Mom Finds Her Newborn Gone from Her Crib, Sees Message with Baby’s Photo on Her Phone Soon After

• A mom woke up and discovered her newborn baby was not in her crib.
• She panicked, and just as she was about to call for help, she saw that someone sent a picture of them with her child.
• The mother was furious and even got a restraining order.

Becoming a new mother can be challenging, especially when waking up every other hour for feedings while still trying to get enough sleep.

But even through those challenges, new mothers are overprotective of their children, which is why one Reddit user almost ended her marriage when she woke up one morning and did not find her child in their crib.

The situation was infuriating for the mother and took a while to process. After feeling like no one was on her side, she turned to her fellow Reddit users for comfort and advice.

How Did the Mother’s Child Disappear?

At the time of the confession, the woman and her husband had only had their daughter for four weeks. The concerned mother gave a bit of a back story, stating that her husband was an only child and her mother-in-law had been visiting regularly for almost three weeks since the baby arrived.

The mother-in-law also had a key to their house in case of emergencies. The two women got along, but the wife sometimes thought she had crossed a few lines.

Since she became a mother, her mother-in-law constantly disapproved of how she did things. Her daughter was up every two hours for feeds, but her grandmother believed she would sleep through the night if she lived with her.

The new mother emphasized that she was uncomfortable separating from her 4-week daughter, especially because she was breastfeeding. But the mother-in-law kept insisting no matter how many times she said no.

"Last night, we put the baby in her crib. We stopped room-sharing because the baby was so loud I could get no sleep," said the woman. Her husband would get the baby whenever it was time for her to eat.

That night both parents dozed off. The mother woke up four fours later in a panic because her child had not made a sound. Her first thought was that she might have died in her crib.

But she discovered her daughter was not in her crib. "I froze and started screaming her name around the house as she would somehow pop out like it was all a joke,” the mom recalled. Her husband also woke up in terror, asking what was happening.

Just as she was about to call 911, she was met with a text from her mother-in-law with a picture of her baby sleeping in her arms with the caption, "sleepover at gamgams."

She was glad her child was safe, but the picture did not calm her. "I was immediately enraged. I screamed so hard I almost vomited. I called her and saw red. I told her I was coming to get the baby, and she would never see her again and to never contact our family again." wrote the mother.

But to keep his wife calm, the husband offered to get their child. The mother-in-law said she was giving the new parents a break and thought they would hear her text and thank her for the gesture.

Life After the Kidnapping Scare

The woman could not care less about the kindness her mother-in-law thought she was extending by taking her child without her knowledge. "I hate her. I cannot forgive her for this." the mother expressed.

Her husband was also calm about the situation and told her all they needed to do was get the key back. But his wife was angry at him for being unresponsive and not seeing the severity of the situation.

She even went as far as saying his lack of urgency made her want to divorce him. The concerned mother also did not feel safe in her own home. "I hate my MIL. I hate my husband. When I think about what happened, I sob uncontrollably," she confessed.

The after-effects of the shock and terror she experienced led her to have sleepless nights. Besides feeling angry, the mother felt a lot of guilt. "If any danger really came, I would have let my daughter down," she said.

She later found out the grandmother gave her child formula even though she was breastfeeding. But that, compared to taking her child without her consent, was the least of her worries.

However, her husband and mother-in-law believed she overreacted due to her hormones. Now the woman wanted to know if she was wrong to want a divorce.

Commenters understood why the woman was furious. One Reddit user assured her that she had every right to be angry because her mother-in-law did kidnap her child. The netizen also advised her to go to the police.

Other users also said the husband needed to get his head straight. Even though he might be in an awkward position, commenters urged him to support his wife and not blame it on her hormones. However, many also advised her to wait and calm down before taking further steps with her divorce.

The mother was grateful for the support she received in the comments section. She updated her readers and said her mother flew into town to support her. Her mother also thought what her husband's mother did was unacceptable.

The woman decided to give herself time away from her husband and checked herself, her daughter, and her mother into a hotel. The trauma drove her to therapy. She started with solo sessions and said she would eventually attend with her husband.

As for her mother-in-law, the woman said she would never forgive her and planned on getting a restraining order against her. She was certain her mother-in-law could not care for her daughter. "Who knows what else she would do because she feels she knows best," she added.

Here is another story about a husband forced to choose between his wife and mother.