Girls Coffeeshop Talk

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by Lisa

Okay, I'll jump in. I had a big ol' message written out and then decided not to post it. I thought I was sounding self-righteous or something.... but after reading what Bill and Nancy say I don't think I'm too out of line here....

I wouldn't leave my 3 month old with anyone - when my husband and I were new parents we quickly realized it wasn't worth it to go anywhere. When I had my first baby we tried leaving Phoebe with my in-laws, with the naive assumption we could go out every now and then and I could keep working part time. I hadn't figured out how strongly attached to mom babies are, especially breastfed babies. Whenever we'd get home, we'd hear about how she had cried non-stop, refusing to drink from a bottle. It broke my heart, and I soon found that trying to go out was no fun at all.

It was all part of the new-parent adjustment, I guess. Realizing that your focus changes. Let the self-sacrificing begin!

Now, from a more objective viewpoint, I agree with Nancy that you're being asked to go quite a bit out of your way to babysit this little one. Maybe it's true new parents need time to be together and re-connect, but they might want to consider doing so in a way that doesn't inconvenience you guys so much. I'd take the baby with me if I was the mom.

More facts.

My daughter-in-law is not breastfeeding. Alyssa has been bottle fed from the get-go.

She has already stayed overnight with her other grandparents at their house when she was less than 2 months old.

Does that change the equation?