Whatever method you choose, feeding an infant is no easy feat. There are the late-night feedings, the cost of formula, and the toll breastfeeding takes on your body. And there's also always the lingering question of whether your child is getting enough to eat. The way a parent decides to feed their child is a personal choice, one that doesn’t need to be rationalized or explained.
When someone ignores or goes against your wishes for your child's nutrition, it can be infuriating. One mother discovered this firsthand and got so upset she called the police.
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A woman needed surgery and had her sister, who also has a newborn, watch her son for three days.
A Reddit user asked the community if she was being an a–hole for the way she responded to her sister’s attempts at “trying to help.” The Original Poster, a 22-year-old woman, and her 27-year-old sister had babies within two weeks of each other. Their sons are 3 and 5 weeks old. OP’s son is formula-fed, and her nephew is breastfed.
OP needed to have surgery and was hospitalized for three days. During that time, her sister and brother-in-law volunteered to watch her son free of charge. It was a nice gesture. But things took a turn for the worse when the OP went to pick up her son.
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OP's sister called her formula 'garbage' and threw it out.
When the OP walked into her home, where her sister and brother-in-law had been staying, she found her son on her sister’s breast nursing. Surprisingly enough, the OP didn’t really have much of an issue with that.
She reasoned that it was easier for her sister to breastfeed him rather than make bottles every few hours. The real problem was that the sister told the OP she threw out all of the “garbage” the OP was feeding her son and was going to pump and donate milk to her nephew.
That “garbage” was 14 cans of formula. The OP was in shock, and instead of saying anything to her sister, she went to the bathroom and called the police. No crime had been committed so authorities couldn’t do anything about it.
Now the OP's sister wants to be paid for babysitting.
But that was far from the end of the story. The OP’s sister was livid that she called the police after she had done her a massive favor in watching her child. The OP told her she “dumped 14 cans of formula without even consulting me and [I] currently had nothing to replace it with, just plans to.”
The sister now wants to be compensated for the babysitting. The OP said she can’t afford it because she has to replace the formula. The sister stormed out and blocked the OP on everything. The OP’s parents were able to replace two cans of formula but couldn’t do much more.
Her parents think she was out of line for calling the police. Her sister has a government job, and a criminal record could affect her ability to provide for her child.
Many commenters agreed that the OP's sister was out of line.
The Reddit community had a lot to say about this one, and the opinions varied.
“NTA (not the a–hole),” one user wrote. “She destroyed your property, and I’m baffled how destroying property is supposed to be ok.”
Another suggested the OP take her sister to court over the lost supplies. Others concluded that everyone sucks here.
“That’s a ridiculous overreaction as a FIRST response and needlessly escalated the situation,” one person shared. “No attempt to get the money back, no argument, just straight to call the cops?”
Others thought both parties overreacted.
Another person found fault with both parties, calling the sister judgy and obnoxious. But the person also believed the OP’s decision to call the police was “equally f-ed up.”
“She took care of your newborn for 72 hours straight. That is normally a costly service and would about equal the cost of the formula. If not for her you would have had to pay someone to babysit. And she had a newborn of her own at the same time. You're even. And you both acted like AHs,” someone wrote.
We have to agree. Perhaps some family counseling with an emphasis on boundaries and proper coping mechanism are in order.
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
