Did I do the wrong thing keeping newborn’s hands covered ?

[Flowersandforests]

I’m a first time mum and MIL is making me start to doubt myself… my baby was born with quite sharp nails and scratched her face in the first night in hospital. Because of this & because I was nervous to try and cut her nails / between constant nappies and feeding it wasn’t top of my priority list, I used the inbuilt mitts on her baby grows and generally kept her hands covered for the first 5-6 weeks.

Shes now 12 weeks old so hasn’t had her hands covered for a while but every time MIL has seen her she’s made comments about how nice it is to see her hands and saying to the baby things like oh mummy kept your hands covered so grandma couldn’t see your hands etc.

Last night SiL was round and make a big deal about her hands not being covered now so clearly her and Mil have been talking about it.

It’s making me panic that I did the wrong thing? Should I have kept her hands uncovered straight away?

I think it’s just something to say when they can’t think of anything else, it will get old soon. Ignore.

Try not to worry so much.

I put UABU to give them the time of day. They are being weird. You’ve done nothing wrong - there is no right or wrong imo for this!

My baby had his hands covered, those nails are sharp! I remember when he was a toddler I used to have him bare footed rather than shoes indoors, and I was always receiving comments from a family member that he needed socks on! So I put socks on next time the family member came and they half fell off, he tripped on them and banged his head on the table. So I threw them across the room and said this is why he doesn't wear socks!!!

Someone always has to say something stupid!

Just ignore them; they’re just looking for something to have a go about - if it wasn’t her hands it would be a dummy/whatever.
It’s a lonely enough job rearing your first baby and it’s too easy for people to try to undermine a new mother’s confidence if they’re that way inclined. Be polite and don’t get into a discussion - you might need ‘em one day - just smile sweetly and ignore ‘em; you’re doing great.

Hi OP,

I think it might be a good idea to practise saying the sentence "kindly take that remark and go get in the sea" and be prepared to say it over and over again, as often as necessary to your MIL and SIL.

MILs and SILs need a strict training regime and you can't start too soon imo.

My MIL was obsessed with the mittens with my first born. We only kept my DS hand covered when he was very little. She would almost run over and free his hands and coo over him about his hands being free. It drove me mad especially since my DH still has a little scar on his face from scratching it really badly as a newborn.

Don't let your MIL and SIL get to you. This is what MILs do!
You could say something back like... MIL wasn't here to cut her nails or help out enough..
I would have done the way if I were you.

We are all trying our best, and you kept your baby out of danger, so good for you.

Parent hood makes us grow a backbone, so don't worry, with time you will learn to either ignore your MIL, or respond back

Mine all wore those 'scratch mitts' to protect their faces from sharp nails.

I also hated cutting their nails until someone suggested I bite them? It’s much easier. Congratulations ignore the MIL

It’s really not a big deal. You did nothing wrong, but I wonder why you haven’t clipped/filed the nails yet. If you’re nervous about doing that, it’s not difficult with clippers, but I’d avoid using scissors. Wait til baby is napping,then it can be done calmly.

You have absolutely done the right thing! Never doubt your instincts. My youngest son had really sharp nails so I did the same with him until I felt bold enough to cut them!

Don’t allow MIL’s stupid passive aggressive comments to make you second guess yourself. Ignore her and SIL. I had a similar thing where MIL would talk to my babies rather than me. I was intimidated at first but then I’d reply “yes Mummy will take me away from FIL’s smoking as she believes it is bad for my lungs”. That soon shut her up.

Decades on, I’m not with their father anymore but still have a decent relationship with the inlaws. Set boundaries now; this is YOUR baby and your enjoy them your way!

Comment from you should be 'Yes mommy did, like a proper mommy because she didn't want you scratching your beautiful little face to pieces'

I managed to get one of my mittens off as a tiny baby and scratched at my face and burst a blood vessel near my eye. It's still there to this day as a little raised red bump so no YANBU