My MIL won't do this basic thing for my baby that other grannies beg to

"It's neglect. And yet, she's moving cities soon to 'help with the baby'."

We usually hear about intrusive mothers-in-law, wanting everything from being at the birth to doing nappy changes, but one woman this week has complained about her MIL refusing to perform one basic task when she's babysitting her infant grandson.

Even though she readily agrees to care for him.

Confused, the woman asked a parenting group what she should do.

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"Still in the same diaper"

The angry mum wrote:

"My MIL has watched our six-month-old baby several times, but never for more than a couple of hours. We use cloth diapers for our baby, so they need changed every two hours. I have disposable diapers for anyone who watches the baby because I get it, cloth diapers are more hassle.

"I had an event for school and was gone for FOUR hours and when I came back the baby was still in the same diaper that I had put him in before I left. She also barely fed him any food.

"My problem is she is moving to our town to "help out with the baby" (which we never asked her to do). I don't want her help with the baby anymore, she has proven on multiple occasions that she's just not willing to actually take care of the baby. At this point I'd rather just hire a babysitter.

"Idk how to tell her that she's wasting her time and money bc for the foreseeable future, she's not allowed to watch the baby."

Four hours is a long time between changes. Image: iStock

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"Let her waste her money. It's neglect"

The comments section was filled with parents angry on the woman's behalf.

"Hire a babysitter. She’s completely worthless if she won’t change diapers," one advised, representing the consensus.

"If she won't change diapers she doesn't get to babysit. You don't need to risk your child getting a rash, and sitting in filth, or being barely fed, so that she can feel useful," another added more directly, noting, "If you left your child in dirty diapers, because you didn't like changing them, it would be neglect. It's neglect, when she does it too."

The comments simply escalated in brutal truths from there.

"Let her waste her money and move," this reader advised.

"You’re not obligated to let her babysit or visit because of proximity. Let her run her mouth about you “desperately needing help”, just don’t send her updated pictures or info and when her friends ask to see pictures, they will also ask why she doesn’t have new ones… she’ll out herself as a liar right there.

"If someone asks why you don’t let her babysit tell them what she did “oh well the one time we did she left baby in a soiled diaper for hours and didn’t bother feeding so we can’t trust her alone with him.”

The frustrated mum came back into the comments to explain, "It really bothers me that she thinks she's sooo helpful. She tells all of her friends how much we desperately need her help, so that's why she has to move to be near us.

"This is literally the first time we've asked her to watch the baby like this in three months, and this is what happens."

Originally published as My MIL won't do this basic thing for my baby that other grannies beg to