‘My neighbours keep harassing me and my baby at home for the weirdest reason’

Dana was sunbathing in her backyard when the neighbour knocked on the door and told her she was being an “insensitive b**ch.”

It’s been five years since Dana* and Jason* moved into their home, and so far, they’ve loved every second of living there.

They led a happy life and enjoyed living next to their neighbours, an elderly couple who would come over and chat every now and then. 

However, after their neighbours packed up and left, a new couple, Irene* and Phil*, moved in. 

And let’s just say, since then, things have not been smooth sailing.

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Dana has been told to stop being a parent in her own home. Picture: iStock

New neighbours won’t leave young family alone

Dana was two months pregnant when the new neighbours moved in, and despite not being overly friendly with each other like previous neighbours, the couple would wave and smile to Irene and Phil whenever they came or went. 

In their backyard are two fences, one over two metres tall and the other only 1.5 metres tall, leaving a large gap for neighbours to peek through. 

RELATED: 'I looked outside and saw my neighbour's face through the fence'

Before Irene and Phil moved in, the previous elderly neighbours blocked off the opening in the fence by planting a large hedge over the top. 

The new neighbours have since torn that down, exposing Dana and Jason’s backyard from the second floor of their house. 

This hasn’t really been an issue, but it does leave Dana and Jason without a lot of privacy in their own home.

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Ever since Dana was a child, she cherished the simple pleasure of sunbathing every morning. It’s something she has always done, and since she has anaemia, her mother told her it would be good practice. 

“I don’t even know if it works, but it is a habit that helps me start my day,” she told Reddit. 

After sunbathing in her own backyard one day, neighbour Phil approached Dana's husband and informed him his wife’s sunbathing was “making them uncomfortable.” 

To be clear, Dana has only ever sunbathed fully clothed, typically wearing a singlet and shorts while soaking up the sun. 

Knowing that she wasn’t doing anything wrong, Dana ignored the complaint and kept sunbathing. 

The protests never stopped coming, though. 

When Dana was eight months into her pregnancy, she and her husband went for a walk around the block when they spotted Irene standing out the front of her house. 

But as soon as she saw Dana and Jason, she “stormed inside and slammed the door.” 

RELATED: My wife claims she's 'infertile' and then ruined a friend's baby shower

It wasn’t until the following day that everything became clear when Phil came knocking on their door. 

There, he told the couple and “told us that they have fertility problems.” 

Every time Dana was sunbathing or showing off her pregnant belly, she was inadvertently “making [Irene] heavily uncomfortable.”

And because Dana was parading her pregnancy around for everyone to see and not considering her neighbour’s feelings, she was being an “insensitive b**ch.” 

Tension continued to bubble after Dana gave birth to her baby; following the birth, she started working from home so she could be close to her son. 

Well, the neighbours certainly didn’t like that. 

“I was in the living room playing with the baby when [my neighbour, Phil] knocked,” Dana recalled. “He asked me to move from the living room because his wife could see me from their balcony.”

In response, Dana told the neighbours to “look in the other direction and leave me alone.” 

But the harassment was ceaseless, even while the young family spent quality time in their backyard.

Jason was making lunch on the barbecue when Dana started breastfeeding her son. As expected, there was soon a knock on the door, followed by a very irritated Phil. 

“[He] went off on me for breastfeeding in public (again, my fenced yard) and being inconsiderate,” Dana said. 

That was when she lost it. 

“I told him to leave us alone, don't knock on my door again,” she began. “And if his wife is so upset over seeing a baby she needs therapy and not him harassing my family.”

RELATED: 'Petty' mum's dispute with neighbour over kid's backyard habit

“That attitude is not only creepy but some world-class entitlement”

The Reddit community rallied around Dana and her reaction; this was her house, and she was fit to do what she wanted while living inside it. 

“This isn’t your problem,” a person wrote. “It sucks for them, but are you really gonna stop being a mum at certain viewpoints ‘cause they can’t have a baby?” 

“Yeah, what do they expect you to do? Just keep the baby inside with the curtains drawn indefinitely?” another wondered. 

Others couldn’t wrap their head around the neighbour’s argument at all, considering they were the ones who were peering into another person’s home. 

“I can’t imagine telling someone my spouse was spying on them and that they were the one who needed to change their behaviour,” someone said. 

“That attitude is not only creepy but some world-class entitlement,” another agreed. 

Some offered advice to the nosey neighbour: “Put up some curtains.” 

Others told Dana to take further action and get authorities involved. 

“I would threaten a harassment charge and if they kept going, I would go through with it,” read a suggestion.

“This needs to stop.” 

*Names have been changed

Originally published as ‘My neighbours keep harassing me and my baby at home for the weirdest reason’