Grandmother often refers to herself as "Mom"

When my first grandchild was born, I was so excited and so madly in love that I know I went over the top. I must have annoyed my lovely DIL rotten with my behaviour. I bought presents left right and centre and took every opportunity to get my hands on the baby. I got told very gently to lay off.

All that I did was through the sheer excitement and flood af absolute love I felt.
I am so glad that I was treated with such understanding and kindness instead of suspicion and unkindness.
Now I have several grandchildren the excitement has somewhat worn off. So please give your MIL a break. Surely the more people who love your children and are in their lives the better.
You know that you are their Mother and not your MIL...so relax about her slip of the tongue as I am sure she is not plotting to undermine you and maybe you could be a little bit glad that she takes such an interest in them and wants to be with them.

My dd just told me that I used to refer to myself as mummy when her twins were small and we were all exhausted with feeds every two hours. She assumed it was a slip of the tongue and I was not aware of it until now. Oops

we stuck with first names in our family. So no mummies/grannies/grandpas/dads. But our DC knew who was what and who loved them.

I've always been Grandma but occasionally a GC will slip up and call me Mum and then giggle.
My husband calls me Mum and always when my children are around (38 40) and I call him Dad when my kids are around and when referring to him. Otherwise he calls me love, sweet etc.
My Dad is 92 and called his Grandma: Mother and his Mum, Mum.
It may be a generational thing or which area of country you are from.
Personally it wouldn't have bothered me but you can always correct it by repeating whatever she says to your children with Grandma inserted instead of Mommy. i.e Grandma just asked you to come to the table. Etc. Then it's not too obvious.

If it seems deliberate, dh needs to talk to her. It may mean more coming from him.

My grandchildren quite often call me 'mum', they usually correct themselves within a nano-second.... if not I correct them ! Although they never make the mistake when mummy is there, only when they're on their own with me.There is no excuse for a grandmother to do it unless to annoy.!! Tell her she's losing her marbles. That should do it. She should have pride in being a grandma. I have.

What I'm not sure about is what they call their mum / mummy (usual UK, although mam & mom are known)

I knew a number of UK children with American fathers who called their grandmothers 'grams' (common in US I
gather) but a couple who said 'Mommy' like their father, and saw that as a separate name to mum / mam (both used where I grew up)

If she is regularly and deliberately trying to call herself their mother then something needs saying. If she is using one vowel to distinguish herself from Mummy that's a different case - does she ever use another name?

I wouldn't like that at all and would need to say something especially to the kids
However my poor grandkids go though a plethora of names before I get to the right one as my grandaughter said to her cousin just recently after I had called my grandaughter my other grandaughters mums name don't worry I m used to it

MIL sounds a tad barmy if she refers to herself as Mummy to het grandchildren......is she a bit?

mcem - yes, I've been call 'Mum' by pupils (who then look very embarrassed and giggle) but it was when I started getting 'gran' that I knew it was time to move on!

I call my grandchildren a range of names (across the generations) until I settle on the correct ones.

Eh? She's not talking to the OP, she's talking to the children....and I don't really think 'ignoring' is the answer in any case.

Smile, nod, ignore.

Put a stop to it now - this may be only the beginning - she may attempt to undermine your authority as the children grow and you should tell her not to refer to herself in that way. Yes it is confusing for the children, but let's be honest, in calling herself Mum, she's saying something about the relationship she wants with them, and not about what's in their best interests. You don't request her not to do this - you tell her it's unacceptable.

Possibly she didn't like being a mother to her own child and likes yours better.
DGD once announced to me arriving for a long stay that she might well call me mummy by accident. I replied that it was very kind of her to think of me like that but she couldn't be sure of getting a response as I was programmed to answer to Gmaman. I think she was fed up with her mum at the time.

Why on earth would a grandmother want to be called mummy/mommy in the first place?

My youngest granddaughter called me 'Mumma' for a while when first learning to talk. Although she always called her mum as mummy. She's now 4 and calls me grandma. I don't see the problem unless it's a deliberate action by the grandmother, or unless she's confused? In which case some understanding would, I am sure be appreciated.

I would correct her every time. I find her actions rude and demeaning to the real mum.

I've spent so many years calling myself "Mummy" or "Mum" to my kids that I quite often get confused when talking to my DGC. My family know that I never get their names right so they know I don't mean anything by it. I doubt it is meant offensively by your MIL, she's probably having a senior moment.

Would never call myself Mum to my grandchildren even though I have been known to lose ones marbles on occasion but then I love being Nana and have for the last 11 years also I am only early 50s so dont think its an age thing.

The should be TheN ?

I didn't really need a special name, I'm Granny, other GM is Nana, both our own choices. The DD read an article about names for GMs.
We all decided on ELderly RELative but it only really gets used on here! My friend Barbara is Baba to her, now teenaged, GC and is very happy with it.
I do forget I'm actually a GGM as of a few months. I mutter to myself 'I am NOT her GM, she has two GMs already!' My own GM told my DD to call her Greatie which worked well.

Sounds like the beginning of dementia - maybe she slipping back into the past ......

Def a gran but love mumsnet!!!

JackyB, she has been given a special name - Granny.

As a new gran, even before my granddaughter was born I was negotiating who gets called what with other gran, who already had grandchildren.
My own Mil did the same, but a year in, decided she wanted to be called something different as my kids' cousins (Who are younger) had started to call her something else. We just carried on calling her what we had always called her,
Keep it simple. Talk to her saying it's confusing.