Controlling Mom-In-Law

I'm going to keep this short, because I could talk about it all day, but basically, my husband and I came into hard times almost a year ago, so we moved into his mother's house. His mother, I hate to say, is overbearing and very controlling. She has had me on edge quite a few times this year, but what she said this morning almost made me snap.

My daughter just turned one about a month ago, and as many mothers know, this is that time when they get rebellious when it comes to their schedules, especially sleeping. Well since we moved in when she was only a few months old and there are a lot of people in and out of the house, she has never had a very good schedule to begin with. Last night she didn't go to sleep until almost 11. I know that's bad but it's normal for her right now. What is also NORMAL is for her to wake up around 8 in the morning. This morning, she woke up at 6:30am. So naturally, I tried to put her back to sleep. And naturally, she fought and screamed.

Now I thought, with it being Monday, everyone would be gone to school and work, but apparently it's a holiday, so everyone was complaining to my husband (even though they were actually supposed to be up to go somewhere anyway, but I digress). So I gave up putting her to sleep and let her watch cartoons. Eventually my mother-in-law came in to "apologize" saying that she knows that we are breaking her into a schedule, but we can't expect her to sleep for even 8 hours (even though, and I told her this, she NORMALLY sleep 9-10 hours a night). She also said that since her husband is about to get some days off, my daughter can't be crying all night and day. I try my hardest not to be rude to her because she's letting us live here cheaply, but in my head I was thinking :But she's a freaking BABY!!!!! That's what babies do! You've raised 5 kids and you don't remember that they cry until they can really talk?! And even then they still cry!"

I just don't know what to. At the most we'll have enough money to move in two weeks, but we cold still be here for a while and we can't raise our daughter the way we want or the way she needs to be raised if there is always an extra governing force on us. And MIL is not very reasonable or negotiable, and even though she claims that I'm raising my child well, she's making it much harder than it needs to be.

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5 replies since 10th October 2011 • Last reply 10th October 2011

Lol I guess I couldn't keep it short.

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try to d0 your best while keeping the peace with e the family. What's worse, no place to live or redoing a sleep schedule? Personally, I'd rather have a place to live. If you have the money to move out soon focus on that.

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Children at that age should be sleeping 12+ hours in total (including naps)per day! (my daughter also never slept this much though Happy so i understand your frustration there!)
I know your mother in law has been good to you letting you move in with them, but i'm sure she must've realised-asyou said-that babies cry!! My daughter is 3 and still wakes up crying in the night most nights-this is a normal thing!! I think you need to explain that while a lot of people can manage to get their children in to a routine, not all children are the same and there are bound to be some late nights/early mornings (as most people would expect!!).
I think you should tell her you are trying your best and shouldn't be there too much longer, and to make the most of having her grandaughter there-she'll miss her when she's gone!

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Lacey, I would be absolutely fine re-doing her sleep schedule if it meant we could move into a place of our own. Right now, moving out is priority one.

Claire, thank you for the advice. I will try to explain it to her, but as I said before, my mother-in-law doesn't really listen and she talks so much that, being the quiet person that I am, can never get a word in edge-wise. And she's also the one who keeps saying over and over that we need to get my daughter on a schedule, but she's the one who is usually disrupting it, with the all day errands she has me do, and her uncles and grandfather keeping her up late with television.

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Hey...just want to let you know, I know how you feel. My mom is a super controlling mother in law...I would feel really bad for my sister's husband if they ever had to move in with her with a baby....

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