An expecting mum has blown up at her mother-in-law after she started calling her unborn baby by the wrong name. The woman explained how she is in her third trimester and has not yet revealed her child's name to the family - but this didn't stop her mother-in-law from "assigning" one to the baby.
Venting to Reddit, she said: "I honestly can't tell if I'm overreacting but my mother-in-law had a dream where she met our baby and called her by a name that's a name of a family member I've never met.
"Now she calls our baby by that name when referring to her - like, 'How is baby Jane?'. This is not the name she used, but an example. We're not revealing the name we have chosen until after the birth."
The mum-to-be cannot help but feel like her mother-in-law is trying to dictate what her child should be called - prompting her to seek opinions online.
"It drives me insane. You don't get to assign her any name, even if it's just a nickname for you to use," she added.
"I don't call your dog by a different name so why would you call the actual human child growing inside of me by something?
"A name just feels sacred to me and it feels disrespectful to call her something that isn't her own."
While most users agreed her mother-in-law is trying to involve herself in the naming of the child, others urged her to step back and try to ignore her, otherwise it could ruin her final months of pregnancy.
One user said: "Definitely not overreacting - that's super weird of your mother-in-law!
"It strikes me as both kind of creepy and also dismissive of your agency as the actual parents, especially if she knows you already have a name chosen.
"She's likely just peeved that she isn’t in the know. In your shoes, I’d tell her very clearly 'that isn’t our child's name and will never be her name, so please stop using it'."
Another user added: "It completely sounds like a weird guilt trip about not being told about the name, as in she feels like she's 'left out' even though it's weird she would think that's information she's entitled to."
A third user said: "Something tells me that you're going to have to enforce a lot of boundaries with your mother-in-law over the years, so might as well start practicing now!"
Do you have a difficult mother-in-law? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
