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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

In laws just obsessed

170 replies

MatildaSoul · 01/01/2021 09:21

Just want to say before this post - I am so happy that my baby has such loving and 'hands on' family and going forward this will be lovely for him, I am aware of this but currently I'm finding it hard to deal with so looking to vent,

My baby is 3 months old and my in laws are still absolutely obsessed with him, in a completely unmanageable way for me as if he was born 2 mins ago! I feel like they want him to BELONG to them, when if he is anybody's he is mine! haha.

I'd like to say also that my baby was a surprise when I had the coil fitted and in-laws weren't exactly supportive of me during my pregnancy so this big flip in their affection for him has been quite difficult for my head to deal with!

When they see us they still have to all "have a hold" of my baby which winds me up but I try and take the break and let them. But it doesn't seem to go through anybodies head when it's been an hour to think to give him back to his mother so I always have to say I'll take him back. Every time MIL holds him she always gives him to someone else if she has to get up and do something, I am breastfeeding so when he's at their house I use it as a way to take him back and just take him in the other room.

My BIL is in his late teens and he has never been around a baby before so just does not know how to go on at all. I think they will have a lovely relationship when LO is a bit older. We were close before my pregnancy and he hardly spoke to me when I was pregnant but now he tells my partner things like "i love your boy more than life itself" which is lovely albeit very intense! I find this relationship difficult as I am constantly telling him "don't touch babies mouth" "don't pull his dummy out when he's asleep" "he's obviously tired so if you stop touching his face he can go to sleep". He literally pets him like a dog it drives me insane I have to constantly watch him when he's holding LO and tell him what not to do. He has literally tried to wake him up to play with him to the point where the baby cried in his sleep from being touched etc and I took him off him and he slept for 2 hours more!

I have left them alone with my baby twice and both times have come back to his nappy not being changed the full time I was away (hours). If he wakes up from a nap, there are like 5 adults in his face staring and touching him, poor baby! I constantly am saying things like just leave him, i'll take him now please and stuff but they seem to love him in such a selfish way. The pressure for them to see him is unbelievable, I do try to ignore and I am always pulling them up on things but it's getting to a point where it's really winding me up and making me anxious. I do want to keep the peace but know if it starts effecting my baby i'll have to say something more! I've told my partner and he says anything I ask him to to them to back me up about these things that upset me but it doesn't seem to be enough, they'll stop doing one thing but start doing another so it seems pointless. Suppose I just wanted a little vent on here, I don't want people to get me wrong I do appreciate them to an extent but also whilst my baby is so little they literally all want to mother him, and that's my job haha!

OP posts:
80sColourfulChristmas · 01/01/2021 16:14

@MatildaSoul

You really, really don't like them do you?

if he is anybody's he is mine!

No - he is half yours, half your husbands. HTH!

80sColourfulChristmas · 01/01/2021 16:16

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

MatildaSoul · 01/01/2021 16:29

@80sColourfulChristmas Actually, I really like them majority of the time and get on with them brilliantly which is why I've found myself in such a dilemma Smile

I'm sure you describe your child as "your son" or "your daughter". He is a human being and he belongs to nobody but himself, if you hadn't of taken the comment out of context that would be clear it was made in jest!

OP posts:
MatildaSoul · 01/01/2021 16:32

@80sColourfulChristmas Also no harm in having a hold whatsoever! I am happy to let other people hold him, it was the passing around of the baby and the length of time that he will be held and the fact he will be given to any other person in the room before his mother! Thanks for the help! Hope i've made myself more clear

OP posts:
Sceptre86 · 01/01/2021 16:46

I recognise the over protective mother with her first born. I used to feel anxious when dd was away from me even if someone else was holding her in the same room. They are not threatening your mother status just in love with your baby. It is nice that they love your baby and I don't think it is intense at all that your bil loves his siblings child. Most aunts and uncle's I know do. The only point where yabu is the nappy changing thing, if the baby had been wet I would expect them to change him not leave him to get a sore bum, also pulling out the dummy and trying to wake him. If any of these points are unacceptable to you then you have to speak up and they should respect you as mum. I think there is a boundary issues and you and your partner need to reinforce them, this will help in the future too, so set firm boundaries now.

lemonsquashie · 01/01/2021 16:51

It sounds quite normal tbh. Also being irritated by your in laws is normal too. How often do you see them?

harrietm1987 · 01/01/2021 19:54

@80sColourfulChristmas

have a hold" of my baby Hmm Well first off, he is not your baby. Second, what harm is having a bloody hold????

I feel extremely sorry for your in laws with such a dictatorship

This is nuts - of course he’s the OP’s baby. Wtf.
Buddytheelf85 · 01/01/2021 20:03

Of course he’s the OP’s baby. She grew him inside her for 9 months then either pushed him out of her vagina or had him surgically extracted from her abdomen, so I think she’s earned the right to refer to him as ‘my baby’.

WankPuffins · 01/01/2021 20:05

@Buddytheelf85

Of course he’s the OP’s baby. She grew him inside her for 9 months then either pushed him out of her vagina or had him surgically extracted from her abdomen, so I think she’s earned the right to refer to him as ‘my baby’.
Totally.

I grew my babies. I went thorough pregnancy and 3 c sections. They are MY babies.

UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme · 01/01/2021 20:07

harrietm1987 exactly. The mother of the baby mus not say "my baby" but everyone else may. The baby belongs to the entire extended family, just not to its parents - or according to some posters it belongs to the entire extended family including the father, but the mother must at all times tie herself in knots to show that she knows she's practically incidental and really has no say at all, whilst at the same time sucking up all the consequences of an overstimulated, out of routine, sleep deprived baby with nappy rash and her own impending mastitis with humble gratitude.

There's a psychological term for this kind of voluntarily self degregation and submission in advance, but I can't at this moment remember what it is. Its some kind of self preservation technique usually observed in animals at the bottom of the pecking order or human victims of historic abuse. Instructing others to practice is is pretty nasty and twisted.

UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme · 01/01/2021 20:10

Also of course as soon as the baby is a sleepless, tantrumming toddler, a child with special needs, or a stroppy teen, he's 100% his parents', nobody else's.

80sColourfulChristmas · 01/01/2021 22:01

@harrietm1987 Use your head! 🤦🏼‍♀️

OP was implying the baby was solely hers and not equally hers & her husband's child.

How is it nuts to point out the obvious disparity there?! Hmm

80sColourfulChristmas · 01/01/2021 22:03

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme

harrietm1987 exactly. The mother of the baby mus not say "my baby" but everyone else may. The baby belongs to the entire extended family, just not to its parents - or according to some posters it belongs to the entire extended family including the father, but the mother must at all times tie herself in knots to show that she knows she's practically incidental and really has no say at all, whilst at the same time sucking up all the consequences of an overstimulated, out of routine, sleep deprived baby with nappy rash and her own impending mastitis with humble gratitude.

There's a psychological term for this kind of voluntarily self degregation and submission in advance, but I can't at this moment remember what it is. Its some kind of self preservation technique usually observed in animals at the bottom of the pecking order or human victims of historic abuse. Instructing others to practice is is pretty nasty and twisted.

Jesus Christ! An entire essay on 'submission' because I pointed out that OP doesn't solely 'own' her baby?!

Are you ok?!

Op is clearly behaving like the baby is her possession and nothing to do with anyone else. She seems horrified that her in laws want to innocently have a hold of their grandchild!

80sColourfulChristmas · 01/01/2021 22:03

@Buddytheelf85

Of course he’s the OP’s baby. She grew him inside her for 9 months then either pushed him out of her vagina or had him surgically extracted from her abdomen, so I think she’s earned the right to refer to him as ‘my baby’.
Read my comments again. You've misunderstood
UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme · 01/01/2021 22:06

80sColourfulChristmas you haven't read the OP properly, or have deliberately misread it to fit your own agenda. As you have no qualms about ordering other posters to re-read your own posts, I suggest you re-read the OPs, slowly, and try to understand them.

MaryLeeOnHigh · 01/01/2021 22:12

Hope i've made myself more clear

Well, no. It's still a bit of a mystery how come your in-laws have so much access to the baby. Do you live with them?

lucieinthesky · 01/01/2021 22:30

OP will be allowed to form a support bubble with another household as she has a child under 1, so no need to get too het up about why the in laws have access.

OP you sound like a fantastic, natural mother and this behaviour would stress anyone out. Hope your DH can support you to get some boundaries in place.

123sunny456 · 01/01/2021 22:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Poppinjay · 01/01/2021 23:44

At three months old, the baby needs his mother to be in full-on protective mode, acting like he is an extension of her. He is her baby and his father's baby and, by definition, is meant to be pretty much attached to one of them.

At this stage, the GPs should be having a quick cuddle and handing him back. They should be respecting his mother's wishes when she asks them not to touch his mouth or wake him up. Parenting isn't a democratic process that includes anyone who wants to join in. It's the role of the parents who will, hopefully, gradually welcome the increasing involvement of a wider community as the child matures and it becomes more appropriate and beneficial. At this stage, it is, and should be, a dictatorship, with the power in the hands of the parents.

Innocently having a hold of a three month old baby doesn't extend to withholding him from his mother for over an hour or deliberately disrupting his sleep.

They are riding roughshod over the needs and feelings of the baby and his mother so they can enjoy cuddles. That's unreasonable, unfair and unlikely to foster a healthy future relationship with their grandchild.

billy1966 · 01/01/2021 23:52

You baby needs you.
End of.
Your partner is a huge bonus.

People who went even change his nappy??? Wtf.

Protect your baby.
Assert yourself.

Flowers
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