My Sister-in-law Keeps Exaggerating Her Baby’s Milestones!?
My sister-in-law’s baby is 7 1/2 months old and she keeps making these exaggerated claims about milestones she’s “hitting”. She says her baby was sitting up independently at 3 months old…she actually started doing it about 3 weeks ago. She has been saying the baby has been crawling since she was 5 1/2 months old…when in reality, she still can’t crawl, she just drags herself on her belly with her legs dragging behind her. She swore up and down the baby was getting teeth when she was two months old (and proceeded to COVER her gums, ALL of her gums, in tequila to “ease the pain”)…the baby still hasn’t cut any teeth. Now she’s saying she is taking steps. The baby can stand with support while holding onto the couch or something, but she cannot stand on her own, and doesn’t even cruise furniture. She’s too young to even be taking steps anyway.
This is just driving me insane. How can I deal with all her lies?? Her family is always praising her baby for things she can’t do.
Look into the book “Let the Baby Drive.” It is candidly written about how one mom deals with her son. She spends a good amount of time telling about the milestone moms. Women who feel that their child is always in a competition with everyother kids in the world.
Your family could just be humoring her for all you know. Next time say something to someone about it.
How does it take anything away from you for her to be bragging about her baby? So she brags, so she exagerates, so she is proud, ” a milestone mom.” SO WHAT?
Would it help if you looked at it as an illness? Think about how desperate a woman must be for validation and attenttion to be inventing news to compete with imaginary milestones. Let’s hope she doesn’t start inventing illnesses for her child ( a severe mental illness.)
When you mentioned how immature she is it struck me. Perhaps you are accusing her of exactly the problem YOU have.
My advice? Be proud of your neice. Enjoy her milestones, whenever they occur. Feel compassion for your S-i-l and let her know that she is not in a race with you. Forgive her for her smallness, and neediness. Forgive yourself for being so jealous, and mean-spirited.
Encourage her to STOP using alcohol on a baby. It is illegal. Use cloves. It’s legal and won’t start her turnign to alcohol for comfort.
You can’t fix another person, EVER– only your attitude about the situation.
Maybe from this perspective you can just watch and nod. And live your own life.
If it’s driving you that crazy, I would call her on it. Next time she starts rambling on about what her baby CAN’T do, just say “no she can’t, Liar” Or “really? Show me then, if she is starting to take steps then show us all!” I can’t stand people like that. She probably has very low self esteem and when she says these things and other people praise her for them, she gets a little boost of self confidence. Don’t worry, it would drive me crazy too!
Every child is differnt, and they are ahead in some areas and behind in others… most of all every parent “thinks” their child is the next prodogy. My first son didn’t walk until after his first birthday and he was the center of my world. My second child walked by 9 months. Now this third and final child I learned to just back off, relax, and let him become his own person. I think the key is to take a deep breath, bite your tongue, and realize that their child is the center of “their” world. They are going to pick out any feature, milestone, and try to make them seem like the best thing since buttered toast…
Quit being so petty and ridiculous. Let her be happy with her baby. Maybe suggest that she gives her baby teething tablets or orajel instead of tequila. Claim it works better or something. Trust me you are just starting problems by becoming so upset over something so petty.
And the whole dragging herself around thing is considered army crawling.
Just make sure you only roll your eyes behind her back.
hey it doesnt matter about her age. i am 20 and have a 4 month old son. i dont brag on his milestones because fora while there he was ont eh slower side with his head and now he is right on target. jsut ignore her or say some elaborate stoty you make up. just because she is like that it’s not because of her age she’ll probably be like that forever. i think putting liquor in a babies mouth is against the law and like chiild abuse, there is baby oragel
I do understand where you are coming from. I have a friend that is exactly like that. My best advice would just to politely ask your sister in law if that what she is really saying is true. I know how some younger mothers are (I’m one myself). They get extremely excited anytime that their child does anything and can continue to take it WAY overboard. Just understand that her maturity level isn’t always as high as what it should be. Comparing children or saying that her child is “gifted” or even just making up things about her child does seem to be a bit absurd, but almost every new mother will do it at some point or another. Hope this helps!
Oh, lighten up! Why are you taking all this so seriously? You can break this off in her b***. Next time she says her baby is walking, call over to the baby, “Hey, since you’re walking, would you walk down to the ABC store and pick me up a six pack? Hey, since you’re walking, would you like to learn to dance? They’re giving square dancing and two step lessons, and we can go down and take some tonight if it’s not too much past your bedtime!”
If she says the baby is talking, say, “Talking? Why just last night, she sang the entire soundtrack to “Grease, the Movie”. I didn’t even know she had seen that movie!” Every time she starts with the exaggerated claims, come up with one that’s even more ridiculous. Pretty soon, people will stop taking her seriously when she starts in on the my baby can…routine. Also, she should not be putting alcohol in the baby’s mouth. It can cause problems for the baby, and for the mother, if I ever see her doing it, because I’ll be on the phone with CPS so fast her head will spin like Linda Blair in the Exorcist. Does she take the baby to church? You can tell everybody the baby said the sinner’s prayer and is scheduled to give the sermon next week. Irony and sarcasm can take you far in the word of liars and exaggerators!
Oh I hear you on this one! I have 2 young kids and my brother and sister-in-law have a 4 month old. My little one didn’t walk til 18 months old but I swear to gosh the way my brother and sil sounded, their newborn was going to be walking before my little one. Seriously, you know how because of the squirming and wriggling they do a newborn can move a bit. Well they thought she was crawling! They called my mom all excited “She was on my tummy and crawled from my stomach to my chest! She crawled and she’s only 2 weeks old!” My mom just said that was great. Then she called me and we had a good laugh over it. That’s all you can do. Yes it’s annoying but anyone who actually sees the baby will know that your sister-in-law is exaggerating. So just grin and say “That’s so exciting!” And then laugh about it later when she’s not around.
I would just give your SIL a little smile while she is bragging and then QUICKLY change the subject as soon as she is done speaking. Hopefully she’ll start to get the hint!
I would just tell her when no one else is around and say hey quit lying to everyone about the milestones.Well the baby isnt to young to walk at all,but if she cant even walk around furniture then yeah id say “she” is to young.My oldest walked at 6 months so its not to early but for her sounds like it is.Good luck on that one!
I’m sure everyone else will catch on sooner or later.Just bite your tongue and be patient.You are the more mature one here.I’m sure you don’t want everyone to turn on you so just nod and say “what a big girl.That’s great.”Good luck and keep your cool!!!
Just ignore her and when she begins talking about her child’s ‘milestones’ just change the subject and talk about something a bit more important.
what the heck is your problem????? its not even your business what her baby can do. do you have any kids of your own? or maybe you’re still a kid yourself. i can see you now, standing in the backround, arms folded around your chest, rolling your eyes. maybe you should wear a large floppy hat that says LOOK AT ME!
my kids both cut teeth at 3mos. my neice looks like she has a tooth coming any day, but its looked like that since she was 3mos. new parents get excited at the idea that their kid is moving onto something new.
BTW 71/2 mos is NOT too young to be taking steps…. just to let you know
the only thing you can do right now, is let her talk. she will get her time. my sister who is older than that, did the same thing with her first child. i’m pregnant now and still doing everything i did before and i had a family member yell at me, because i was swimming in the pool, when my sister told everyone that her doctor said it’s harmful to go swimming. it’s something that bothers me, but you’ll have to look the other way. it might damage your relationship, but she’ll learn and if not, there’s not much you can do.
Just nod and say how nice it is. Anybody in your family who has had kids knows it is all a bunch of bull. Her child is probably going to be brain damaged from all that tequila anyway.