New Mom Puts Mother-In-Law In A Time-Out After She Walks Into Her Bedroom & Wakes Up Her Sleeping Newborn For Pictures
"Everyone knows the number one rule is to never wake a sleeping baby."
Tomsickova Tatyana | Shutterstock Just three days after welcoming her first child into the world, a mother’s joy was interrupted by her overbearing mother-in-law who broke the cardinal rule — never wake a sleeping baby.
In hopes of getting her mother-in-law to abide by her boundaries, the mom put her in a “time-out,” forbidding her from seeing her baby for a week. As expected, her mother-in-law was not happy.
A new mom put her mother-in-law a 'time out' after she walked into her bedroom and woke up her sleeping newborn.
The woman shared on Reddit that she and her husband were struggling to adjust to parenthood.
"Life has been so exhausting. We both have zero sleep. I hurt everywhere," she shared. "You think and expect that family will understand and help you out — for the most part, yes — except for my [mother-in-law]."
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After much struggle, the new parents finally got their daughter down without any fuss.
All was peaceful until her in-laws made a surprise visit at 8 p.m.
“I don’t mind them visiting and enjoying quality time with us and the baby, but they came at the wrong time because we just put her down and we already told them that prior to them coming over,” the woman wrote.
Her in-laws brought some food, at least, and seemed happy to hang out with the woman and her husband — at least until she noticed her mother-in-law repeatedly sneaking off to pear into the couple’s bedroom where the baby was sleeping.
"Then, she said, 'Oh I really want to hold her and see her,'" the mom recalled. "And I said, 'Maybe in an hour so she’s awake when I feed her.'"
While her mother-in-law agreed in the moment, as soon as the mom was distracted, she snuck away and entered their bedroom.
"I look over to the monitor [and] she already picked my baby up from her bassinet and took her out of the bedroom," the Redditor recounted. "I quickly nudged my husband to say something but it was too late. She went to the couch and played with our poor half-asleep baby and [took] a bunch of pictures of her."
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The woman was furious with her mother-in-law.
“I was so mad!" she admitted. "First of all, who does she think she is that she can just pick her up without us knowing? It’s not about asking for permission, but isn’t it a common sense thing to at least ask if it was OK with us for her to do that?”
“The thing that pisses me more off," she added, "is the fact that she doesn’t have any regard for how it must be exhausting for my husband and me to put her down only for her to pick her up 30 minutes after so she could play with and take pictures of my daughter.”
As punishment for disrespecting their wishes, the woman asked her husband to forbid his mother from visiting their baby for the next week. Her mother-in-law was predictably unhappy with this outcome.
"She went ballistic," the mom wrote. "She had so many more excuses that my poor husband literally cried because of how impossible his mom was. And he barely cries."
No one, not even family, should disrespect a parent's boundaries when it comes to their baby.
It's important to respect parents' wishes when it comes to their child — no matter how much you wish to hold and kiss their bundle of joy.
“Everyone knows the number one rule is to never wake a sleeping baby. Certainly not a days’ old one! Plus you’d told her to wait," one commenter wrote. "That’s pretty disrespectful to both you and baby."
“No matter how much your mother-in-law acts up you really should stick to your time out," another Reddit user advised. "If you change your mind she won’t believe you when you set boundaries in the future."
While welcoming a new baby into the family is an exciting time, and everyone is likely eager to get their hands on them, the newborn's parents call the shots. Even in-laws do not get to sneak behind parents’ backs and undermine their decision-making.
Instead of waking up sleeping infants, consider giving their exhausted parents a hand. Bring a meal over. Offer to clean up the house. Stay quiet to avoid waking the baby so that everyone can get some much-needed sleep.
Sometimes, new parents need you to hold them up rather than the baby.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.