February 2016 Moms

Mama gone MAD... Rant

So as a first time mom I knew I would be in for a slew of criticism. It pains me that the majority has come from family members. I love the "oh your feeding him again?" or "you have that wrap thing, you know he's never going to want you to put him down." Driving me INSANE! Please don't tell me how much to feed my baby, how often to feed him, don't tell me when and how often to pick him up or put him down. WHEW! 

Re: Mama gone MAD... Rant

  • This is what I'm afraid of when I move back to the Midwest near family. It's been kind of nice having it just be me and DH so we can figure it out together without people interjecting when we still don't really know what we're doing 
  • You can't hold your baby too much IMO. As a STM with a four year old independent little girl, the time they want to be held is so limited...soak it in now. 

    I don't know how I would survive without wearing my son (it's the easiest way to meet both my kid's needs) and your baby would be spitting up or gaining insane amounts of weight if you were over feeding. The ONLY person I would listen to about the feeding thing is you pediatrician. 

    I try to be gracious and patient with advice but I have zero tolerance for criticism. For me it's all about delivery and whether or not it feels like it's coming from a place of helpfulness and love or if it's something else. 

    If you shut the negativity done one time and they realize it's not appreciated, it will stop. Good luck




    Praying this is our take home baby. STICK TURKEY Mommy will miss you everyday my beautiful angel. We love you Lilypie Angel and Memorial tickers M/C on 1/05/11 at 11 weeks.
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  • In my experience, the criticism never stops no matter what the age of our LOs. DS has had a major problem with listening to directions the first time he's told (he's 3.5) so DH and I have been on him for it. We went to my parent's house for Easter and he was told not to touch the water in the pool by my dad and he did it anyway. I didn't witness this but my dad told me about it when they came inside to explain why the sleeves of his nice shirt were wet. I scolded DS and reminded him to put on his listening ears. That was it! My mom piped in with "I'm sure glad I didn't grow up with all that strictness." I just ignored her but it made me pretty mad.



  • For some reason having a child makes everyone think they are experts...I'm always willing to listen to and take advice, but it's so hard when people are pushing opinions on you. I've just learned to take all of the advice with a grain of salt, and then do what I want to do. Maybe I will totally ruin my child and they will all be right, but I have to figure that out on my own.
  • My MIL is notorious for this. She barely sees the baby so it really irks me when she comes over and spends 1 hour with my daughter and says things like "oh she's so fussy all the time, why aren't you doing *insert advice here*". Meanwhile DD actually has a really great temperament but because she happened to arrive during a fussy period she assumes she's always upset. I just ignore her for the most part but I guess unsolicited (and often bad) advice is just part of being a new parent. 
  • Luckily there are no super pushy friends or relatives to push us over the edge. Some of their opinions differ from ours, but whatever. Everybody's gotta do things the way that will keep them sane, and it certainly isn't the same for all of us. If I had someone harping on at me, I'd lash out!
  • @mrscammack - my MIL is the exact same. She was here for a few days and my son did not enjoy her in the least and cried or fussed every time she held him. She kept saying"oh he's so hard, I don't know how you can deal with this, etc." I didn't give her the light of day with that and just said, "yeah he never cries for us" and took him away to eat. She also PUSHED me out of the way when I was going to get him to feed him and yelled "no, you sit and eat, he can wait and I'll hold him" #throatpunch
  • This! I'm so glad its just DH and I. I feed my baby on demand, we pick him up and hold him when we want too and I wear him whenever I want too, especially when away from home. All of those "Advisers" who disagree, can kick rocks down the street!

    DS (2.29.16) via Homebirth

    ~ Proverbs 22:6 ~

  • thanks ladies I knew I wouldn't be alone lol 
  • smn14smn14 member
    I've had FIL making snarky comments all afternoon about how 'LO will spend her life eating with her head under blanket'...eh, I don't really want to flash my boob at you all day and feel happier covered up thanks! My body, my decision thanks! 
  • mommaz1 said:
    @mrscammack - my MIL is the exact same. She was here for a few days and my son did not enjoy her in the least and cried or fussed every time she held him. She kept saying"oh he's so hard, I don't know how you can deal with this, etc." I didn't give her the light of day with that and just said, "yeah he never cries for us" and took him away to eat. She also PUSHED me out of the way when I was going to get him to feed him and yelled "no, you sit and eat, he can wait and I'll hold him" #throatpunch
    This was my MIL too! LO did not enjoy her at all. I almost wish he had because she'd go to pick him up anyways and that would work him up and then it was just this vicious cycle of me calming him down. He also hates his swing. Which I told her. Very clearly. So I go to make myself lunch one day after I'd finally gotten him all settled down on his blanket (Thanks for coming to help out! *eyeroll*) and then she goes and puts him in the swing so she can "take a cute picture." You know what's not cute? A 3 week old screaming in a swing. That's my #throatpunch.
    Feb '16 October Siggy Challenge: Favorite Candy


  • Ugh yes ladies I so can relate !! My mother in law has six kids how the hell does she act like such an idiot with our baby! She's so anti me breast feeding.. It's so annoying anytime she's fussy or spits up or anything it's because "my milk is bad" wtf really lady! My Husband I guess made w comment dd was fussy the other night .. She's eight weeks and going through a growth spurt eating non stop yes she's fussy .. She's trying to convince me that o need to give her water to settle her belly .. Hm no thanks . And her response is always all six of my babies are fine blah blah blah I am so over her 
  • @mrsc12414 ohhhh breastfeeding is my MIL fav topic of conversation. She has 4 kids only breastfed the first one for 2 months to "get her figure back." So when ever I'm feeding she has all sorts of wonderful information. Once LO was being fussy at the boob her answer was for me to just give him formula because clearly he does not like it! #throatpunch lol 
  • @kinnonam that 100% sounds like my mil too lol they could be related so annoying . What happened to showing a new mom some support sheesh 
  • mrsc12414 said:
    Ugh yes ladies I so can relate !! My mother in law has six kids how the hell does she act like such an idiot with our baby! She's so anti me breast feeding.. It's so annoying anytime she's fussy or spits up or anything it's because "my milk is bad" wtf really lady! My Husband I guess made w comment dd was fussy the other night .. She's eight weeks and going through a growth spurt eating non stop yes she's fussy .. She's trying to convince me that o need to give her water to settle her belly .. Hm no thanks . And her response is always all six of my babies are fine blah blah blah I am so over her 
    Ugh my MIL keeps insisting on water too and I keep telling her no, he can't have it yet. I seriously just want to say "Stop.asking.about.effing.water!" 
  • Part of the MIL club here. She hates that we use cloth diapers I think because she just doesn't want to be bothered if she changes our kids so there is constantly snarky remarks about it when we are at her house. The other day we were over there and DD was cluster feeding so I kept feeding on demand and my MIL made the comment that "my milk isn't adequate enough to fill her hunger so just give her formula already" ugh just shut up already 
  • @mrsc12414 omg what is it with MIL's and water? Every time DD gets hiccups, which is a lot, she wants to give her water and when she asks I always say no and explain to her she can't have water yet. She asks every single time though! Like how can she possibly be that forgetful (personally I think she's being passive aggressive but good luck convincing DH of that). DD also Hates when MIL is holding her she holds her in the most uncomfortable positions and bounces her around, it's painful to watch. 
  • @mamacastro um...cloth diapers are ADORABLE! We use disposables (because we're lazy) but they're so stinking cute! Since she's not the one doing the laundry, she shouldn't have an opinion! And don't get me started on the formula... I'm really sorry! That all sounds super frustrating!

    My MIL also asked about water but she hasn't pushed it. When was this a thing and why did they used to do it?! 

    I have to say, my MIL has been pretty good about most things. She does consider swaddling a mild form of torture, but since DD sleeps at least 3+ hours (and usually 4-6 when swaddled) and goes back to sleep after middle of the night feedings, I think her opinion is changing. However, she makes jokes about putting DD in their literally 30+ year old car seat and that drives me nuts. It's so unsafe--I get that they survived childhood and so did we and the odds of being in a serious crash are low--but I feel like it's one of those "when you know better, do better" things and that should be the end of it. Plus, they live 5 hours away and the only way the baby can get to their house is in our car/car seat so there's no need for them to be even thinking about driving her anytime soon. I'm also getting comments about more grandkids already. DD is 7 weeks, we had a miscarriage directly before her, my dad died when I was 36 weeks pregnant and I nearly hemorrhaged after delivery because of placenta accreta (which is likely to happen again and need surgery). How about we just enjoy this sweet baby and give us at least a year to adjust to the fact that life is radically different than it was 3 months ago? Because I have no idea how those of you with toddlers and newborns are coping as I already feeling like I'm drowning at some point every day. Those of you on baby 2+ are my heroes and you're majorly under appreciated. 
  • @ashton2190 I'm pretty sure that's the only thing baby socks are good for, so choke away!

    I'm so sorry things are awful during your visit! It sucks--I hope you get her back soon because I'm sure she's stressed out! I know that babies this age act like sacks of potatoes that occasionally smile, but they are tiny humans and humans like things that are familiar and predictable (like their mommies--even when we get old). It's amazing how people treat babies like they are tiny dolls.  I hope the rest of your visit goes better (or that it ends mercifully soon)!
  • @ashton2190 my DD gets overwhelmed and upset when people get in her face as soon as she enters a house. It took my mil 2years to finally grasp the concept of letting DD come to her. I also get lectures about socks. I'm sorry my kids feet are super narrow and by the end of the day I just give up on putting them back on.

    On EBF my mil is completely oblivious. She always asks "didn't you bring on bottle?" Umm...no. Then I'd have to pump and this is way easier. You'd think she'd learn since this is my second kid. On the other hand my FIL is super supportive of BFing

    My mil rant today is I was "uninvited" to the family vacation to Nashville next month. According to her there's nothing for kids to do there and I wouldn't want to travel with two young kids. Mind you she has never spoken to me personally about this. She just said this to DH and his siblings like she and I had this conversation. My real thought is she wants to go drink at bars every night and not have to worry about the kids. 
    Now I probably wouldn't go because that's the first week of swim practice but I would of appreciated someone talking to me instead of assuming my opinion. Is that so wrong?
    Also she keeps telling me I don't spend enough mommy time with DD now that DS is here. I believe she just wants DS to herself 
  • @baya5 yes the socks! DD's feet are so tiny we have not yet found any socks that will stay on so I do what I can and make the best of it but MIL is always saying "her feet are cold don't you have any socks for her?" Um yes and we already told you 3 times today the socks won't stay on 
  • @baya5 yes the socks! DD's feet are so tiny we have not yet found any socks that will stay on so I do what I can and make the best of it but MIL is always saying "her feet are cold don't you have any socks for her?" Um yes and we already told you 3 times today the socks won't stay on 
    I totally have the opposite problem baby's feet are so huge that her socks are constantly falling off from being too small and she barely fits into the feet of her sleepers anymore! 
  • smn14smn14 member
    I used sock ons, they are awesome for keeping baby socks on
  • I hear that now as a second time mom. 

    I wear my son and if I could I would still wear my daughter BUT I sold my toddler Tula and I regret it. 
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