The usual etiquette when someone is cooing about how adorable their newborn baby is would be to wholeheartedly agree, even if you've heard them say it a thousand times.
However, one young woman claims to have become so tired of her sister-in-law's enthusiastic praise of her two-month-old child that she lost her temper, telling her the baby wasn't even "that cute."
According to this woman, her sister-in-law Carol, who she's never really been close to, "won't shut about her baby", in a way that she's personally found annoying.
She herself doesn't believe the baby is cute at all, but says would have kept her thoughts to herself had Carol not raved about her new arrival with such gusto.
Get the news you want straight to your inbox. Sign up for a Mirror newsletter here.
The 23-year-old woman has since taken to Reddit, to ask others whether she'd acted out of line by criticising the physical appearance of her newborn niece or nephew.
According to the unnamed aunt, who goes by the rather blunt username u/sisteruglybaby, tensions came to a head during a recent family photo shoot, with her brother John, Carol, and the baby all present.
She recalled: "Carol wouldn't stop gushing about how adorable her baby is. During each location, Carol would insist on making sure she and her baby were front and centre.
"The photographer even asked her a few times to move so that different people could be in different positions, but she refused nearly every time.
"When the photographer was doing photos of just my parents, or just me and my brother, etc., Carol would ask if we wanted to hold her baby. Just all around being very pushy and annoying."
She says she could also tell her parents were "getting annoyed", by the situation. However, being "very polite and non-confrontational" people, they stayed quiet. Unfortunately, it would appear she hasn't inherited their restraint.
She continued: "I finally decided to say something when the photographer wanted to get a photo of me and my mum, and Carol loudly said something along the lines of the baby making the photo look so much better.
"I snapped at her and said, 'Your baby isn't that cute, just let it go.' She got super quiet and didn't say much for the rest of the photo session. John didn't say much either, but wouldn't speak to me and glared at me a few times during the session."
Her mother took her to one side after the photoshoot, sternly telling her that she'd behaved out of line and needed to apologise.
However, she "completely disagreed" with this assessment, arguing that "Carol needed to stop trying to shove her baby in our faces, even if the baby is a part of our family."
It's now been a week since the incident and she has yet to apologise. Neither her parents nor John and Carol are speaking to her, and she's now wondering how to proceed.
One shocked Reddit user wrote: "The reason other people were getting annoyed but keeping quiet is because that's the right thing to do in that situation. A new mother is excited about their baby, and the rest of your family didn't want to ruin that vibe.
"Even if it was really irritating to the point you had to speak up, there would have been a far politer way of letting her know she was being overbearing."
Another said: "I can’t blame Carol. In my first year or two as a parent, I’m sure I was absolutely insufferable with my babies being the center of every conversation.
"Of course, I think they’re the sweetest, most perfect creatures that ever walked the earth. If someone else disagrees, they can absolutely keep that to themselves."
Have you found yourself at odds with relatives after an awkward family gathering? We pay for stories. Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com
