THE BABY WAS CAUGHT WITH CUSTARD ON A

The baby was caught with custard on a spoon, and his mother had been very clear: no sugar before 1 year old, and no spoon-feeding because they were doing baby-led weaning.

Last year, the poster and his wife flew across the country with their baby boy to attend a family reunion and visit his parents. At first, the trip seemed fine. Then the wife walked in and saw the poster's mom trying to feed the baby custard. The parents had spent weeks discussing feeding boundaries, and the baby had only just started solids. Instead of following the rules, the grandmother reached for the spoon anyway.

When confronted, she didn't deny it. According to the poster, she said, "Because I knew you'd say no." Later, she tried to soften that by saying she had been joking, "It was a fork, not a spoon," she reportedly said, and then, "he just reached for it." But the couple had already heard enough.

This wasn't the first boundary issue. The poster says his mom had been pushing limits since the baby was born, including demanding photos at 9 a.m. even after they had asked for no photo requests before 10 a.m. The pattern was becoming hard to miss: ask, get told no, try anyway.

The next day, the poster and his wife sat down with both parents. The mom apologized, but as the conversation went on, details started shifting. The dad said they were being too harsh. Later, the mom claimed the wife had "screamed" at her, something neither the poster nor the wife remembered happening.

They cut the trip short.

After that, contact dropped. The wife stopped sending daily photos and videos. The poster kept things lighter, sending occasional updates instead. They wanted the relationship to continue, but on different terms.

So they tried to repair it. The wife proposed an exercise: both parents would answer a set of questions about grandparent expectations, then discuss the answers together. The poster and his wife also agreed the grandparents could attend the baby's first birthday if they completed the exercise.

That plan fell apart too.

After several reschedules, they finally set up a last-minute video call. But the mom refused to get dressed for the camera and said the poster had "called every shot so far." She said she would just listen off-camera. The wife took that as another slight, and the birthday invitation was revoked.

Months later, after more reflection and therapy of their own, the poster and his wife told the parents they would need therapy before any visits resumed. The parents again brought up the "screaming" claim and said they were unsure if "this will work out." They still asked for photos every once in a while.

The poster kept the door open to casual conversation. But visits, and the baby photos, stayed on hold until therapy started.