Mother in law wears too much perfume.

FTM here. We invited my MIL to come and see our LO and told her the rules we had. She got upset and almost didn’t come. The morning of, she said she would visit

  • As she works with small children and gives them lots of cuddles we asked her to wear a mask as he was just a few days old
  • no smoking an hour before or at our place
  • because she wears tons of perfume we asked hr not to wear any
  • and wash hands when arriving and of course before holding the baby.

When she arrived the first thing she said was, “I’m not wearing ANY perfume”.
As she left a trail of perfume behind her…. Because of postpartum hormones I decided to not say anything and let it be a pleasant visit.

When she left and I got my LO back in my arms to feed him, he had smelled only of her and I burst out in tears. I didn’t feel like I was holding my baby. It was everywhere and especially all over his head and hands. I couldn’t calm down until we bathed him.

LO is now 4w and we are going to her place for lunch this coming weekend. I am quite stressed about her holding him the whole time we are there + him getting covered in her awful scent.

What can my husband can say to not upset her and keep the peace? She clearly didn’t respect the rules last time and I felt like maybe she put even more on out of spite?

Also, accepting any advice on what we can say to get my baby back if she holds him for too long?

[TLDR] MIL wore tons of perfume when specifically asked not to while visiting our LO who was a couple days old. Forced to wash him because he was covered in it after she left. How can we nicely ask her to not wear any and or avoid her from holding him too long?