My MIL wants me to stop breastfeeding so she can have the baby for sleepovers

"She said she had hoped to be doing overnights one to two times a week (erm, nope)," the mum reported. 

A mum has been backed online for refusing to let her mother-in-law have her four-month-old baby overnight.

Because the way the MIL wants it to happen is presumptuous and interfering... and quite frankly, odd.

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this

Source: iStock

RELATED: Mother-in-law’s offensive gift for dad-to-be

"He musn't let me breastfeed longer"

Writing in an advice forum, the mum explained that the in-laws had recently revealed a freshly decorated room just for their granddaughter: "[My MIL] proceeded to do a grand reveal of our daughter's new bedroom. All bedecked with pink princesses and unicorns, not my taste but clearly a lot of effort gone in.

"She proceeded to request we make a start with her first sleepover next week."

But with their daughter just four months old, the mum said that getting her to bed at all is challenging at the moment and felt that her mother-in-law's request was a bit presumptous.

"I was a bit shocked and felt she'd jumped the gun a bit. We haven't even discussed sleepovers yet. I basically told my MIL that while the room looked great, it was too much too soon to be having sleepovers.

"I said that as my daughter is breastfed and often co-sleeps it won't be for quite some time."

But then the mum saw a message on her husband's phone from her MIL:

"She actually said to my husband that 'he mustn't let me carry on breastfeeding longer than necessary in order to keep the baby from doing overnights at their house.

"Am I being unreasonable or is she just nuts?"

RELATED: My mother-in-law made us change our son’s name

"Put her in her place"

Commenters all sided with the mum.

"She is nuts. I am super close to my mum and my kids didn’t have sleepovers with her until closer to two. They were all breastfed too," shared one.

"I had a friend once who thought that breastfeeding was selfish and prevented fathers/others from bonding with the children," she added.

Others encouraged the mum to do whatever she wanted.

"Do what you and your husband feel is right for your daughter. She's a real baby and person in her own right, not a living doll to be passed around because MIL wants a turn with the new toy."

Some advised she ensure her husband wasn't trying to 'please' his mum, with one writing, "You need to be 100% sure that your husband didn't sow any seeds in her mind to give her the impression that this was ever on the cards.

"You both need to be singing from the same hymn sheet and any further questions about it get stopped before they get started."

And this person was more direct: "Your mother-in-law needs putting in her place. Tell her no. She needs to calm down."

This story was first published in January 2023 and updated in September 2024.

Originally published as My MIL wants me to stop breastfeeding so she can have the baby for sleepovers