We all know that the relationship between a daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law can be complex. After all, blending families with different traditions, values, and especially ideas about how to raise kids can be tough. That makes mutual respect for one another incredibly important, specifically in regard to this relationship.
But all too often, that respect isn't given so freely. One woman took to Reddit to launch a complaint about her mother-in-law, whom she felt disrespected her in a pretty bold and demeaning way. The MIL clearly wasn't comfortable with her daughter-in-law breastfeeding and even removed a beautiful photo she had hung in her twins' nursery of her breastfeeding the pair of them.
The 28-year-old new mom posted on Reddit to explain how the situation went down. She wrote that her twins are about a month old, and that, given she and her husband really struggled to get pregnant, their births were incredibly exciting. For that reason, she said she and her husband went "all out" with decorating their nursery.
But one of her favorite parts of the nursery is a special photograph of her and her babies. "There's a black and white picture of me breastfeeding the twins framed on one of the walls," she explained in the post. "I love it, my husband loves it and my mum loves it."
She continued, revealing that her mother-in-law stopped by without warning one day, but graciously, the new mom let her in. "I let her in because although she can be a bit annoying, she loves her grandchildren and she's happy that we finally managed to have some babies," she wrote. But soon, her MIL sparked a huge controversy over her daughter-in-law's nursing breasts.
She said that when she allowed her MIL into the nursery to look at her beautiful sleeping grandchildren, instead her focus was on the black-and-white photograph. When the children woke up, the mom nursed her babies. Clearly, the photograph was disturbing to grandma, and she did not stay quiet about it. According to the new mom, her MIL "couldn't shut up about the picture," saying she felt it was "gross and inappropriate."
She also seemed to have a problem with the new mom breastfeeding, too. "I know breastfeeding with your t—- out is a bit weird to the older generations, but this is my nursery," the new mom continued. "If my t— were that annoying, she could just get out. She kept saying that I should take it down, and then actually took it off the wall herself."
The new mom says that when her MIL took it upon herself to remove the piece of art — something that was so special to her — she "snapped." She stopped nursing and grabbed the picture back from her MIL. She also told her that if she didn't want to be in the room while she was nursing, she didn't have to be there. With that, her MIL stormed off. But that wasn't the end of the ordeal.
Not only is the MIL enraged, the new mom then got an angry phone call from her father-in-law, too. They both feel that the breastfeeding mom is to blame and that she needs to be the one to apologize. It seems that no one realizes how deeply upsetting the MIL's behavior was but the new mom herself. "I have post partum distress so I really cannot deal with [expletive] atm," she went on.
While she says her husband is supporting her and told his parents to chill, he also thinks his wife should've responded better. But we're gonna go out on a limb here and say that most new moms nursing twin 1-month-olds would've had a lot harsher words for MIL … and maybe even a shot of breast milk in the eye. I mean, how about a little respect for a nursing mama? Instead, she says, "MIL is still demanding an apology and FIL said I'm being a 'total cow.'"
WOW. Maybe it's time both MIL and FIL MOO-ve along and choose their battles more wisely in the future.
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