My heart broke for my son yesterday.

We had a big family thing - my grandma and great grandma died on the same day three years apart, so the family got together to commemorate their death.

Anyhow, this side of the family hasn't met my son yet, he's 10 weeks old. So he was being passed from aunt, to uncle, to cousin, to another aunt etc etc. By the end of the day he was so upset and crying. Everyone had been holding him, but treating him like a newborn and never interacting with him. He was craving love and attention and I think it got to the point where he was SO over stimulated with all the people he couldn't handle it anymore and was having a nervous breakdown.

Finally, I just took him away from it all. I went on a walk with him in my carrier and he settled down. I knew right away he had needed his "mama time". And I felt like such a bad mom for being worried about offending everyone else and not standing up for him. But this family WOULD be offended if I said it was "my turn" to take my baby, since I'm with him 24/7, you know?

How do you handle situations like this? Do you ever just tell your family to back off when you can tell your child needs a break?