Reddit Stories - My STEPMOTHER has been TAKING my milk from the FREEZER while my infant

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #relationships #familydrama #parenting #milktheft #infantcareSummary: My stepmother has been taking my milk from the freezer while my infant needs it. It's causing stress and affecting my baby's nutrition. I'm unsure how to address this delicate situation without causing conflict in the family.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, stepmother, milktheft, freezer, infant, nutrition, family, conflict, parenting, stress, relationships, baby, caregiver, communication, dilemma, resolutionBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. My stepmother has been taking my milk from the freezer while my infant is struggling in the neonatal intensive care unit, and when we discovered her actions, I was overcome with anger. Marbles I'm a new mom to a two-week-old baby boy who is fighting for his life in the NICU. He arrived early and has been in intensive care since birth. I know I had about ten full bags in there yesterday, but when I checked that night, there were only eight bags. I frowned, pulled everything out, and counted twice. Two bags were just, gone.

Each bag is about six ounces of milk. That's 12 ounces missing. My first thought was that maybe my husband took some to the NICU earlier or moved them. He hadn't, when I asked, he looked as confused as me. We only bring one or two bags a day to the hospital, and I'm the one who usually grabs them. He hadn't touched the freezer stash. My next thought was maybe one of the nurses send us home with milk and it's still in my cooler bag. I checked, nothing there. Lo and behold, I just got home and there are only nine bags now. Three bags gone in one day. That is 18 ounces of my milk gone without a trace. I haven't confronted her yet. I feel a mixture of anger and absolute bewilderment. If it is her,

what the heck is she doing with it? It's not like she can feed it to my baby without me knowing. And we have no other babies around. The only semi-innocent explanation I can think of is maybe she thought some older dated bags were expired and threw them out to help. But I would have seen them in the trash, and I didn't. Or maybe she spilled some and was too afraid to tell me.

But three whole bags spilled? That seems unlikely. I did casually double-checked the kitchen trash just now, gross, but I had two. There were no milk bags or bag fragments in there. She didn't dump them out in the sink either. As far as I can tell, there's no smell or residue. The bags are just gone. It's late and mill is already asleep in the guest room. I'm lying here in bed wide awake. I know stress can make you paranoid, but I am 100% sure someone is taking my breast milk out of our freezer when I'm not here. And the only person who could be doing that is my mill.

My husband is just as baffled. When I told him more bags vanished, his initial reaction was, are you sure? That's so strange. I stayed quiet but inside I have this sinking feeling that she's lying. Something is off. Her reaction was too dismissive, if that makes sense, like overkill Humee? Never. It gave me goosebumps. But again, I have zero proof except missing milk and my gut feeling. My husband seems unconvinced that she'd do anything so strange. I don't want to start a huge fight in my living room without evidence, especially not while our newborn is in critical condition at the hospital.

The last thing we need is family drama. But here we are. I'm going to try to get to the bottom of this quietly. Tomorrow, I plan to keep a very close eye on that freezer. Maybe I'll mark the bags or count them with mill so she knows I'm watching. I'm also considering setting up a camera in the kitchen, which feels so extreme, but at this point I need to know. I'm so confused and frankly creeped out.

Who or what is taking my breast milk? And why? I haven't slept properly in days, and now this mystery is eating at me on top of worrying about my baby. Update 2. First, thank you to everyone who commented. and messaged after my first post. I didn't expect so many people to take an interest in my weird little breast milk mystery, but your support and suggestions have really helped. Now, onto what happened today. And oh boy, things happened. This afternoon, I was at the NICU as usual. My husband had gone

into work for a few hours, he just started taking a few shifts again, since our baby's situation has stabilized a bit. Mill was alone at our house. The motion alert hadn't pinged me, I probably had bad reception in the hospital, but there she was, standing by the freezer on the live feed. I discreetly walked out of the NICU pumping room to really watch. On the video, I see Mill rummaging in the freezer. She takes out all of my breast milk bags, sets them on the counter, and then. I'm getting angry just typing this. She starts filling a large zivis. She starts filling a large Ziploc cooler bag with them. It's like a lunch cooler bag, and she's loading all my frozen milk bags into it, one by one. I was watching on my phone, this was no I accidentally

knocked one bag into the trash situation. She was intentionally stealing bag from my stash. There was no ambiguity now. The blue tape bag? I saw it go right into her cooler. I was so shocked and furious I almost threw my phone. Instead I fumbled to take a screen recording of the footage, in case she somehow deleted the cam or whatever, I was paranoid. Then I immediately called my husband, whisper shouting, because I was still in a hospital hallway, that his mother was literally stealing my breast milk at that very moment. He was stunned, to say the least. He basically said what? That's insane, are you sure? I told him I had it on camera and I was watching her do it right now. A few minutes later, husband called me from his car, he was almost

home and had seen his mother's car driving in the opposite direction away from our neighborhood. They literally passed each other on the road. He turned around to follow her, but I guess she wasn't going far because she pulled into a shopping plaza just a block away. By the time he caught up and parked, she had gotten out and was carrying the cooler bag into a small storefront. Now, this part is where things go from weird to outright absurd. The storefront she went into was one of those little craft and hobby shops. My husband didn't want to confront her in public without knowing what was going on, so he actually parked and waited, watching from a distance.

I was on the phone with him the whole time, frantically biting my nails and demanding updates. He saw her through the shop window talking to another woman and handing over the cooler bag. At this point, I was practically screaming into the phone. grab the bag, see if the milk is still in there. He must have heard my faint voice or just had the same thought, because he told her to open the cooler. She clutched it and refused. So he grabbed it from her. Yes, he literally took the cooler out of his own mother's hands in the middle of a parking lot. She protested and even tried to get it back, but he opened it up. It was empty. Not a single bag inside. My husband told me he has never.

been so furious and confused in his life. He told her, it's empty. Where did you put the milk? What is going on? So they drove back, separately. I had to stay at the hospital with our baby, absolutely losing my mind with anger and disbelief. I was so livid I was shaking, and I don't care if that sounds cliche, it's the truth, I was a mess. The amount of betrayal I felt. I can't even fully describe it. This woman was under our roof, pretending to help, and all the while literally stealing from her sick grandchild. And for some hairbrain soap scheme?

I left the hospital a bit early once my baby was stable and sleeping, because I needed to be there for the confrontation at home. On the drive, I was alternating between yelling to myself, trying to rehearse what I'd say. By the time I walked in the door, Mill, and my husband were already in the kitchen. sitting at the table. I didn't even say hello. I just said, why? Let's just say Mill had reasons for doing what she did, but none of them make this any less horrific. I'll post the full rundown of our talk and what we're going to do about it very soon. Thanks again to everyone who's

been following and offering support. I have the proof now, at least. Update 3. I've had a few hours to calm down and I'm back to explain what went down when I confronted Mill face to face. When I last left off, I had just gotten home to find my husband and Mill in our kitchen post incident. Initially she was speaking in circles about trying to help and not wanting to upset me, etc. But the gist of it is, Mill has a friend, the woman at the shop, who makes handmade soaps and lotions. At some point, they got the idea to create a line of soap made with breast milk as a key ingredient. So Mill, being the helpful soul she is, pouting face emoji, decided that my milk would be perfect for this. Why mine? Because I was producing a lot and the baby wasn't

drinking all of it. She said she noticed I was pumping more than the nick you needed each day, and she thought I wouldn't miss a few bags here and there. Those were her exact words, delivered in a whiny, self-pitying tone, I wasn't sure he would survive, dear. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just didn't want all that to go to waste if, if the worst happened. I had to literally hold up my hand and say, stop. Just stop talking for a minute, because I needed a second to not explode. My husband went rigid and said, Mom, I cannot believe you just said that. He looked like he was about to either burst into tears or start yelling, or both.

I told her, so you secretly decided my child was a lost cause and that it was better to steal his milk for your little soap. project? Do you hear yourself? Mill started crying again, I didn't say that. I didn't say he was a lost cause. I prayed for him every day. I was just trying to be practical. You have to understand, I did hope he'd make it, but we have to be realistic. The Neek is touch and go and I thought, well, in case. In case he didn't, maybe the milk could at least serve another purpose. At first, it sound noble. They were going to market it as a specialty skin care product, and she said, I was going to put some of the proceeds aside for you and the baby, I swear. She insisted she only gave her friend two cooler bags worth of milk so far. From what we saw, a cooler bag worth

seems to be about 20 to 30 ounces at a time, and she's done it twice over a week or two. I challenged her on the money aspect, so you were selling it? How much per bar? Did you actually get money yet or were you just experimenting? She claimed they hadn't sold any yet. They were still testing the soap formula and planning the business. But then why did she so urgently deliver the milk today? She said an online acquaintance, a man, apparently, was interested in trying a sample bar, so they wanted to make a small batch to send to him. My husband had been mostly quiet, but here he interjected, looking horrified. Wait, you're telling me you two have been soliciting strangers on the internet with this? What kind of men are buying soap made out of

someone's breast milk? Good question, hubby. Mill got defensive and said, it's not like that. These are just skin care enthusiasts. Some men take breast milk supplements for health, you know, and others think it's good for the skin. It's a niche market. At this point I couldn't hold back the disgust, so you have men online wanting to rub my breast milk on their bodies and you thought that okay? My voice definitely rose at that. Mill started with the waterworks again, wailing that I was making it sound gross and she never told anyone whose milk it was, just that she had a source. Oh great, that makes it much better. Random men are lathering up with my milk, but at least they don't know it's mine. It's disturbing, it's a complete violation. She just kept saying

sorry in a very non-committal way, like she was sorry we found out and got upset, not necessarily sorry for doing it. In fact, she then got slightly angry defensive and blurted out, well, what about all the milk that just gets thrown away at the hospital or at home if he doesn't use it? Lots of moms make soap from extra milk. I thought you'd eventually do the same or donate it. I didn't think you'd even notice a few bags gone since you're making so much. I literally put my head in my hands. This line of reasoning was unbelievable. My husband said, mom, that wasn't your decision to make. And you lied about it.

Do you not get how wrong this is? She went back to apologizing and said she got carried away with the business idea because money is tight for her and she thought she could make something good come from the tragedy of the baby being sick. I asked her if she has actually made money yet from this. She said no, they hadn't sold anything significant. She claims all they did was a test batch and gave a few free samples to some folks in her online craft community to build interest. She swore that if it had started making money,

she would have given us some portion for the baby or for hospital bills. Honestly, I don't believe that for a second. I think she's just saying whatever might make her look less awful. And even if she did plan to share profits, it's completely irrelevant. You don't get to steal someone's property and bodily fluid, for God's sake, and justify it because you intended to cut them in on the deal later. At one point I asked her bluntly, would you have ever told us if we hadn't caught you? She paused and then admitted, probably not. At least not unless the business became successful or if. If the worst happened with a baby. There it was again, her presumption that my child might die. As if that outcome would somehow make what she did okay

because I wouldn't need the milk. I think hearing that out loud, from his own mother, broke something in my husband. He just slumped in his chair and looked defeated. I was beyond furious and told her, get out. I can't look at you right now. I cannot believe you. She started to protest, reaching her hand out like she wanted to touch my arm or something. No. We are done here. Get out of my house. I cut her off. I didn't yell, but I was deadly serious. She looked at my husband, for backup, I guess, but he just shook his head and said, Mom, you hurt her. I think it's best you leave now. I had to sanitize my kitchen after she left, because the thought that she was messing around

in here with my milk just made me feel dirty. I know that's a weird reaction, but I can't help it. I tossed some of the milk storage bags that were left out of paranoia. I don't think she tampered with them, but I just can't even look at them without thinking of her now. We have a lot to figure out. I'm beyond angry and also heartbroken that this is what I have to deal with on top of worrying about my baby. My husband is furious and hurt as well. I can tell he's in shock that his own mom would do something so deranged. There's really no other word for it in my mind.

Right now, Mill is banned from our house and from seeing us or the baby. Not that the baby is available to see in NICU anyway, but she will not be visiting him with us. That's for sure. I told the NICU staff that she is absolutely not allowed to visit if she tries. She hasn't tried to, as far as I know, but I wanted it on record just in case. They assured me only parents are typically allowed in NICU unless we give permission, so no chance of her getting in. Small relief. We haven't decided what the long-term relationship with Mill is going to look like. For now, I don't want to see or speak to her at all. My husband is deeply hurt, but I know it's still his mother, and this is a lot for him to process too.

He did say he's on my side 100% and he wouldn't forgive her until and unless I do, and maybe not even then. So at least we're united. I'll do one more update soon to let you all know how things settle and what steps we take next. Some of you have suggested legal action or other measures. But for now, I need to try to cool down and focus on our baby. The good news, and I need some good news, is that our little one is doing okay in NICU at the moment. In fact, I just got back from a late-night visit and he held my finger and opened his eyes. I'm more determined than ever to give him everything I can, and I'll be damned if anyone, even Mill, takes that from him again. So much has happened, and my emotions have been all over the place, but here's where things

stand now. First off, Baby Update, our little guy is still in the NICU, but he's a fighter. He gained a few ounces, which is huge for a preemie, and the doctors are cautiously optimistic about his progress. After we kicked her out, she went radio silent for about 24 hours. No calls or texts to me, she probably knew I wouldn't want to hear it. She did send my husband a text the next day. I saw it, he showed me without me even asking, because we agreed to be transparent. Was my first snarky thought? Of course that's impossible. What's done is done. Also, her text, while apologetic, still included a lot of self-biddy, I hate myself for this.

I was just blinded by trying to help. I don't want to lose you too, and so on. It felt like she was making herself the sad victim of her own scheme. We didn't respond immediately. We needed time to cool down and decide how to handle this. My husband and I talked at length. We considered a lot of things. could this be forgiven? Under what conditions? How do we ensure the safety of our child and my milk

supply going forward? What about the soap business? Is she going to continue it with someone else's milk? A few of you asked if we planned to take legal action. We looked into it tentatively. The idea of suing or pressing charges against Mill is uncomfortable, obviously. She did steal from us, multiple times, and technically the value of breast milk could be argued, people do sell it, after all. The police probably would look at us like we're crazy if we said my mill stole my breast milk. It's not a common scenario. We did document everything, though, I saved the video footage, the screen grabs, and we have our text communications. So if we ever needed to go that route, we have evidence. Instead of going straight to legal measures, we decided to try a more personal

approach first. My husband called his father, my Phil, who, by the way, lives in another state and is not very involved, he and Mill are divorced. We let him know, in case Mill turned to him or in case we needed his support. He was as shocked as anyone and basically said, whatever you two decide, I understand. She really messed up. He also mentioned this isn't the first time she's had questionable judgment with a business idea, though obviously this situation takes the cake. Apparently a few years back she sank a bunch of money into some MLM scheme and he had to bail her out financially. So, not the greatest track record, but nothing on this level. After a couple days, when we were calmer, my husband and I agreed to talk to Mill one more time,

with conditions. We laid out ground rules that this was just a conversation, not necessarily a reconciliation. I let my husband lead initially. He told her we were both still very upset and that what she did was a massive breach of trust. She, of course, started crying softly and repeated her apologies, this time with less deflection. She said she knows there's no excuse and she's so ashamed. I asked her a few pointed questions that were still nagging me. Are you still planning to continue this soap business? She shook her head furiously and said, no, no, absolutely not. I have my doubts that the friend might try to find another source. but that's beyond my control. I did look up the friend's small business site. It's like an

Etsy store, and there's no mention of breast milk products anywhere, so maybe it really was still in trial phase. I have no way to verify unless I stock random dudes on the internet for reviews of breast milk soap. Yeah, no, thanks. I told her plainly I don't really believe that she destroyed them, and even if she did, it's too late. Someone else already handled my milk in a manner I never consented to. He made it clear that while she's his mother and he loves her, what she did was not something we can just sweep under the rug. It will take a long time, if ever, to rebuild trust. He also said something that made her cry harder. Mom, I'm a father now. My priority is my son. And right now, I don't feel my son is safe with you,

not because you'd physically harm him, but because you don't respect boundaries. If you could do this our backs. What else are you capable of doing with our child when we're not looking? I can't put him in that position. That hit her hard. She was shaking her head and saying, I understand, I understand. She asked if she could ever possibly earn our trust back. I responded, that ball is in your court. But it's not happening anytime soon. And it may not happen at all. The damage is that bad. I was calm but firm. I also told her I'll be focusing on our baby and my own recovery, and I frankly don't have the mental bandwidth to deal with her feelings on top of everything.

So she needs to give us space. She asked if she could at least get updates about the baby's health. Up until now, we have been giving her daily or near daily updates since she was staying with us and presumably caring. Now obviously that's stopped, we said we will let her know if there's any major change, but we're not going to be chatting casually every day. I suggested she lean on some friends or other family for support in the meantime. Not the details, I was too embarrassed to admit the full story, but I told her I lost some of my stored milk due to an accident

and asked how to boost production to replenish it. She was very kind and gave me some tips and extra pumping sessions at the hospital to help make up for the loss. Bless NICU nurses and staff, they are truly amazing. I wasn't sure if Mill had made a copy of our key at any point. We had given her a key while she stayed, obviously we took that back, but who knows if she secretly copied it. It might be overkill, but again, peace of mind. My trust in her is shattered, I wouldn't put anything past her right now. My husband is still processing two like me. But we try not to dwell on that

detail because it just leads to a spiral of ickiness. At the end of the day, it happened and we can't undo it, so focusing on baby's health and our little family's future is what's keeping us sane. Some of you asked if we've considered going public or shaming her online or something, since she was going to sell online. Honestly, I don't have the energy. Also, a part of me doesn't want to forever mark my child's grandmother as that crazy lady who made breast milk soap in the public sphere, for my child's sake. I doubt anything will come of it, but it made me feel a bit proactive. I just hope Mill truly sticks to shutting it down. If I ever catch wind of her trying something like this again,

you can bet I won't hesitate to scorch that earth, legally or publicly, if needed. For now, though, I'm letting it rest. I've said my peace to her. She knows the consequences. It's on her to do the soul-searching and change, and any penance she sees fit. My focus is on my baby's upcoming heart surgery, yes, on top of everything. My sweet boy needs a minor surgery next week, it never ends, but prognosis is good, and on trying to take care of myself so I can be there for him.