Concerned about overly enthusiastic MIL invading our space once baby is born
36 weeks FTM here. MIL has been vocal from the beginning about being so excited to come to our home once he’s born and hold him to let me sleep. I’ve been having a hard time sleeping while pregnant, and she reminds me constantly that she’ll be here to help. She says I’ll be able to sleep just fine if she comes over to hold him, even though I’ll be EBF to try and establish a solid milk supply. Also my husband gets a few months of paternity leave and our goal is to sleep in shifts so that he’ll be enough help. She knows this, so I think it’s just an excuse to see her grandchild whenever she wants.
Since we found out we were pregnant last thanksgiving, she has made several aggressively entitled comments like “you two better not shut yourselves in once he’s born because I’m gonna be seeing my grandbaby”. I’ve told her once that it could be a rough recovery process for me (I’m having a natural birth, she never did with her kids) so the house may be a wreck if I am too miserable while healing to clean for visitors, but she missed the point and was like “oh I don’t mind at all!” She has a habit of only considering her own feelings.
I’m conflicted. On the one hand I understand, it’s got to be exciting to have your first grandchild who lives so close to you. On the other hand though I’m feeling a bit territorial as a FTM. He’s due late July, and yesterday when we saw her she reiterated that she’s SO excited to have nothing going on in August so she can spend time with the baby. These comments make my skin crawl. I want her to have a good relationship with her grandchild but not at the expense of my peace during the critical newborn bonding period. If you have a similar situation with your in laws, what did you do about it?
So far I’ve come up with a list of things to tell her, please let me know if I’m forgetting anything that could be useful to say
-idk how miserable I’ll feel in recovery -I’ll be a territorial/hormonal new mom -potential nakedness while healing -needing bonding time with baby -needing time to build milk supply EBF -needing less stress about keeping the home suitable for spontaneous visits
Posted Jun 30, 2025, 3:18 AM UTC