My MIL doesn't baby sit DD very often. My mom baby sits every day while DH and I work. Well, my mom needed the day "off" today so my MIL said she'd LOVE to baby sit. She came over at about 6:30 this morning. I wrote out short instructions on DD's feeding schedule. It was pretty much this: "DD eats every three hours. Bottle first, then cereal w/fruit puree, then bottle." DD woke up at 6 so I BF'd her and put her back to bed. When MIL got to my house, I told her this and gave her the short instructions. I didn't think I had to say "She should eat around 9, noon, and 3" but I guess I should've because I called home at about 9:30 and DD was down for a nap and MIL said DD at cereal w/fruit at 8... and an entire bottle at 9. WTF? She shouldn't have eaten that much until about noon! Then she says she did spit up a little after the bottle. Yeah, no SH!T she spit up, her tummy was too full!! I was so irritated! I left simple instructions and she couldn't even follow them! I think she didn't really know how to entertain DD so she thought she'd feed her to pass the time. My mom thinks DD might have been fussy because she was tired but MIL thought she was hungry. Either way, WTF?
Would this irritate you?
Re: Would this irritate you? Re: MIL (who else, right?)
No, it wouldn't irritate me.
It would irritate me, but she doesn't watch her every day.
I know my mom knows all of DD's cues, but MIL doesn't pick up on everything.
This would be the same if it were my MIL. She always says that she'd be happy to was DS just bring a big bottle. I guess feeding them is their way of watching??
Yes, there were two bottles in the fridge, defrosted and ready to be heated up. I just said "entire" because MIL said DD finished "an entire" bottle an hour after eating cereal w/fruit.
My instructions weren't literally what I typed up above. I kind of condensed it so my post wouldn't be a mile long. Sorry about the confusion on that.
Part of the reason I was irritated is because MIL knew what she did wasn't what I asked because when she told me, she laughed and said she kinda goofed up.
I'm sure she'll baby sit again... I'll just have to make my request VERY clear next time.... not that I think it will help, MIL will still screw it up.
This is the reason why we are paying for daycare vs. having my mother watch LO. I'd like to still have a relationship with my Mom (ha ha) so I'd rather financial suck it up. I can't handle my Mom watching LO while I'm home, so I would not really like to see what would happen if she was left alone. I know she'd never do anything to hurt LO, but it would completely grate on my last nerve.
I'm going to give MIL the benefit of the doubt and say that DD was probably fussy and MIL offered her food and that was that. It would completely irritate me, but I don't know if it should or not.
I agree with this. It was hard to understand. Did she have any way to contact you if she was confused?
Me too. Cut her some slack, she tried. She doesn't sit her everyday so she is not familiar with her feeding schedule and your instructions were not clear.
ITA. I find myself being unclear sometimes because I am so familiar with J's schedule and I know exactly what I mean, but it doesn't always make sense to someone who doesn't watch him often. I know it's annoying to have your DD's schedule messed up, but she'll recover :0).
Yes. My MIL watched Henry when I was getting my hair done (so 2 hours max). I BFed him right in front of her and said "I am leaving a bottle for emergencies (like if I was in a car wreck and couldn't get back to him in time or something of the sort) and told her he wouldn't be hungry."
I called to check on him about an hour and a half later and she said he had been crying so she gave him the bottle. Then she said he kept turning his head away, but she didn't know why.
I was so irritated. Not only did she try to force feed him, but she also wasted 5oz of milk I had pumped.