I (28M) am struggling with jealousy over my mother-in law (51F) and my son (2 weeks old).

Hi there,

Before I get into this, I just want to be clear that I know I'm not being rational or fair. This isn't an AITA post so please don't tell me what I already know.

We have just had a baby and my in-laws are staying with us for a little while. I've not been getting on great with my mother-in law (MIL). I think the first issue I had was that she told me wife that the baby was always hungry because her breasts weren't making enough milk, I was upset because I know that my wife is insecure about breastfeeding. I've been telling her all week what a good job she's doing. She'd only been out of hospital for a day at this point. She sometimes says other things which are critical of how we're looking after him. Despite this, she has been amazing in the house. MIL keeps things tidy and cooks breakfast and lunch for us. So there is a bit of a balance. My wife was really unwell (she lost a lot of blood and had to have a transfusion) so most of the housework is down to me and MIL.

The issue I'm having, I find myself getting very jealous when MIL handles my son. Like, she constantly fusses over him and I wish she'd leave him alone. Sometimes I think I'm justified in being annoyed but other times I think if it was someone else holding him, I would be fine with it. This morning, she was holding my son while she was taking a break from cooking and she asked my wife to prepare the bottle for him. I can't explain why but I was seething with rage. I feel like she's supposed to be here to help us, not be holding my son while my wife runs around. This lasted all of two minutes. At lunch time, she thought my son was stirring in the cot (he may have been) so she picked up. He started crying and she was asking if he had a cold, I said of course he's crying, you just disturbed him.

I feel guilty that I am so angry over such small things. I don't really know what to do about it, or how I can approach it.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Is there anything I can do to feel a bit less grumpy about the whole thing? I feel like my hormones are wild. My wife keeps making jokes about how it's supposed to be the woman acting like I am.