Mom Wakes up in the Middle of the Night in a Panic as Her Baby Is Missing from the Crib

One social media user was in for a shocking ride when her mother-in-law asked her granddaughter to sleep overnight. The poster revealed her mother-in-law's big move to fulfill her wish and how she reacted afterward.

A Reddit user with the username Tw5676 once posted on the "Beyond The Bump" channel asking readers for advice on her situation. The poster shared that her husband was an only child whose mother has always been too involved in their lives.

She and her mother-in-law kind of got along, but her husband's mother tended to cross lines. Tw5676's mother-in-law was only given a key to their house for emergencies since she lived four blocks away.

The original poster welcomed her daughter four weeks before sharing her story. In that time, her mother-in-law had been over three times weekly and always told her what she was doing wrong and mentioned how she'd do things differently.

The poster's daughter woke up at two-hour intervals each night, but her grandmother insisted the child would sleep through the night if she were at her place. Tw5676 made it clear she wasn't comfortable with her four-week-old breastfeeding baby sleeping somewhere else overnight.

However, her mother-in-law kept pushing that agenda, no matter how many times the Reddit user said no. One night, the poster put her daughter in her crib in another room, and her husband was responsible for waking up to feed the child.

That night, she and her husband fell asleep, but she woke up hours later in panic due to the baby girl being so quiet. The new parent worried her child had died, and when she entered her room, the infant was gone!

The worried mother started screaming her daughter's name, waking up her equally confused husband. Deciding to take action, the woman ran to call 911, but that's when she saw a picture message from the child's grandmother.

The photo showed her mother-in-law with her granddaughter sleeping in her arms, with the caption reading: "Sleepover at gamgams." Tw5676 was "immediately enraged" and called her husband's mother in a rage and told her she was coming for the baby.

The poster told her mother-in-law she'd never see her granddaughter again and to never contact her family. Her husband ended up going to get their baby and explained when he got back how his mother decided to let herself in to give them a break and was sure they'd hear the text message and would be thankful for a good night's sleep.

But Tw5676 wasn't having it. She couldn't forgive her mother-in-law and felt like divorcing her husband for his lack of urgency. She already had postpartum anxiety (PPA), but now it was worse as she thought she couldn't feel safe or protect her child.

The Reddit user hated her husband and his mother and cried non-stop when she thought about the kidnapping. The poster couldn't sleep anymore and felt like a lousy mother who'd fail her child if real danger came.

Her husband and his mother thought she overreacted because of hormones, and she wanted to know if she was for wanting a divorce and never seeing her mother-in-law again. The parent chose Reddit as an outlet because she wanted neutral people to weigh in, as she had no friends or family nearby.

After reading user comments, Tw5676 cried as she felt supported and that someone was on her side. The poster reached out to her mother, who was "disgusted" by the situation and flew over to help her as she'd moved out to a hotel with the baby.

She was looking into solo therapy and would be keen on couples counseling to determine if her marriage was salvageable. Going back home was no longer an option; she was even looking into getting a restraining order for her mother-in-law.

Her husband's family texted her after the incident.

The poster was concerned about what her daughter's grandmother was capable of since she could pull off a kidnapping. She came back with an update two weeks later at the insistence of Reddit users.

What Happened to the Poster, Her Husband, and Mother-in-Law?

When the poster's mother arrived, she sat with her while she finally got some well-needed sleep. Her husband asked to meet, and he apologized and confessed she was right that his mother had crossed a line.

He said he struggled to accept that she'd done something wrong, so instead, he tried to brush the incident off. The poster's husband changed the locks at their home and said he'd support whatever measures his wife chose to take when it came to her mother-in-law.

Her husband's family texted her after the incident. They gave her their support and apologized for what had happened. Days later, her husband met up with her again, and this time, he came with a letter from his mother apologizing for what she did.

The mother-in-law said she was "terrified" of losing her daughter-in-law and grandchild but would keep her distance. Her twice-a-week therapy sessions taught her not to rush into any major decisions, and she was taking it a day at a time.

Tw5676's husband saw their child daily, and she thanked everyone for their support as several people responded positively and in her favor. If it was you in this situation, what would you have done if you were in the mother's shoes?