Mum’s upset as ‘overbearing’ mother-in-law changes nappy without asking first

A mum has caused a stir online after sharing her upset over her mother-in-law changing her baby’s nappy without asking for consent first – as she wants to respect the child’s privacy

When it comes to children, parents often only want what is best for their little ones – but other relatives might have very different ideas about what ‘best’ really means. One mum has recently clashed with her mother-in-law over this, in regards to changing her baby’s nappy.

The unnamed parent took to Mumsnet to post about the incident, which she claims happened two months ago. However, despite the time passing, she’s still feeling bothered by it and wanted some advice from fellow mums about whether or not she was being unreasonable. She explained that her child was now six months old and she was very keen on “consent” and protecting his “privacy”.

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As such, she and her husband were the only ones changing the baby’s nappy and she wanted it to remain that way – unless for some reason they weren’t there, like while he was at nursery or being babysat.

However, she claims her mother-in-law recently went ahead and changed a diaper without asking first, despite her being stood right there and capable.

She wrote: “Am I being unreasonable only parents should change nappies?

“A while ago my MIL was over and my baby started crying and rather than just give him back decided to take it upon herself to change him (I was standing right there) he continued crying throughout the change and she gave him back straight after but it annoyed me as it wasn’t her place to change him.

“I didn’t say anything at the time, son was four months and I was trying to be nice and friendly but starting to find her more overbearing and I’m getting close to drawing a line.”

More than 400 people responded to the post, and many fellow Mumsnet users were baffled as to why the mum would be ok with a babysitter changing her child’s nappy and not her mother-in-law.

One person said: “If you don’t trust grandparents to change baby’s nappy they shouldn’t be seeing baby. If you do, no issue. Babies don’t need consent no matter how keen you are on it.”

Another replied: “I think this is something you seriously need to address with yourself. First of all, all my family members have offered to change nappies, and 9/10 it’s because they’re being helpful and just giving me a tiny break. I think it’s a lovely thing for them to do.”

A third posted: “So nursery workers or babysitters can change your child but their grandparent can’t? I suspect this is more about your feelings towards your MIL than anything to do with privacy and consent.”

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.