So my MIL has been weird with me from day 1. My partner and I fell pregnant within months of seeing each other so we understood her reaction to me being pregnant was never going to be positive.
She then started going through a divorce when I hit the 12 week mark and we moved out, she didn’t reach out for a couple of weeks but we assumed she was just busy with lawyer stuff so didn’t pester. However weeks then turned into months etc. my partner would text his mum and she’d ignore the texts.
I was 8.5 months pregnant when she decided she wanted to come back. She apologised to us both directly for being absent my entire pregnancy and explained she was depressed, struggling etc. we decided to forgive her and let it go.
Our son was born August 2023 and the first year of his life she was present and a great grandmother to him, don’t get me wrong she was still “off” with me like whenever I would speak about my son she wouldn’t respond to me, she would come over and not really engage much with me, make snidely comments about me going back to work at 5 months PP despite the fact I’m providing for her son to be a stay at home dad etc but I just thought I’d be civil for my son. We got engaged in October 2023, she didn’t congratulate us.
January 2025 she started being VERY OFF. She deleted me off all social media’s for no reason, blocked my number. My partner asked why and she said she didn’t like me as a person. So I decided from then on if she wanted to see our son my partner would take him to her.
The rest of 2025, she was very inconsistent. We would ask her to take our son as she usually would and she’d say “can’t I’m dying my hair today” and silly excuses. We then had 4 miscarriages that year and not once did she send condolences or offer to support. It got to August, our sons bday and she got him 2 of the same gifts we did - she came to our house and I said aw it’s okay these things happen no big deal. Her mood changed and when my parents arrived my son got really excited and she left. She then text my partner that night saying my parents were rude to her and turning our son against her? 😂 he’s 2!!!!!
My partner had enough and had a go at her, saying no wonder my son was excited to see my parents when he sees them every 2 weeks. Since then she went in a mood and stopped speaking to us and visiting or allowing my partner to visit.
We fell pregnant in August 2025 and this baby has stuck. We shared our pregnancy with family and she hasn’t contacted us. From August to Feb 2026 she was radio silent, hasn’t asked for our sons at all. Ignoring texts.
Today, she has contacted my partner to try apologise and worm her way back in, I told my partner I’m having none of it and she won’t be seeing our son or new baby as she yet again has disappeared for over 6 months for no reason which isn’t fair on us or our son as he’s getting older and more aware!
Am I being reasonable? The way I see it is if this was a parent acting this inconsistent and being deadbeat they wouldn’t be allowed to run back in.
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I answered the question at the end of your post! So I clicked yes… but you ARE being reasonable. Definitely not in the wrong. Protect your peace

Yes, you 100% are being reasonable, that women is crazy, jealous, childish, and disrespectful towards you. She's not worth the energy, forget about her, and be happy with your family. You don't need that kind of negative energy. Congratulations on baby number 2 🥰

To be honest you’ve tolerated a hell of a lot more than you even should have had to. The moment she decided to announce she ‘didn’t like you as a person’ and blocked you, that would have been it for me. I have dealt with the most toxic of all MIL’s who my husband cut off shortly after we got married. The one thing I’m so very grateful for is not having to deal with her shit whilst post partum, caring for a newborn whilst recovering is hard enough without having to deal with volatile inconsistent family members, letting her back in just tells her that it’s okay to pick up and drop your family when it’s suits her, and that her treatment of you is acceptable when it’s absolutely not.
If you or your partner don’t feel like you’re at a point where you wish to cut her off, at the very least he needs to have a strong conversation one on one with her about her behaviour being unacceptable for a number of years and that you will no longer be tolerating it.
Thanks guys! Honestly I’m the quietest most anxious soul ever and have never done anything to her for her to treat me this way😩
My partner has decided to cut her off as I mean she’s effectively not been a great mother to him in all of this either and this his choice ❤️

I answered the poll wrong as I'm used to it being worded 'am I being unreasonable' sorry! She needs to grow up and stop being petty and realise how her actions and behaviour effect the people around her

You’ve worded the question badly so I clicked no “you’re not in the wrong” I think from the comments here you can see that actually it’s probably 100% of responses saying that you are right. You’ve tolerated a lot over the years, she isn’t a consistent or safe person to have in your children’s lives and she is a mental drain on you and your partner. I’m sorry you’re having to go through this but I’d stick to it and say she can’t see the children. If she’s genuine she would understand and slowly start to build your trust in other ways before asking to be back in your lives but 99% chance that she would just repeat the same thing and you’d end up picking up the pieces again in another year or so

I've read the post and answered the question at the bottom - so sorry as I meant NO you are NOT in the wrong and YES you are being reasonable. She sounds awful, and tbh I wonder who was the blame for the divorce. My partner's mum hates me as well- it started when we got together as they were living together and he was her financial support basically. It then got worse when I feel pregnant as he was then moving into my home. She made comments such as 'thats it now then' 'now I have nowhere to live' rather than congratulating us on our pregnancy. She's been very 'off' with me for years now but tolerates me just enough. She gets me a birthday card and gift/ she makes small talk when we see her (rarely) but she's not overly interested in our child and will often make excuses and is 'busy' whenever we suggested a meet up. As a result our child isn't fussed about her and isn't excited not sad if she does/ doesn't see her. Just any other person to her.

You definitely aren’t being unreasonable, you’ve dealt with a hell of a lot more than I would’ve. Completely get where you’re coming from, my mother is very similar to this, not as bad but every day I’m an edged closer to cutting contact. You need to protect your, your husbands, and your children’s safety and wellbeing. She is clearly not trying to do that. You’re doing amazing mama!

The question in the title and the question at the end of your post are contradictory! I clicked YES to the last question, not the title!!
No, you are not wrong.
Yes, you are being reasonable!

I also hit the wrong answer. I read it as “Am I being UNreasonable?”
I’m surprised you’ve both put up with her shit for this long tbh. She’s a selfish narcissist who needs to realise how much she’s pushed her own family away.

No, I don’t think you’re being unreasonable. She’s had her chances and time and time again she’s proven she’s inconsistent. If she wants to be involved, she needs to suck it up with whatever beef she has with you for the sake of those kids. You can dislike someone and still be civil.
However, trying to think of the children in this scenario. Clearly she has some stuff going on, and her own issues here. But it is a shame for your kids to lose out on a relationship with their grandmother - IF (and this is a big if!) she can put aside her issues and act like a decent person. So that being said, I also don’t think it would be unreasonable to give her one last chance to make this right. But if you were to go down that road, your partner needs to have an honest conversation with her. She needs to understand what your expectations are, ie that she will be nothing but civil towards you, and anything else will mean those ties are cut for good.
And ultimately, only if you now want to.

Yes, you’re being completely reasonable. And honestly, you didn’t word the question wrong or badly — some people just didn’t read it carefully or rushed through it 🙄. Saying “I misunderstood because I can’t read and comprehend it properly” feels a bit manipulative to me. I understood exactly what you meant on the first read. Lol. I love how reasonable you’re being about it!

Stop associating with her and stop allowing her to be hot and cold with you, your husband and your children. That’s not fair to any one of you. What I see is jealously. Do not allow her to corrupt what you both are building! Keep people like that at an arms distance. You are doing great mama!

I answered the question as ‘no, youre not in the wrong’, inconsistency by choice is definitely not what your children need ❤️

Family is family... She sounds awful, but she's probably bipolar and suffers regularly with depression. Draw your boundaries as you see fit. Personally I would just accept that she's a seasonal grandparent and try not to allow her drama rub off on your family. If it was a parent - sure, you would demand consistency. But she's not a parent. She's somebody who should have limited access to your lives regardless of what season she's in. But unless she's abusive toward you or the kids when she is there, I'd let her know the door is open. Just don't ever depend on her for anything

MIL needs to fix her relationship with you first. She needs to respect that her son has chosen to have you has his family and create a family with. Its his life not hers. Once she starts respecting you has her son's wife and mother of her grandchildren than she can work on reestablishing a relationship with the her son's family and showing she can be consistent