'My MIL deliberately poisoned my little girl, and my husband took her side'

“I just unleashed on her, asking what was wrong with her. My husband tried to calm things down, but she just dig her heels in."

Lucy’s* Christmas trip to the in-laws’ place was meant to be a nice peaceful escape from everyday life. 

It turned out to be anything but, and the young mum took to Reddit to share her wild story.

Lucy and her husband took their 13-old-month daughter Annie* for her first visit to her dad’s parents place, and the start of the holiday was “great”.

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“I’ve had a few disagreements with my MIL in the past over parenting style (she’s criticised me for not raising her as an ‘organic’ baby), but everything seemed great,” Lucy said.

“After a day or two settling in, my husband and I decided to pick up a few gifts from a mall about an hour away before the last-minute rush. My FIL tagged along, and MIL said she was happy to take care of Annie.”

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Lucy* couldn't believe it when she found out what her mother-in-law had done to her daughter. Picture: iStock

"She was down for a nap on a blanket I didn't recognise"

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but a seemingly innocent detail when she returned home would kick off an insane few weeks.

“We got back a few hours later and Annie was down for a nap on a blanket I didn’t recognise,” Lucy said.

“MIL said one of her friends dropped by and gave it as an early Christmas gift, but it looked pretty/old worn. I just figured one of her hippy friends was just recycling it.

“The next two weeks were fine, aside from MIL making a point to prepare meals for Annie from scratch. I mentioned this to my husband and he said to just let her be.

“Annie mostly mushed the food MIL gave her with her hands as she’s doing at the moment, but she just said it would ‘take her a while to get used to nutritious meals’.”

Lucy decided to let her MIL’s behaviour slide for the sake of the holiday, but Annie started getting restless the day after Christmas.

“She was really unsettled and wouldn’t stop fidgeting and crying,” Lucy said.

“I took her temperature and she had a fever, so I kept an eye on her for the next few days and it thankfully started to go down.

“Then she started to get a rash and blisters on her arms and legs and I freaked out.

“I was packing a bag to drive to see a doctor when MIL asked where I was going.”

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Annie was deliberately given chickenpox despite there being a vaccine for it. Picture: iStock

"She admitted one of her friend's grandkids had chickenpox"

When Lucy told her mother-in-law about her plans, she said she got a “weird, smug smile” on her face and told her there was nothing to worry about.

It turns out Lucy’s mother-in-law had secretly given her daughter the chickenpox without telling anyone.

“She casually admitted one of her friend’s grandkids had chickenpox a few weeks ago, so she asked them to wipe a blanket over the child’s arms, legs and face and bring it to her house,” Lucy said.

“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, so I asked if that blanket was the ‘gift’ Annie was sleeping on. She said it was.”

Naturally, this made Lucy lose her cool, especially considering Annie would be vaccinated against chickenpox within the next six months.

“I just unleashed on MIL asking what the f*** was wrong with her,” she said.

“My husband and FIL came to try to calm things down, but MIL dug in her heels and said chickenpox was ‘the best and most natural thing’ for Annie to build up her immunity.

“I already have a vaccination schedule in place with my paediatrician and she was booked in to get immunised for chickenpox at 18 months.

“We drove to see the doctor and he confirmed she had it. He said I’ll have to cut Annie’s nails short and might have to tape socks on her hands while she sleeps because kids so young can scratch until they bleed, and that will leave scars.”

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"I couldn't believe he was defending her"

To make matters worse, Lucy’s husband started defending his mum on the drive back from the doctors.

“He started making excuses for her, that she was only doing what she thought was best,” she said.

“I couldn’t believe he was defending her, and we fought most of the way home until I told him to stop talking to me.

“Annie’s been scratching like crazy and I had to tape socks over her hands. MIL tried to talk to me when we got back, but I told her to get out of my sight.”

Lucy started packing to get the heck out of dodge, but her husband decided to dig his heels in while defending his mum.

“I got up first thing the next morning to start packing our stuff in the car. Annie was mercifully asleep, so I’d just gently belted her in and closed the door when my husband came out and asked if I had everything.

“I said we were good to go as soon as he was, and he calmly took out his key set and locked the car, locking Annie in. I asked him what the hell he was doing, and he said we wouldn’t be leaving until I apologised to MIL.

“I was stunned into silence because he took the chance to rehash what he said the previous day: that MIL thought she was doing what was best, that ‘chickenpox doesn’t kill you’, and that I was ‘making a bigger deal out of this’ than I needed to and making MIL feel bad.

“I told him he needs to stop being a son and start being a father, but he replied that nobody should speak to his mother the way I had the day before, and I needed to apologise to ‘clear the air’.”

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"He cares more about his mum than his own daughter"

Lucy’s husband then walked inside, leaving their infant daughter locked in her carseat, but thankfully mum had her own set of keys and decided to leave the situation.

She said Annie suffered a few scars on her face and arms from scratching, and that while she knows “appearances shouldn’t matter”, she was “angry her skin is marked for life now over some stupid bulls***”.

Lucy’s husband didn’t come home, instead choosing to stay with his parents over his wife and daughter, but Lucy did receive some justice thanks to a late-night text from her FIL.

“At 11pm I got a very short and formal text saying MIL had come down with shingles and was in the emergency room,” she said.

“He said my husband would stay there to care for her, and would work from their house remotely until she was better.

“Now that I’m back at home with people who actually care about me, I think I’m starting to realise how lucky I am to see the weird relationship with his mum this early on.

“The fact that he cares more about his mum than his own daughter speaks volumes. When he eventually comes back, I think we’ll have to have a serious talk about our future together.”

Originally published as 'My MIL deliberately poisoned my little girl, and my husband took her side'