Hi mummies, I need advice on a non breastfeeding issue. My father in law has been taking care of my daughter since I went back to work when she was 2 months old. Since then, baby has had problems latching on, tried for so long to get her to latch again but to no avail, so now I'm exclusively pumping. My father in law insists that fat babies are healthy babies and has been feeding her a lot since I went back to work, even when she cries and turns away, he will still force the bottle in her mouth. baby is > 97th percentile and the PD has asked us to limit her intake. Somehow, my father in law refuses to respect my husbands and my wishes when it comes to our baby. He insisted on feeding her water before she's 6 months old, wanted to give her solids before then also and he insists that we should give her the pacifier. I live with my in laws and I get very stressed out worrying if he is giving her water or solids, or not letting her sleep. It's so bad that I changed my job so I can be around more to take care of my baby. Every morning before I go to work, I will prepare her morning feed of 160ml (she was drinking 210ml previously) and go to work. Imagine my surprise when I was home and realized that he topped up the milk to 210ml again. And he does this for every feed till I come home. And if she wakes up 1.5 hours later, he will insist that she is hungry again. On weekends when I bring her home to my mother's she drinks 160 per feed and it will last her at least 3 hours. I know that he will never do anything to hurt her on purpose but I am getting very annoyed that he doesn't respect our decisions. How do I handle this ? Even when the PD tells him, he insists he knows better. Help. (Sorry for the long post)

You are inviting a lot of future problems if u continue in this disrespectful scenario. Please sit down with him and ask your husband to talk to him. There are serious complications that arise due to force feeds. Ask him how will he help if these complications arise. In future if your child faces obesity, how will he help you'll to tackle that serious issue. Force feeding is like an addiction. Later on in life it's the one thing your child will turn to for comfort or may even equate that you love lesser than grandpa becoz u don't feed what she twant. So right now is the time to tackle this problem. You are a qualified person. You can get a job once your baby is old enough to go to day care or school. Your child is your responsibility. You need to decide if job is needed or the well being of your child. If your husband cannot help in dealing with his parents then you need to quit working and go after this issue full on. Let him also realize the importance. If you are a financial contributor then he should learn how to control this compulsive issue and support you in every way. Can you'll work alternately...I'm sure if solutions needed to be found it can be worked out for. I had a maid who used to work for a household that had a same problem...only difference was that the girl she cared for was 3 years old and weighed 25 KGS. The doctors put the little girl on a very strict diet which the maid judiciously followed. And within 7 months brought down the weight of the little girl by 15 KGS. It's not an impossible task. It's just that prioritizing is needed. The money you may earn today you will use to bring the excessive weight of ur baby in the futur.so why not start now itself. This is a very very serious problem. Please nip it in the bud right now.