Am I wrong for talking to my mum about my mother in law
I (22f) am pregnant (early 2nd trimester), I also have a condition called Chiary Malformation type 1 which severely affects my appetite, however especially since I turned pregnant I make sure to have 2 high protein and heavily balanced meals a day, drink plenty of water and take pregnancy vitamins as well as plenty of protein snacks (pepperami, cheddar etc), fruits and nuts to snack on inbetween meals. To explain more deeply, I can get full very quickly and looking at a plate of food if I think it’s more than I can manage can render me not hungry even if i was a second ago and give up eating the meal at all, I also tend to have anxiety around food as If i can’t finish it i tend to be met with comments of me wasting food so I hate eating at other peoples home’s. Growing up my mother would never attempt to make comments about how I eat, I could eat as much and as little as I wanted (but as I competed in swimming for 16 years my appetite was slightly larger than now) however whenever I ate little, i’d come back and have a 2nd serving later on in the day as the pot was always open. Me and all my siblings (all at a healthy weight) grew up with a very healthy relationship with food and many of my friends whose parents were quite restrictive and controlling with food always said felt at ease when they came over at mine and would feel no anxiety over much they ate. I’m of African descent where the dishes are mostly vegetable based and high in protein so meals are very balanced, dishes are not often fried or involve too much oil.
Now my partner is polish (I’m still learning so I currently communicate through my partner) and we came and visited his parents and I genuinely felt like she was shoving food down my throat. She literally said in conversation that I must finish everything and she’ll make sure I leave here chubby. I told my parent that he should remind them of my condition and how it affects my appetite and how I’m used to eating 2 big meals a day and that I’m not a breakfast person but if i have to will eat something very light, I don’t know whether he said anything but every day that I have been here she has said in some way that I don’t eat much, or that I eat weirdly or that I’m picky and my discomfort will show. Yes polish food is slightly different to my African palate but I don’t find it disgusting at all. I have tried many dishes but there were only a couple that I didn’t fancy as to me they tasted a bit too vinegary l. Anyways, yesterday was the tipping point as we visited his grandparents and his mother asked my partner what I ate so far and he responded a hot dog from a shop called zabka and then she turned to his grandma and said she eats so weirdly and that i don’t eat much. This genuinely made me feel quite uncomfortable and I slightly withdrew myself and kept a mental note. We then went to dinner and his mother asked if I was hungry and I responded no but I’ll force myself as apparently i don’t eat much. She agrees and adds that I’m quite picky. My partner turns to me and I respond that I hate when people say I’m picky because I’m not, I only didn’t like 2 polish dishes and the only things I don’t like are fried egg and spinach. He doesn’t say much and didn’t relay this to his mother.
Later on that night when I thought my partner was sleeping, my mum called me and we conversed in French and I explained the situation and said that I felt quite uncomfortable about his mother’s comments and due to the fact that I had to force myself I felt quite sick after and it was made worse as his mother made soup not long after the restaurant which I had to force myself to eat. So far, I’ve said nothing but positive things about his mother to my mum, so my mum just said that I should eat but not force myself and to ignore her comments as some people show their affection by offering food and I said okay and went to bed. I woke up to an angry partner who not only used google translate to understand what I said to my mum but was angry that I told my mum in the first place. I told him that broke my privacy and that I had told him several times about his mother’s comments but he chose to do nothing and as I thought he was sleeping I thought to talk to him about it again in the morning when his parents were out of the house. He refuses to talk to me and I don’t really know what to do.
Achieve your health goals from period to parenting.