Most mothers-in-law mean well, even when they cross boundaries.

This woman and her husband were so upset that her MIL gave their toddler a pacifier after months of hard work to wean him off of it. When they refused to let her babysit again, MIL did not take it lightly.

Read the full story below.

AITA for refusing to let my MIL babysit over a dummy?

I have a toddler. The said toddler was inseparable from their dummy (pacifier), to the point that we had to make them go cold turkey.

I had many sleepless nights because the dummy was a vital part of their nighttime routine, but any access to one would cause a world of chaos for us.

Long story short, it took us one month to fully wean them and three months to get to the point where any stray dummies were voluntarily surrendered.

We now have a baby. Our toddler was great at handing the dummies to the baby without daring to put one in their own mouth. That was until my MIL babysat, and we returned to find our toddler asleep with a dummy in their mouth.

My husband was furious and tried to explain what kind of worms she had opened up for us.

This couple firmly refused to let grandma babysit despite all her protests.

My MIL tried to explain that our toddler had started to cry inconsolably (for reasons unclear), and because she doesn’t like crying, she gave them the dummy to get them to stop.

It has been a month since this incident. I am constantly having to hide dummies from my toddler because they try to put them in their own mouth, steal them from the baby while they sleep, and scream relentlessly if they cannot have one.

My partner has been lamenting over my MIL’s actions and curses her under his breath every time we have to deal with a dummy-related tantrum.

My MIL now wants to babysit for us next week. My partner and I have said, “No. Not after the dummy incident.”

She is not taking this well and has told my FIL, GMIL, and friends that we are punishing her for trying to get our toddler to stop crying.

We are still not budging.

I don’t believe my partner and I are in the wrong for this. Perhaps others see it differently. AITA in this situation?

Months of hard work down the drain! Serves MIL right.

Let’s read what other people in the comments have to say.

Here’s a valid point.

This one has something to say.

Protect your peace, suggests this user.

This makes sense.

And some solid advice from this reader.

Kids’ development first, grandma’s feelings later.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.