In laws acting like I exist only after having their first grandchild

MIL has two sons and always wanted a daughter. I had the first grandchild and on my husbands side and ever since she was born three months ago my husbands parents and his brother started praising my husband and I. I of course, have been suspicious of their behaviour and my husband is upset that they only act as if I exist now. For context when we married they stopped speaking to us for awhile because my husband no longer financially supported them. We had a cordial relationship and strong boundaries where we only had them over a few times a year.. They suddenly started to praise us and totally changed their tune. At first I thought it was great and things were finally changing…

His parents came over for Christmas with a gift for our newborn and his brother gave them a gift for my newborn but didn’t come to give her the gift in person. Tons of gifts for a baby girl and his mother saying her dream has come true in having a female. She mentioned their customs and husband and I quickly shut them down stating we will raise her the way we want without his mother’s customs.

No one in the family got husband or I a Christmas gift mind you we get gifts for them every year. In addition they mentioned they do not like that our baby is closer to my parents (very supportive ever since husband and I started dating, married, got a home, got pregnant etc so husband is closer to my parents now)

They ask to visit all the time now and ask questions about my family too which they never did before. My grandmother passed away one month before I had my baby and they did not give me condolences or come to the funeral. A distant relative passed away a few days ago and suddenly they asked my husband if they can come to the funeral and asked if our newborn will be there too.

Today I had a breakdown as I feel their actions are fake and I feel the need to protect my daughter from the family. Husband totally agrees and decided we need to go back to our boundaries with them and only having them over a few times a year like we used to. He is sad but mentioned he feels they are not being genuine. Are we being reasonable ?

Posted Dec 29, 2025, 3:03 AM UTC

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