wishes.

Llyra · 31/01/2018 23:33

I don’t think the interest is weird but of course you should do whatever you feel comfortable with. There is nothing selfish about wanting to be with your own child.

I do understand feeling self-conscious around new parents. I recently had this with some relatives. I understand that they are protective, but their behavior made me feel discouraged from holding their baby. If I did, they acted like they had to follow right next to me because I’d drop her. And if I didn’t jump at the chance to hold her, they acted put off.

They eventually mellowed a bit, but I’m really self conscious around the baby now. I swear I wasn’t holding her upside down or anything!

FiveLittlePigs · 31/01/2018 23:38

My mother asked my exh If I wanted her to have my dd after I'd had a miscarriage. He didn't ask me but took her to my mother when on an early shift so leaving the house at 4:30am. So I would wake at 8, go in to DD's room and she wasn't there. That hurt big time. But I wasn't allowed to complain that I wanted my dd because they "didn't set out to hurt me and my being upset angered them" Sad

SilverBirchTree · 01/02/2018 00:15

I have a 4 month old and been through something similar.

Your baby is a newborn! He belongs with you until you need a break. Don’t let anyone rush you.

You say you’ve had trouble bonding. Your family should give you room to find your feet instead of trying to wrestle time with him from you.

FrozenMargarita17 · 01/02/2018 00:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

blackberryfairy · 01/02/2018 01:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Fionne · 01/02/2018 03:02

I was at the births of all 6 of my grandchildren and like a previous poster I was the first to hold some of of the babies as well as do other things but it never crossed my mind to think of it that way. You kind of take yourself out of the equation and even if you’ve done all of the ‘firsts’ each and every time, time only starts when your loved ones get given their baby.

As for time alone with a wee one in the family - it’s never come up because in the natural order of things it happens anyway when the time is right and until then people can see the wee ones as often as they want.

OP, do you and your husband have a plan in place for when he’s on paternity leave and he may just feel like leaving the wee one with granny one day? Or will there be a blanket ban on that because you’ll be back at work and struggling with being away from your baby and he cant be with granny because he can’t be with you?

For now though I think you just have to learn to say - thank you but it’s not practical right now

goodyzoe · 01/02/2018 03:24

She needs to back the fuck off.

No one should be putting pressure on you to leave your baby. She's acting as if she has some right to mother your baby. She doesn't.

Colourmeblind · 01/02/2018 09:37

OP, do you and your husband have a plan in place for when he’s on paternity leave and he may just feel like leaving the wee one with granny one day? Or will there be a blanket ban on that because you’ll be back at work and struggling with being away from your baby and he cant be with granny because he can’t be with you?

He can go and see his Mum whenever he wants. If he needs a break and I'm not around I'm sure he will leave him with his Mum - as I would if I needed a break and husband wasn't around.
There isn't a blanket ban now, there's a I'm not ready to leave him and want to spend as much time as I can with him before then.

@Fionne
It's lovely you have such a brilliant relationship with your grandchildren and I hope that one day my kids will, I travel half an hour every week to facilitate him seeing his Nanna so they can build a relationship.

OP posts:
BarbarianMum · 01/02/2018 10:33

I was really supportive of my children building up an independent relationship with my MiL - when they were 3+. I never felt I wanted them away from me at 12 weeks though . My mum looked after ds1 when I went back to work at 6 months and I hated leaving him so much I eventually stopped work. And that was nothing to do with how much I loved her or my trust in her. I trusted her implicitly but I just had a really strong urge to be with him.

Katyb1310 · 01/02/2018 12:04

People often seem to forget that babies aren't just the DIL's baby, it's also MIL's son's baby. Someone further up the thread said something about DIL's babies which made me think this. I don't see it as odd or weird that grannies want to spend alone time with their grandchildren. It doesn't mean they want to take over or play at being the baby's mummy. As for the person who said it isn't MIL and SIL's baby to bond with - they are still the baby's granny and aunty so of course they want to bond too. My DC has a great relationship with both sets of grandparents and aunties and uncles and I want her to be close to them all. They're all family.

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 01/02/2018 12:05

That's far too young for time alone! YADNBU.

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 01/02/2018 12:10

All mine were EBF at 12 weeks and I could never express, no one could have had them alone.

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 01/02/2018 12:16

Quizzly that's really weird. Shock

JoeyMaynardssolidlump · 01/02/2018 12:50

I think if you are kind, nice and respect your dils boundaries, each can be very different, then you naturally build up a mutual love and respect and trust so there’s no problem around the grandchildren.

Taking babies off into another room all the time is slightly strange I think. Why would you unless you were helping them go to sleep?

JoeyMaynardssolidlump · 01/02/2018 12:52

perfectly

It’s fsr too young for you snd I would have been for me too but I had my grandson overnight at 6 weeks. My son and dil needed a break snd I
Was happy to help.

It’s each to their own but always mums choice not anyone else’s

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 01/02/2018 12:54

Fair enough Joey, it was my gut reaction. Smile

JoeyMaynardssolidlump · 01/02/2018 12:59

perfectiy I agree with you in that I would have been far too early for me as a mum too. Grin

The fact the mil is forcing the issue is horrible

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 01/02/2018 13:06

Yes, it's not as a favour at all, it's for her own selfish wants.

AppleTrayBake · 01/02/2018 13:27

This was my MIL!

Constant pressure for me to fuck off somewhere (anywhere!) And leave her with my ebf newborn.

It didn't happen, but did destroy our relationship because I avoided her like the plague.

Rockandrollwithit · 01/02/2018 13:45

My MIL was like this with DS1, there was one time when he was about three days old that they turned up unannounced. DS was sleeping on me and she just lifted him off me without even saying hello. I was hormonal and got the rage! She would also tell her family members in which order they were allowed to hold him 🙄 DS did have a few sleepovers there from about age 2.

She's a lot better with DS2. He was in NICU for almost a month so she has had to be more respectful. He's five months now and I'm not ready to leave him.

Namechangeuser · 01/02/2018 14:01

Why is it that it always seems to be the mil who pushes and forces the relationship too soon? It's such a weird dynamic, one which I have experienced.

My dd is nearly a year, and still hasn't been alone with anyone other than me and do. Mil is the only one still harping on and pushing the issue.

I have no problem her seeing DD, in fact, I really hope they build a nice relationship as she gets older. I can imagine plenty of baby sitting opportunity and sleep overs when DD is 3+...but whilst they are babies...that's in no one's interest but mil. DD is happy in her routine, in her cot, and most importantly with her mum. She is still a tiny baby.

It drives me potty.

Maya80 · 01/02/2018 17:09

Oh gosh I remember writing a mumsnet thread about my mil and sil when I was about 6 months pregnant with my daughter 7 years ago. They live 2 hours drive from us and I couldn't travel for long because of awful spd, pretty much housebound by then. So they came to visit and hadn't seen us for about 6 weeks, so my bump had obviously grown a lot. The minute they walked in they came straight towards me with arms outstretched, to feel my bump! I was really shocked, they had their hands all over me, talked about baby to husband and didn't really speak to me, in the end dh said I should sit down in a bid to get them away from my bump!

It really freaked me out and I felt like I was basically a baby incubator for them and not a person at all. They kept talking about when the baby arrived they'd look after her and have her to stay at theirs for a few days, we could drive 2 hrs to drop her off, come home and get a couple of days rest and then come back to collect her! They got out the Argos catalogue and started going through all the baby stuff, then my sil said she liked this cot, mobile, buggy etc and would buy them for her house for when dd stays with her! She even said she'd have her own room! At this point she was single and lived on her own, was late 30's and I wondered why she wanted to have her brother's newborn baby staying at her house in own room with things she'd chosen that were big expensive things! It's not even like her and dh are very close! I would have thought she'd prefer going out with friends, dating etc! She did meet someone eventually a few years later, unfortunately they've had a really rough time with multiple failed ivf the last few years and I feel terrible for them, but 7 years ago she was single and in late thirties, it was creepy!

Mil always wanted alone time with dd as soon as she was born, we said it was too early. I really struggled to bond with her after a complicated pregnancy and hermorrhage after c-section. When dd was 6 weeks old mil offered to come and stay the night so that we could catch up on some sleep. I'd bf at first but by 6 weeks was also pumping and using bottles as well as some formula top ups so we said yes please. My own mum and dad had told me they were apparently too old at 70 to help, not until dd was older and "easier to look after". So we jumped at the chance of one decent night's sleep and mil came. I made sure all day she knew how we did things with dd and her little quirks and cues, felt confident going to bed early that night that dd would be fine with mil, if someone was feeding her she was happy! If there were any problems she'd come and wake us, she didn't. Next morning mil looked really pale and not v well, v quiet and keen to get home. Turned out she found it really hard work and didn't want to do it again! She would just come for visits in future, 7 years later they visit us for a few hours, we visit them for a few hours, and she's never offered to help out again! Sil had said she'd come and stay overnight to give us a break too after mil did it, so a few weeks later we did the same with her. Next morning it was the same as with mil, my sil was all pale and quiet, obviously v tired and like we'd also said to mil told her go to bed and get some proper sleep before you do the 2 hour drive home. Sil also never offered to help again, in 7 years nothing! We don't ask for any help so it's never mentioned. Luckily once dd was a bit older my own parents offered to help out occasionally and since dd started school they are very good.

This is from mil and sil initially wanting a baby not even born yet to go and stay with them have her own room and stuff there! Mil admitted she'd forgotten how hard it was getting up for night feeds but sil never spoke about it again, we can only assume she found it really hard and so never volunteered again. None of this stopped them both from hovering and grabbing dd from me on visits, quite often they'd go straight to her when we pulled up in the car and grab her out of her car seat and walk off ahead with her, totally ignoring me! Dh at least got a hello. It's all very weird I don't get it at all, why alienate your dil, and make it clear she's nothing to you, an unfortunate consequence of your son / brother getting married. I don't know if in some cases it's caused by insecurity and jealousy? There was probably a bit of this with mine, although over the years I've found slowly they have accepted me.

Also when your ds is older he'll have his own opinion and will act on it, my dd will now say things like she doesn't want to go and stay with the in laws when they mention it, says she'll miss mummy and daddy too much and she likes our family get togethers / visits just how they are. Mil keeps saying "maybe when you're older!"

Ignore her op, it's all about how you feel especially with such a young baby, and sorry but she just has to deal with it even if she can't understand or respect how you feel. She has no automatic right to alone time and I can't understand why people like this can't see that if you let things develop naturally and not be pushy, demanding or use emotional blackmail then these things would eventually evolve naturally, or at a later age when some kids ask to do things / stay with their gp's, there is plenty of time for their relationships to develop!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread