When parents find out the gender of their baby, it's not uncommon for them to feel a moment of sadness if it isn't the gender they were expecting.
And although parents will of course love their children no matter what, some other members of their family may have a harder time coming to terms with the gender news.
That's the situation one mum is facing after she welcomed a baby girl into the world 10 months ago, as her mother-in-law had her heart set on having a grandson - and now won't stop referring to her granddaughter as if she was a boy.
The mum explained that her native language has a grammatical gender in which adjectives have a masculine and feminine form, and said her mother-in-law keeps using the masculine form whenever she's talking about her granddaughter.
She also accused her husband's mum of dressing her daughter in "boyish clothes" whenever she's babysitting, and said that while she doesn't really mind what clothes her daughter wears, it has made her uncomfortable when combined with the language her mother-in-law uses.
In a post on Reddit, she said: "For context, English isn't my first language and here we have grammatical gender. All adjectives have a masculine or feminine form and so on.
"My daughter is 10 months old, and for about two months or so my MIL [mother-in-law] has been referring to her as 'my little chubby' or 'my cutie' with a masculine adjective. So she isn't directly calling her a boy but if someone heard her saying it they would automatically think she's a boy.
"Today I left my daughter at my MIL's house [wearing] a pink leopard print tracksuit and not even an hour after, my MIL sends me a picture of my daughter wearing 'boyish clothes'. I usually don't pay attention to those things because it doesn't really matter what she wears and I'm a pretty chill mum, but since she's referring to my daughter as a boy every day, I've been connecting the dots.
"I told my partner he should say something about it because I don't want our child to get confused later on. (We agreed that he deals with any problems with his mum and I deal with my mum so we have less conflict). Which he did, but she said he should mind his business because it's between her and her granddaughter."
The mum went on to say that before her baby shower, she and her family were convinced she was going to have a baby boy, so there were some feelings of disappointment when it was revealed she was having a girl.
And although the mum and dad were still thrilled to be welcoming a daughter, the woman's mother-in-law was so annoyed she left the party.
She added: "When I was pregnant, I and almost everyone thought I was pregnant with a boy for some reason and I was like 90% sure. When we had our baby shower, popped the balloon and everything was pink I was in shock. I wasn't sad but I already envisioned in my mind having a little boy, having a boyish decor for the nursery and so on.
"However, my MIL really wanted a boy and acted a little p***ed when we found out it was a girl. She even came to me right after the balloon popped [and said] 'Oh… it wasn't what we wanted but it's okay don't be sad'. She thought I was crying because I was sad, but I was just emotional. She left soon after and didn't even wait till we cut the cake."
Commenters on the post were baffled by the mother-in-law's statements, as many of them said that it's up to the mum and dad to enforce the boundaries and that everything to do with their daughter is their business.
One person said: "What happens between her and her granddaughter is absolutely yours and your husband's business. If she feels the need to re-gender your child she shouldn't have access to your child. The only person who can dispute her gender is your actual child. MIL has lost her bananas."
As another added: "It seems that she is wanting a grandson so much that she's in denial right now. My concern though is that while it may seem small now, if you do end up having a son in the future, it seems like she is going to completely ignore your daughter and treat her as if she doesn't exist."
While a third posted: "Not overreacting at all. Is it possible she is trying to relive being a 'boy mum' herself? Like re-raising your husband?"
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