6 month rant
Maybe I just need to rant. I’ve been feeling so helpless lately…
My husband and I are foreigners living abroad, and we both work full time. I went back to work after 3 months of maternity leave.
A week after my baby was born, my mother came to stay with us and helped take care of him until he was 3 months old. Everything went really well. It was honestly such a relief having somebody around who understood me and could help with the newborn stage. After her visa expired, my MIL and FIL came for another 3 months. My MIL doesn’t speak English, but somehow we still understood each other just fine. They both did their best taking care of the baby and playing with him while I was back at work. Everything felt like sunshine and butterflies. Baby was thriving.
They went back home 8 days ago.
Five days ago, when baby was 6 months and 10 days old, my mother came back to help again. I thought it would be easy this time since she already took care of him during the hardest newborn stage, and I was hoping he would still remember her.
But wow, I was so wrong.
My baby, who used to be all smiles and laughter, suddenly became extremely clingy to me. He won’t let my mother put him to sleep or even hold him for long. He’ll tolerate it for a bit, but the moment he realizes I’m still in the house, he cries for me so hard — limbs flailing and everything.
I already took 3 days off work for the gap between grandparents being here, plus 2 WFH days. I even asked my boss for more time to work from home because my mother and baby are still adjusting to each other, and thankfully my boss was really understanding and approved it.
But it’s been 5 days now, and baby still hasn’t warmed up to my mother.
I’m working from home, but I still need to actually work. I can’t constantly be there for him, but during the day he keeps crying for me. We’ve already tried having my mother hold him more and feed him solids. But whenever she tries to put him to sleep, he cries hysterically for me.
And honestly, even for me it’s already a challenge to get him to sleep. He constantly plays with his pacifier, so I have to put it back in over and over while trying to find that exact sweet spot of rocking him until he finally falls asleep. My mother doesn’t know this trick. My MIL does.
I told my husband we need my MIL back here, and thankfully they agreed, but it won’t happen anytime soon.
Anybody having a similar situation? I'm all ears for suggestions.