Woman Realizes Her Baby Has Disappeared from Bed, Rushes to Call 911 & Sees a Message on Her Phone

After finding her baby had disappeared from the crib, a horrified mother rushed to call 911 then received a startling message on her phone.

Can you imagine waking up in the middle of the night and finding that your newborn isn’t in the crib where you last left them? One mother, who chose to remain anonymous, shared having this horrifying experience on Reddit’s “beyond the bump” sub.

Redditor Tw5676 welcomed her newborn baby girl around four weeks before the incident. One night, she had put her baby in the crib in a less noisy room, only to find her gone hours later.

The Original Poster (OP) gave readers a bit of a synopsis about her husband, who was an only child. She said his mother had been overly involved in his life and even had a bunch of spare keys to their house.

After their child was born, the MIL visited OP’s house thrice a week. During this time, she often turned critic and told OP how she would’ve done things differently. At times, she even insisted the baby would sleep better at her house instead of being up every two hours at night.

But OP politely refused, though she felt her MIL constantly crossed her lines. The newbie mom was so excited about having her baby around, so whatever her husband’s mother told her didn’t matter at the time.

Due to the baby being loud, OP and her husband temporarily stopped sharing the same bedroom, and she slept in a different room. On that particular night, she put her baby in the crib, as usual, assuming her husband would take her when it was time up for feeding.

She blamed herself for what happened and said she couldn’t sleep after knowing her baby’s safety was at risk while she slept.

During this time, OP and her husband dozed off pretty early. After about four hours, the mom suddenly woke up, suspicious why the baby hadn’t made any noise, and she rushed to her room to find out.

OP froze on the spot and then screamed her lungs out when she discovered her baby was gone! The mom was restless and shouted her daughter’s name loudly, hoping she would jump out of somewhere.

Her husband was alarmed and woke up screaming, “What’s going on?” He kept asking her this repeatedly, but OP had exceeded all levels of fear and anxiety.

She immediately grabbed her phone to dial 911, and before she could think any further, an unusual picture message popped up on her phone screen.

She stared at the picture of her baby sleeping in her mother-in-law’s arms. OP was furious and screamed so hard that she almost threw up.

She immediately called her MIL and told her she was on her way to get her baby, also telling her she would never allow the grandma to see the toddler again.

Meanwhile, OP’s husband thought it was best if he went to bring his child back. When he returned with the baby, he told OP his mother had let herself in so that she could “give them a break” for a good night’s sleep.

The husband tried comforting OP, saying she needed to calm down and assuring her they'd be getting back the keys from his mother. But his lack of thought about the situation urged OP to think about divorce.

She blamed herself for what happened and said she couldn’t sleep after knowing her baby’s safety was at risk while she slept.

Assuming she’d overreacted for wanting a divorce and cutting ties with her MIL, OP asked the people online for guidance, saying she needed to discuss her plight with strangers. Several people, some moms themselves, flocked to support her.

“YOU ARE 100 PERCENT right. Your MIL absolutely kidnapped your child,” user CanYouMom wrote, adding:

“I’d contact the police if you haven’t already…You must protect yourself and your baby first.”

OP later stated that she would be finding out from the cops about getting a restraining order. She also checked in a hotel with her baby to meet her mom the next day.

The mother was hell-bent on not moving back since her husband and mother-in-law constantly insisted the baby was safe and never in danger that night.

But eventually, OP’s husband realized he was wrong and met up with her and apologized. He told her he’d changed the locks and would support her by temporarily cutting contact with his mom.

A few days later, she met her husband again, and this time, he had brought his mom’s apology letter along. The MIL had written that she was sick of what she did and even requested OP to reach out once ready and calm.

OP confessed she wasn’t ready to contact her MIL again. She also assured she wouldn't be making any big decisions like divorce and cutting contact yet, as advised by her therapist.

“I feel like her letter may be genuine, but I don’t think I will ever trust her again for obvious reasons,” she concluded.

Questions to Ponder:

Do you think OP would forgive her mother-in-law, considering the emotional damage the woman did to her?

After reading her mother-in-law’s apology letter, OP claimed it to be genuine but still felt she’d lost trust in her for apparent reasons. It’s still guesswork if OP would forgive her mother-in-law, considering her emotional plight after her baby went missing and the things she had to endure with her.

If you were in OP's shoes, how would you have reacted to the situation?

OP was almost on the verge of divorce and condemned her MIL for what she did, but she later sought advise from her therapist to clear her head. If you were OP, what steps would you have taken after learning your MIL took your child in the middle of the night without your permission?

If you liked this story, here’s how video footage urged an anxious mother to ban her mother-in-law from caring for her grandchild.

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