Visits from In-laws: How Often Is Too Often?

I so agree with Alexia's response. I'm a granny to only one grandchild, and I love him as dearly as I love my daughter. I love being part of his life, and he has gotten pretty fond of me, too. I wonder how I would feel if my son-in-law wanted to restrict my weekly visits. Of course I would comply, but I think my heart would break. And the sense of shame I would feel would be earthshaking - to think I had somehow caused this young father, whom I respect and care for deeply, such discomfort by coming around. I would wonder what I had done wrong, or if it was just ME that was wrong.

Surely you are tired, stressed, and not at your best these days, and so your reaction is understandable. I wonder if you can identify, specifically, what it is that's bothering you about your father-in-law's visits? If he drops in unannounced, wakes the baby, smells bad, whatever, it would be far easier to work on those complaints than to ration his time with his grandbaby.

And do put him to work. Make him your ally! He might be surprised, but I'll bet he'll be grateful. His curiosity about the baby may be exactly that. Men of his generation were far less likely to be involved with the daily care of infants. As he gains more expertise, he may not need to ask so many questions.

How often is too often is when it happens too often for YOUR comfort level. If you would be more comfortable with once or twice per month THAT is often enough. This is your home. Your castle. Your refuge.

A woman with a two month old, with her hormone levels all in flux PLUS dealing with sleep deprivation and a husband who is reluctant to step up to the plate and help make your home a more peaceful place would be enough to drive anyone to distraction.

But. YOU cannot be the one to ask your father-in-law to back off. Your husband has to do this. If your husband won't step up to the plate after you explain that you need his help, then I would suggest that you make certain you have "errands" you need to run with the baby as soon as your father-in-law arrives unannounced. Be polite. Be pleasant. Apologize for having to run out the door and give him the "golly gee whiz, I sure wish you would have given us a call before taking the time to come over, but we have plans -can you come back next Saturday?" before you scoot out the door with the baby.

One way or the other, either your father-in-law or your husband will get the message.

I agree with Abra that there isn't a right answer here. That said, let me give you some food for thought, okay? I know you are working on crazy hormones and likely sleep deprivation, not to montion the insanity of having to life your world around this itty bitty (cute) thing, BUT while you deserve all of the kudos in the world for being the mama and all that that entails, **you aren't the only one here who had a baby**. Your husband became a father for the very first time. That's big for him. And HE is somebody's son (your in laws to be exact), and (especially if he is the first of his siblings to have kids) his parents became grandparents. So many grandparents now are realizing they worked their children's babyhood and childhood away (especially the men), or they just MISS it, and being a grandparent open whole new doors and avenues for them to get to have FUN with the new little ones.
How would you feel if one day down the line your little son grows up and he and his wife has a baby and she tells you that you're only allowed to visit a few times a month? Would that not break your heart?
And so what if he asks tons of questions - see it as it is (not as your irrational hormones are telling you - that he is questioning your abilities as a parent) that he is obviously AMAZED by the wonderment that is your new son, and he is CURIOUS about him. Take it as an opportunity to school him on babies, their functions, the basics, etc, and once he's "got" it - LEAVE THE BABY WITH HIM AND GO TAKE A NAP!!!! Use him for every cent of grandparent worth. He obviously wants to be involved, let him. Who's it going to hurt? Might you just benefit? (My husband would like to add - think about it: The more you can get your baby to bond with grandparents NOW, the more likely it is that babysitting will be easy and natural in the future - like 18months from now, where WE are - and you just might get a date night or two out of it) And if he were to get sick tomorrow and die, would you begrudge him these visits? Would you feel ashamed of yourself for trying to keep him away?
I didn't understand my husband's grandfather who did much the same with my daughter. He just wanted to be there, see her as she grew, and I regret FULLY to this day every time I asked my husband to get him to leave, as he is now dead and I can't take it back.
Now, we've moved away and my in laws have never even met my 15 month old son due to it being "inconvenient" for them to travel here. Trust me, I really wish I had your problem. It breaks my heart that they are so hands off.
So anyway, sorry this is so long. I hope you read all of it. You are not a bad person for feeling the way you do, I did once as well. But, hindsight being 20/20 I see now that it isn't hurting anything, and you can actually benefit a great deal from it. I hope that this has changed the way you view your situation. I wish I had had someone to change MY view about my husband's grandfather when my daughter was little - he just wanted to watch her grow up, and I pushed him away! (I AM ashamed, by the way, every time I think about it now, and I've cried through much of this)
Let us know how this goes!

C.,

I would find out from your husband when he has time to support you while your father in law is going to visit. If you are stressed, then he needs to be there too.

Advice is good only when it's supporting you and not the values of your in-laws. You and your husband are there for your new baby and if either of you are stressed out it may effect your ability to be the loving happy family your baby could benefit from. Meeting the in-laws some where else can help take the stress off waiting on them and what they want. This may be harder to do with a new baby, but it puts you and your husband in the postition to work together in providing care for your baby. Let your in-laws know you two are working it out and decide when it's the right time to pass the baby over for show etc. This is good practice because your in-laws are not the only people that will want to see the baby. Now is the time for you and your husband to decide what works for you both and consider what is going to help the baby out the most because they grow up so fast.

It's always a good idea to make time for yourself by taking a nice bath, burning a candle, or having a chat with a girlfriend. It makes the day go a little easier when you feel refreshed.

Congrats,take care of yourself!
G.

I think you need to stop and ask yourself, would you ever have a friend over only once or twice a month? Or your sister, mom, etc? In my opinion, it's wrong to ask him not to come over. Some day, he won't be there at all and you'll all miss him. Laying down ground rules for coming over, such as planning ahead of time rather than just dropping by, etc. is one thing, but simply saying "Don't come over" I think is rude.

Ok you have 2 options. Either tell them they are driving you nutzo by there questions OR ask if it is just he doesnt know about baby's much?? He could be worried? Most cases that isn't the fact and you just need to be blunt to keep your sanity intact.
Good Luck, Merry Christmas and congrats

how often does your mom visit?
I always find it interesting that mama's always depend on their mom and call every day.. will visit every day. but once the in-laws show some interst they want them to back off.

My sister in-laws have managed to remove me from their lives.. Yet they visit their own mother's every day if not twice a day!

I am sensing that the problem here lies more in the fact that you are not getting as much time as you would like to bond one on one with YOUR baby...or even you and your husband together bonding with your baby...and that the added stress of feeling like your father in law is searching for some mistake that you have made or something of the like with all the questions does not help. He may not even realize what he is doing. I am guessing that the questions are more inquizitive about baby care than meant to hurt/critisize you. You might try explaining to your father in law that you would like some more time to bond with and get to know your baby privately. If he remembers how quickly the time goes, I'm sure he will be simpathetic. It may help if you offer something like perhaps he could take the baby for a few hours a couple times a month so that you and your husband can have a date night. Trying to make him feel more included while at the same time asking for some extra space when you would like it.

As for the questions, you can simply reply "his doctor says everything is fine" (normal/on schedule/perfect/okay/whatever word you want). Recently I have had several family members who are educators telling me they don't think his speach is normal. It drove me crazy because I know there's nothing wrong. I simply told them "thank you for your concern, but his doctor is not worried".

Oh man - can I relate to this one. I had a child who would only sleep for one hour at a time, was colicky, constantly needed to be stimulated, etc. On top of this I had in-laws who also wanted to be over all of the time. They would make comments like "why is his diaper on so tight," "why won't he sleep?" etc. At a time when you are sleep deprived, stressed out, trying to be the best mom that you can....snoopy and judgemental in-laws are the last thing that you need. In retrospect, I wish I would have been very blunt with them and said "listen - I know that you are interested in getting to know your grandchild, but I need some time to adjust to our new baby as well. I need time to sleep, and I need to be free from criticism. I know that you're curious about different things about the baby, but the comments come off as judgemental and make me feel like I'm not doing an adequate job as a mom. If I am going to be a good mom, I have to first take care of myself, and that will mean reducing visits from family and friends for a while. Can we work out a schedule where you come one or two times a month?" Let him know that you understand that he means well but that you are very fragile right now and need to take care of yourself. You are doing the most important job in the world and you need to be at your best - without stress, judgement, or having prepare for company. Just take this time to enjoy your child as much as you can. Your husband might want you to temper your statements to his father somewhat, but the bottom line is that you need to be honest and direct...many times people don't realize what they're doing, although they should. Hugs to you!

I'm not sure there is a "right" answer here. This sort of question is going to vary so much from family-to-family that it's hard to give a generic answer. I personally would have my in-laws over every weekend, but my best friend would have hers over once a year. I would say that 2 times a month sounds fair, but you'll need to agree on that with your husband and have him talk to his father about it. It's quite likely that your father-in-law will stop coming so much as the baby gets a little older. Did he have a child pass away? Sometimes there are reasons for people's personalities, it might come off wrong, but they mean the best. Good luck with this.

C. -

I'm coming in to this a little late but wanted to share my experience. My son is 6 months old now and my husband is an only child and his father passed 14 years ago. Basically, we are the only family my mother in-law has. She is turning 70 and this is her 1st grandchild. I ended up having a c-sec and my MIL wanted to be at our house every day 'cleaning' but mostly wanted me to rest so she could tend to my son. Instead of telling her it was too much, I forced myself to clean and be presentable for her so she would have nothing to do and no reason to come. What I didn't realize at the time (blame the hormones/stress/whatever) was that I was neglecting my recovery and my chances at successful breast feeding (I was also uncomfortable doing it with company). Looking back, I wish I had set limits and done so WITH my husband. MIL would also question me on my son constantly, sometimes disagreeing with me and other times genuinely curious, but ALWAYS stressful.

My advice is to be honest, it's terribly hard but very much worth it. Don't worry that you are 'restricting' his time with his grandson, there is plenty of time for that later on in life. You need to focus on you now and your baby (and your husband as well). Good luck with it, I really do wish you the best as this hits very close to home for me.

I think that talking about it and recognizing what your needs are is by far the most important part. BUT... just remember to not drive your in-laws too far away. Your journey with this brand new baby is just starting. 5 years from now, your bonding time with your husband may depend on using your father-in-law as entertainment for your busy little child. Encourage the relationship AND get used to setting limits. Our attitudes and interactions as early parents set the tone for our child's relationships with extended family as they become older children and even into adulthood. This is all a normal part of healthy parenting and a healthy marriage. With all the good and bad, Welcome to motherhood :)

your husband wants once a weekend??? How often is the granddad coming over?? And is it unannounced? And does he come visit when your husband is gone at work?

Try this: set one night a week you have grandpa over for dinner - so your husband can see/hear what his dad is saying/doing and it takes some of the burden off of you to answer those questions. Or even see if your husband can give you a break one night a week for you to go out with some girlfirends/work out at the club/shopping/whatever, so that you don't have to be there.. have your husband bring baby to grandpa that night. Then maybe have grandpa over to your house once or twice a month. No mention of grandma so I imagine he is lonely and probably proud of his grandchild and wanting to see him as much as possible.

Start by getting on the same page with your husband: "Your father has been coming to visit.. and it is a bit too often for me, could we work out a plan that could allow him to see our son and at the same time allow me more time to get stuff done around the house - I can't get much done if I am entertaining." And remember this is your husband's dad.. so you already are trying to be sensitive to that aspect.. but you should come first for your husband. Explain to him that it bothers you that he asks so much about the baby - that you end up thinking your father in law doesn't think you are a fit mother. Don't use the word feel - using think is very important because these are thoughts not feelings - your husband should come to your defense. Or you could even say "I think he doesn't think WE are good parents." If you present it in a way that your husband would be HELPING you rather than putting him on the defense about his nagging father... then he will be more inclined to help you and come to your defense instead of his dad's.

You have the right word in mind - balance... and work towards becoming a team with your husband in dealing with your father in law. He needs to be able to see his grandson, but you also need balance so you can go on with your everyday activities/responsibilities.

Good luck

I think that you should be so happy to have a father-in-law that wants to be so involved. The "examining & questions" are great because that shows that he is curious and wants to know everything about the new baby! That is really so sweet! However, if you do need a break from your father-in-law, tell him how happy you are that he is involved in the baby's life, but that you would really enjoy some private time too. I agree with your husband about the once a weekend visit. If you don't feel comfortable talking to your father-in-law, ask your husband to approach him. You mentioned that you would like him to visit once or twice a month. It sounds like there is a deeper problem with your friendship with your father-in-law. I would work on developing a better relationship with him, then you might appreciate him being around.

How often do you see YOUR parents. If you don't like it then move away and you better move away from both sets of grandparents to make it even.
Grow up and appreciate that you have people who are available and want to be a part of your baby's life and can. I had my children far away because of being military and my husband and I just had each other and I went to sea a ton so he was on his own.

It sounds like your father in law is awe struck by his new grandchild.I think your husbands idea of once a weekend is acceptable unless you already have plans.Just be glad that you dont have to deal with my clinicly insane mother in law (shes been commited twice)who comes to see her grandson twice a week.She always stays for exactly eight hours.Ive tried to cut back her visits but she has every one believing shes fragile and so I have to let her come so she doesnt have a meltdown.The visits shoul come less frequently when the novelty wears off.Until then just grit your teeth.

I'm sorry he seems intrusive to you-- but I'd be a bit concerned that if you establish a '''once or twice a month- no more''' rule- you will create a barrier. Any chance you could use his coming over for a chance to lie down and nap? or run out to the store and pick up YOUR idea of whats for dinner??? ( I do remember feeling a wee bit of cabin fever when mine were tiny) - Then perhaps your husband can take a turn answering all those questions- which might accomplish two things -- HE might see more clearly what is a problem to you- and you can rest - ALWAYS a good thing --.

:-)
J.