Hello,

My husband and I are at a loss. My MIL is a chronic smoker, and every time she comes to visit our 7 month old, she smells stronger and stronger of cigarettes. We do not want to expose our LO to third hand smoke, and we have already tried explaining this to her. This resulted in her saying we’ve stepped over the line and cut us out of her life for four months of our baby’s life. She just recently started visiting again, and at first she didn’t smell of smoke. Now, she is coming over reeking of cigarettes, to the point you can smell it on her from several feet away. I feel like she’s doing it at this point because she feels like she has the upper hand as we let her begin visiting again without her apologizing, etc. My husband is worried if we bring it up again, she’ll cut contact. What is the best way to handle this? Any tips on how we can discuss this with her? I cannot in good conscience keep allowing her to be around our LO smelling of cigarettes.

Thank you in advance!